B5171 - STORIA DEL LAVORO IN ETÀ MODERNA (1) (LM)

Learning outcomes

By the end of the course, students will have mastered methodologies of an inherently interdisciplinary nature relating to the history of work in the early modern age, reflecting in their diversity the complexity of approaches that characterise this field of study. They will be able to analyse the theoretical and historical foundations of the key concepts that have underpinned the study of work in European and non-European societies. Thanks to their ability to approach texts and data in a critical and scholarly way, they will be able to identify the sources (including artistic and material culture products) necessary to develop research on case studies concerning different socio-economic and cultural-historical systems. They will also be able to apply a gender perspective and to read cultural representations of work and workers. They will also be able to use all this knowledge for different purposes – communication, teaching, dissemination, conservation – concerning the history of work in relation to mentalities, society, territory. They are aware of the value of communication between different disciplines and of the specific contribution of the historian in promoting a critical and scientific approach to subjects of interest to society. Finally, they will have methodological rigour and a spirit of self-criticism, as well as analytical and synthesising skills.

Course contents

The course examines the major themes in the history of labour from the sixteenth to the nineteenth century from a long-term, comparative perspective across different geographical regions, with particular attention to the historiographical debate of the New Global Labour History. Specifically, the course addresses the following topics: free and unfree labour, autonomy and coercion, labour and citizenship, labour and race, and domestic and care work. Particular attention is devoted to enslaved labour in the Early Modern Period. Finally, we will explore patterns of continuity and discontinuity across different historical periods, examining how multiple forms of labour have persisted beyond the conventional chronological divisions of the pre-industrial world, capitalism, Fordism, and post-Fordism, while placing workers—their experiences and agency—at the centre of the analysis.

Week 1: New Global Labour History: Where Does Labour History Stand Today? Slavery and the New History of Capitalism.

Reading: Trevor Burnard and Giorgio Riello, “Slavery and the New History of Capitalism,” Journal of Global History 15, no. 2 (2020): 225–244.

Week 2: Free and Unfree Labour; Autonomy and Coercion

Reading: “Introduction,” in Marcel van der Linden and Jan Lucassen, Prolegomena for a Global Labour History (Amsterdam: International Institute of Social History, 1999), 5–12.

Week 3: Labour and Citizenship; Labour and Race

Reading: Simona Cerutti, “Lavoro e cittadinanza,” in Renata Ago (ed.), Storia del lavoro in Italia. L’età moderna. Trasformazioni e risorse del lavoro tra associazioni di mestiere e pratiche individuali (Rome: Castelvecchi, 2018), up to p. 266.

Week 4: Bodies at Work; Domestic and Care Work

Reading: “Introduzione,” in Anna Bellavitis, Il lavoro delle donne nelle città dell’Europa moderna (Rome: Viella, 2016).

Week 5: The Labour of Enslaved Men and Women (Mediterranean, Atlantic, and Indian Ocean Worlds)

Reading: Giulia Bonazza, “Caratteristiche, mansioni lavorative e libertà degli schiavi a Livorno nel lungo XVIII secolo,” in Un mare connesso. Europa e mondo islamico nel Mediterraneo (secoli XV–XIX) (Rome: Carocci, 2024).

Readings/Bibliography

Students can choose 2 books from the following list:

Alessandro Stanziani, Le metamorfosi del lavoro coatto, Bologna, il Mulino, 2022.

Renata Ago (a cura di), Storia del lavoro in Italia. L’età moderna. Trasformazioni e risorse del lavoro tra associazioni di mestiere e pratiche individuali, Roma, Castelvecchi, 2018 (Introduzione e capitoli II-III).

Anna Bellavitis, Il lavoro delle donne nelle città dell’Europa moderna, Roma, Viella, 2016.

Thierry Arnal, Corine Maitte, Thierry Pillon, Didier Terrier (dir.), Le corps au travail. Performance, discipline, fatigue, Palermo, New Digital Press, Palermo, 2021(introduzione e una sezione a scelta dello studente, il volume ha tre sezioni).

Francesca Ferrando, Assistere, correggere e rieducare. I ricoveri per mendicanti a Genova, Bologna e Venezia (secoli XVII-XVIII), Roma, Viella, 2023.

Salvatore Bono, Schiavi. Una storia mediterranea, Bologna, il Mulino, 2016.

Paul Lovejoy, Storia della schiavitù in Africa, Bompiani, 2019.

Jan Lucassen, The Story of Work. A New History of Humankind, Yale University Press, 2022 (Introduzione e capitoli 5-6-7).

Christian de Vito, Global labour history: la storia del lavoro al tempo della "globalizzazione", Verona, Ombre Corte, 2012.

Paola A. Revilla Orías, Entangled Coercion. African and Indigenous Labour in Charcas (16th–17th Century), Berlin/Boston, Walter de Gruyter, 2021.

Luca Mocarelli, Giulio Ongaro, Work in Early Modern Italy, 1500-1800, Cham, Palgrave Macmillan, 2019.

Teaching methods

Frontal lessons, Discussion of primary sources and a weekly seminar-paper discussion (see the weekly schedule above).

Articles and other course materials will be made available on Virtuale, the University's online learning platform.

Assessment methods

Attending students

Assessment consists of an oral examination based on two books selected from the reading list above. Class participation, particularly students' contributions to the weekly discussion of the assigned readings, will also be taken into account.

The oral examination is designed to assess students' knowledge of the course material, their ability to synthesize information, and the critical skills they have developed through engagement with the required readings. Students will be expected to discuss and critically reflect on the main themes developed during the course.

Particular attention will be paid to students' ability to navigate both primary sources and the required bibliography, identify relevant information, and use it effectively to explain and connect key historical themes and problems.

Assessment will therefore be based on:

• knowledge of the course content;
• the ability to analyse and synthesize historical themes and concepts;
• the ability to communicate clearly and effectively using appropriate academic terminology.

Students who attend at least 75% of the classes may choose, as an alternative to the standard oral examination, to submit a research paper of approximately 7,000 words. The paper will nevertheless be discussed during the oral examination, during which the professor will also verify the student's knowledge of the paper bibliography.

Students who choose the research paper option may adopt a limited, declared, and non-substantive use of artificial intelligence (AI) for support activities such as summarising or rephrasing. Substantive use of AI to produce any part of the assessed work is not permitted.

Non-attending students

In addition to the two books selected from the bibliography, non-attending students are required to prepare at least two articles or introductory chapters chosen from the readings listed in the course schedule above.

Examination sessions

The course offers nine examination sessions each academic year, held in February, March, April, May, June, September, October, November, and December.

Teaching tools

On Virtuale platform the professor will upload materials and articles

 

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