B4806 - History of Cultural Exchanges and Social Interactions in the Modern Era (1) (LM)

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course unit students will have acquired the capacity to use an entangled history methodological perspective using primary sources and literature on cross-cultural exchanges, mobilities of people and goods, and social interactions between different parts of the world but also within the same geographical space in the 18th and 19th century. Students will develop a critical ability to analyze interconnected phenomena concerning cultural and religious aspects, trade, forms of labor coercion and enslavement. At the end of the course students will demonstrate a sound theoretical framework within which specific research interests could be developed.

Course contents

The aim of the course is to explain the concept of Entangled history and its different uses in research on the Early Modern and Modern period. The main focus of this course will be the social, economic and cultural exchanges between actors and goods in a global perspective. The interconnections between different societies or people will be analysed going beyond the concepts of nation, empire, and civilizations to understand better the complexity of the past and its multiple voices.

The course is structured in five modules: 1) What is Entangled History? Comparison with other historiographical methodological approaches 2) Social interactions between the Atlantic and the Mediterranean worlds; Race and Ethnicity 3) Global circulation of enslaved people 4) Entangled Empires: Merchants, Sailors, Workers 5) Cultural connections: Travelers, Interpreters, Missionaries

The first module concerns a methodological section on the concept of Entangled History and a comparison with Global History and the Comparative approach

The second module will be on the social and cultural interactions between the Atlantic and the Mediterranean worlds with a reflection on the problem of race and ethnicity

The third module will focus on the Global circulation of enslaved people

In the fourth module we will discuss the concept of Entangled Empires

The last module will be on cultural connections analyzing different actors such as travelers, captains, interpreters, missionaries

Readings/Bibliography

Bibliography

Students may use this suggested bibliography to enrich their knowledge on the course themes, in addition to the indicated readings for each session (the professor is also available for further readings according to your interests).

Baily Cristopher Alan, The birth of the modern world, 1780-1914: global connections and comparisons (Oxford: Blackwell, 2004)

Bernardi, C., Shahid, A., & Özbek, M., “Reconsidering labor coercion through the logics of Im/mobility and the environment.” Labor History, 64(6), 2003, 659–675. https://doi.org/10.1080/0023656X.2023.2254245

Cañizares-Esguerra, Jorge, editor. Entangled Empires: The Anglo-Iberian Atlantic, 1500-1830 (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2018)

Cañizares-Esguerra, Jorge, Adrian Masters, The Radical Spanish Empire: How Paperwork, Politics, and Law Remade the New World (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2026)

Chakrabarty, Dipesh, Provincializing Europe: postcolonial thought and historical difference (Princeton: Princeton Univ. Press, 2000)

Elliot John H., Empires of the Atlantic World: Britain and Spain in America 1492–1830 (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2006)

Green Toby, The Heretic of Cacheu: struggles over life in a seventeenth-century West African port, Chicago, Chicago University Press, 2025

Hershenzon Daniel, The Captive Sea: Slavery, Communication, and Commerce in Early Modern Spain and the Mediterranean (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2018)

Lowe, K. J. P., Provenance and Possession: Acquisitions from the Portuguese Empire in Renaissance Italy, Princeton University Press. 2024.

Stanziani Alessandro, Sailors, Slaves, and Immigrants : Bondage in the Indian Ocean World, 1750-1914. - 1st ed. New York : Palgrave Macmillan, 2014

Subrahmanyam Sanjay, Connected history: essays and arguments (London: Verso, 2022)

Subrahmanyam. (2016). One Asia, or Many? Reflections from connected history. Modern Asian Studies, 50(1), 5–43. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0026749X15000451

Zemon Davis Natalie, “Decentering History. Local Stories and Cultural Crossings in a Global World”, History & Theory, Vol. 50, 2011, Issue 2, 188-202.

All attending students are requested to prepare the required readings carefully, in order to be able to participate in class discussions each Friday.

Each Friday, one student or more students (in turn) will be asked to prepare a short oral presentation (no longer than 10-15 minutes) on one of the required readings (you have more than one option each Friday and you must choose only one article or introduction+one book chapter). The rest of the class must also read the article or the introduction of the readings to be able to participate in the debate.

The presenting students must register in one slot of this list:

In case the number of attending students exceeds the number of presentations available, we can have more presentations (maximum 3-4) in one day of different texts.

All required readings are available on Virtuale, the University of Bologna's online learning platform.

Week 1:

1. Introduction of the course
2. What is Entangled History? What is Global History?Comparison with other historiographical methodological approaches
3. Presentation and discussion (read the whole article):

   Gould, Eliga H., “Entangled Histories, Entangled Worlds: The English-Speaking Atlantic as a Spanish Periphery.” The American Historical Review, Vol. 112, No. 3, 2007, pp. 764-786.

   or

   Ruiz, T. (2023, August 23). The Mediterranean and the Atlantic, 1400–1700. Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Latin American History. Retrieved 9 Feb. 2026, from https://oxfordre.com/latinamericanhistory/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780199366439.001.0001/acrefore-9780199366439-e-1118

   Week 2:

4. Social Interactions between the Atlantic and the Mediterranean worlds
5. Race and Ethnicity
6. Presentation and discussion, introduction of:

   Bethencourt, Francisco, Racisms: from the Crusades to the Twentieth Century (Princeton, Princeton University Press, 2013).

   or

   Schaub, Jean Frédéric, Race is about politics: lessons from History (Princeton, Princeton University Press, 2019) if you read French you can choose also this book Frédéric Schaub, Silvia Sebastiani, Race et histoire dans les sociétés occidentales (xve-xviiie siècle) (Paris, Albin Michel, 2021)

   Week 3:

7. Global circulation of enslaved people
8. Different trade and slave systems in different spaces and within the same geographical area
9. Oral presentation and discussion, introduction and:

   chapter 1: Rebekka von Mallinckrodt ‘The European Experience in Slavery, 1650–1850: Parallels and Entanglements’ in Von Mallinckrodt, Rebekka. The European Experience in Slavery, 1650–1850 (Berlin-Boston: De Gruyter Oldenbourg, 2024)

   or

   chapter 17: Claude Chevaleyre ‘Slavery in Late Ming China’. In: Pargas, D.A., Schiel, J. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Global Slavery throughout History (Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, 2023) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-13260-5_17

   Week 4:

10. Entangled Empires
11. Merchants, Sailors, Workers
12. Presentation and discussion, introduction and:

    Chapter 10: ‘War and Reform’ in Elliot John H., Empires of the Atlantic World: Britain and Spain in America 1492–1830 (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2006)

    or

    Chapter 2: in Jorge Cañizares-Esguerra, Adrian Masters, The Radical Spanish Empire: How Paperwork, Politics, and Law Remade the New World (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2026)

    Week 5:

13. Cultural connections
14. Travelers, Interpreters
15. Presentation and discussion, introduction and one chapter:

Toby Green, The Heretic of Cacheu: Crispina Peres and the Struggle over Life in Seventeenth-Century West Africa (London: Penguin, 2025)

or

Linda Colley, The Ordeal of Elizabeth Marsh: A Woman in World History (New York, Pantheon Book, 2007).

or

Equiano, O., & Edwards, P. Equiano’s Travels: the Interesting Narrative Of the Life Of Olaudah Equiano Or Gustavus Vassa the African. Abridged and Edited By Paul Edwards. Heinemann, 1996.

Teaching methods

Frontal lectures, slides, students' presentations, class discussion, reading of sources

Assessment methods

Students who attend at least 75% of the lessons are considered to be attending

Attending students will be evaluated through the final examination (100%).

The final exam is a paper on a topic of the student’s choice (12 credits). The student can choose to write the paper with Prof Bonazza or Prof Rosenboim, according to their topic of interest and to the professors’ availability. The topic of the paper and the research question must be agreed in advance with the professor. The length of the paper will be up to 6500 words including notes and bibliography. The paper must critically engage with the existing historiography on the chosen topic. The paper must be based on at least 6 academic secondary sources and also with some primary sources, if possible, which may include but not limited to the course’s bibliography. Proper use of the English language, adequate presentation and academic style will be part of the evaluation. The paper must have proper references in footnotes and a bibliography. For the references, Chicago Style is preferred but not mandatory.

Non-attending students are required to write the final paper (following the same guidelines as the attending students) and in addition to do a written exam. The written exam is based on 2 books, and includes 6 questions (3 for each book). The exam lasts 1.5 hours and will be taken in person at the computer lab.

During the academic year 2026/2027 there will be 6 available dates to undertake the exam. The dates will be published on the webpage of Prof. Rosenboim and Prof. Bonazza (each professor holds 3 exam dates).

The required readings for the written exam are:

Pierre Charbonnier, Affluence and Freedom: an environmental history of political ideas (Polity, 2021).

M’hamed Oualdi, A Slave between Empires. A Transimperial History of North Africa (New York: Columbia University Press, 2020)

Please note: The module is part of the integrated course Entangled Histories (12 credits). Students who attend this module, but did not attend Prof Rosenboim's module, will have (in addition to the research paper) a short written exam (25% of the final mark) with 3 questions, based on this book:

Pierre Charbonnier, Affluence and Freedom: an environmental history of political ideas (Polity, 2021).

For attending and Non-attending students: you can send me the paper by email when you prefer and after some exchanges and revisions we schedule a meeting for a short presention (normally during my office hour)

AI policy: Artificial intelligence (AI) can be a useful tool to support individual study through in-depth materials, summaries, and self-assessment activities. With regard to the assessment of learning, a limited, declared, and non-substantive use of AI is permitted for support activities (summaries and reformulations). Substantive use of AI to complete parts of the assessment is not permitted.

Exam sessions for the written exam are scheduled for the following months of the academic year:

- December 2026

- January 2027

- March 2027

- May 2027

- July 2027

- September 2027

* Regarding written exam for non attending students, some sessions will be published on the web page of Dr Rosenboim, and others by Dr Bonazza, from which you can choose freely.

Marking criteria:

Proper language and the ability to critically analyze relevant topics will lead to a good/excellent final grade (27-30L)

Acceptable language and the ability to resume relevant topics will lead to a sufficient/fair grade (22-26)

poor language and a superficial knowledge of relevant topics will lead to the minimum grade to pass the exam (18-21)

Insufficient linguistic proficiency and fragmentary knowledge of relevant topics will lead to a failure in passing the exam

Teaching tools

Research databases; Seminars; Virtuale

 

Students with disabilities and Specific Learning Disorders (SLD)

Students with learning disorders and\or temporary or permanent disabilities: please, contact the office responsible (https://site.unibo.it/studenti-con-disabilita-e-dsa/en/for-students ) as soon as possible so that they can propose acceptable adjustments. The request for adaptation must be submitted in advance (15 days before the exam date) to the lecturer, who will assess the appropriateness of the adjustments, taking into account the teaching objectives.

Office hours

See the website of Giulia Bonazza