92919 - Culture, Science and History (1)

Learning outcomes

The aim of this course is to provide the students the tools for understanding the historical relations between scientific activities and their wide and layered cultural contexts. These contexts include: popular cultures, intellectual traditions, social interactions, the relationships between politics and scientific authority, the influence of gender on science, and the interpretation of non-written sources.

Course contents

Gender, science and memory in long 18th century Europe (1680-1830)

 

This course offers an introduction to history of women, gender and between women, gender and scientific knowledge in Europe in the long eighteenth century (1680-1830). Through the analysis of historical sources and case studies, we will explore forms of female participation in the scientific culture of the time, debates about women's knowledge, the spaces and practices of production and circulation of scientific knowledge, and the processes of construction (and concealment) of female memory in the history of science.

The course is divided into two parts. The first, Women's Bodies, Knowledge and Practices, provides historiographical and methodological tools for navigating historical studies on women, gender and science of recent decades. We will examine the sites of eighteenth-century scientific knowledge production – universities and academies but also and especially domestic spaces, workshops and places of care – and the role of women as producers and mediators of knowledge, as well as audiences for science. Adopting a social history approach, we will analyze not only celebrated figures but also groups of women engaged in everyday scientific practices: midwives, herbalists, laboratory "assistants," illustrators... We will also see how Enlightenment science "constructs" sexual difference and how such constructions interweave with the social hierarchies of the period.

In the second part of the course, Women, Gender and Scientific Memory, we will address the problem of women's memory in the history of science, with particular attention to the Italian context. We will analyze the processes of construction and concealment of female memory in science, examine why some women are celebrated as 'great scientists' and 'exceptional figures' while other categories disappear from historical narrative, and interrogate the meaning of being 'visible' subjects in history and historiography. Finally, we will reflect on the cultural and political implications of these processes of selective memory.

Readings/Bibliography

1. Collection of sources discussed in class (on Virtuale)

 

2. Natalie Zemon Davis, Donne ai margini. Tre vite del XVII secolo, Roma-Bari Laterza, 2011 (ed. or. 1995), prologue, chap. 3, and epilogue (on Virtuale)

 

3. Choose one text from:

 

- Francesca Antonelli, Scrivere e sperimentare: Marie-Anne Paulze-Lavoisier, segretaria della «nuova chimica» (1771-1836), Roma, Viella, 2022.

· Paola Bertucci, Viaggio nel Paese delle meraviglie. Scienza e curiosità nell'Italia del Settecento, Torino, Bollati Boringhieri, 2007.

- Marta Cavazza, Laura Bassi. Donne, genere e scienza nell'Italia del Settecento, Milano, Editrice Bibliografica, 2020.

· Federica Favino, Donne e scienza nella Roma dell'Ottocento, Roma, Viella, 2020

- Simona Feci, L'acquetta di Giulia. Mogli avvelenatrici e mariti violenti nella Roma del Seicento, Roma, Viella, 2024.

· Nadia Maria Filippini, Tiziana Plebani, Anna Scattigno (a cura di), Corpi e storia: donne e uomini dal mondo antico all'età contemporanea, Viella, Roma, 2011.

· Luciano Guerci, La sposa obbediente. Donna e matrimonio nella discussione dell'Italia del Settecento, Torino, Tirrenia Stampatori, 1988.

· Vincenzo Lagioia, Maria Pia Paoli, Rossella Rinaldi (a cura di) La fama delle donne. Pratiche femminili e società tra Medioevo ed Età moderna, Roma, Viella, 2020.

· Massimo Mazzotti, Maria Gaetana Agnesi e il suo mondo. Una vita tra scienza e carità, Roma, Carocci, 2019.

· Rebecca Messbarger, La signora anatomista. Vita e opere di Anna Morandi Manzolini, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2020.

· Sabrina Minuzzi, Sul filo dei segreti. Farmacopea, libri e pratiche terapeutiche a Venezia in età moderna, Unicopli, Milano, 2016

Sandra Plastina, Filosofe della modernità. Il pensiero delle donne dal Rinascimento all'Illuminismo, Roma, Carocci, 2011.

· Sandra Plastina, Mollezza della carne e sottigliezza dell'ingegno. La natura della donna nel Rinascimento europeo, Roma, Carocci, 2017.

· Tiziana Plebani, Le scritture delle donne in Europa. Pratiche quotidiane e ambizioni letterarie (secoli XIII-XX), Roma, Carocci, 2019.

· Meredith Ray, Figlie dell'alchimia. Donne e cultura scientifica nell'Italia della prima età moderna, Torino, Bollati Boringhieri, 2022 (ed. or. 2015).

 

NB: Non-attending students will need to add the attentive reading of Merry E. Wiesner-Hanks, Le donne nell'Europa moderna, nuova edizione ampliata. Introduzione all'edizione italiana di Angela Groppi, Einaudi, 2017.

Finally, for a quick overview of the course themes, the reading of Francesca Antonelli, "Donne, genere e scienza", in Marco Beretta, Storia materiale della scienza, 3rd revised and expanded ed., Roma, Carocci, 2025, pp. 313-330, may be useful (althoug not mandatory).

Teaching methods

The course combines lectures and seminar sessions.

The course combines lectures with seminar-style sessions.

Approximately once a week, students will be assigned a short reading to complete at home, drawn from the Dispensa (item 1 in the exam bibliography). On these occasions, the class will be structured around a collective discussion of the text, with the aim of exploring the course topics in greater depth and developing a critical approach to primary sources and historiography. The list of readings will be presented on the first day of class and made available on Virtuale.

During the course, a visit to a museum or archive and/or a guest lecture by an external expert on a specific topic may be arranged. Further details will be provided in September.

Assessment methods

Assessment methods

Students who attend at least 75% of classes will be considered attending students.

Attending students may choose between two assessment methods:

A) Oral exam

The exam will consist of an oral discussion designed to assess students’ knowledge of the assigned readings and the critical and methodological skills developed through the study of the course bibliography. The discussion may begin with a topic chosen by the student, who will have approximately five minutes to present it. This will be followed by questions from the instructor.

B) Written paper

Students may submit a written paper of 12–15 pages (Times New Roman, 12 pt; 1.5 line spacing; 2.5 cm margins) on a topic and bibliography to be agreed upon in advance with the instructor. Papers written without prior discussion of these aspects cannot be accepted.

For students choosing this assessment method, the oral exam will consist of a discussion of the paper, including its argument, structure and bibliography.

 The paper must be submitted at least one week before the exam date. Students may request one round of feedback before submitting the final version. In this case, the paper must be sent to the instructor at least 15 days before the exam date.

 Erasmus and other international students may, upon request, take the exam in English, French or Spanish.

 

Assessment criteria

Assessment will focus in particular on students’ ability to navigate the primary sources and secondary literature included in the exam syllabus, identify relevant information, explain key themes and problems, and establish meaningful connections between them. The following will therefore be assessed: knowledge and understanding of the course content; ability to analyse and synthesise themes and concepts; ability to express ideas clearly and use terminology appropriate to the discipline.

An excellent grade will be awarded to students who demonstrate a coherent understanding of the topics discussed in class, the ability to engage with them critically, and a strong command of both general and discipline-specific language. A mainly mnemonic knowledge of the material, accompanied by adequate analytical and synthesising skills and generally correct, though not always precise, language will result in a satisfactory to good grade. Gaps in knowledge and/or inappropriate use of language, even where a basic understanding of the exam material is demonstrated, will result in a grade no higher than a pass. Significant gaps in knowledge, inappropriate language and an inability to navigate the course bibliography will result in a failing grade.

For students choosing assessment method B, the evaluation will also take into account the clarity and coherence of the argument, the critical use of historiography and the overall quality of the written work, including syntax, spelling, footnote formatting and bibliography.

Please note: inappropriate use of AI tools in the preparation of the written paper will result in the assessment being declared invalid. See the section “Useful information”.

 

Exam dates, academic year 2026/2027

- mid-September, for students who still need to complete the exam from the 2025/2026 academic year only;

- third week of October, for students who still need to complete the exam from the 2025/2026 academic year only;

- mid-December, for students who still need to complete the exam from the 2025/2026 academic year only;

- mid-January, for all students;mid-February, for all students;

- mid-May, for all students;third week of June, for all students;

- mid-July, for all students;mid-September, for all students.

Teaching tools

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 Francesca Antonelli