00932 - Contemporary History (M-Z)

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course the student will acquire an outline of modern history, with a special attention to the social, cultural and political transformations, and the awareness of the complexity and problematic nature of the periodization principles. The student will also acquire a good knowledge of an important theme of the modern era, especially in relation to the historiography debate and the multiplicity of the sources. The student is able to analyze in an autonomous way documents, sources, and authors belonging to the contemporary World.

Course contents

Title of the course: Contemporary history: themes, issues, methodologies.

Course Title: Contemporary History: Themes, Issues, Methodologies.

The course is addressed to students of the Letters and Philosophy three-year undergraduate degree programme (called ‘laurea triennale’) who have to take a 12-credit exam (surname initials M-Z).

In accordance with the new rules established by the School of Letters no switching is allowed between the A-L and M-Z group.

This year's course will deal with the most relevant themes of world history in the 19^th and 20^th centuries, with the aim of giving the students some useful tools with which to comprehend the processes that have led to the formation of the global world and to understand the specific features of what historians call the “modern era.” The course will use a university-level textbook as a starting point and the monographs included in the reading list for a more in-depth study of some issues that have had a global impact in the modern era: nation-building and nineteenth and twentieth-century nationalisms, the rise and fall of both old and new empires, the colonial empires and their dismantling, totalitarianism, the Cold War, its end and its legacy, the Middle East problem.

The course will focus, following the most innovative methodological approaches and the most recent historiography, on the following themes:

The construction of the Italian nation state. The Risorgimento and the anti-Risorgimento within a cultural perspective.

Aspects of the history of the Middle East and Islam within a cultural perspective.

Nazism, the war and memory. The history of Germany from 1920 to 1989.

Readings/Bibliography

Students who attend the lectures

For the attending as well as the non-attending students, the exam programme consists of the preparation of the compulsory texts and chosen texts.

Compulsory text for everyone:

The textbook of contemporary history. The one in two volumes by Alberto Banti is recommended, in which the following chapters have been selected: the contemporary age: from the sixteenth century revolutions to imperialism, Laterza, 2009, chapters 6, 7,8, 9, 14, 15, 16, 17, 20, 21, 23, 24, 25; A. Banti, L'età contemporanea: dalla Grande guerra a oggi, Laterza 2009, from chapter 1 to chapter 13.

You can choose two from among the following groups of texts:

1) Carlotta Sorba, Il melodramma della nazione. Politica e sentimenti nell'età del Risorgimento, Laterza 2015;

Alessia Facineroso. Il ritorno del giglio. L'esilio dei Borbone tra diplomazia e guerra civile 1861-1870, Franco Angeli 2017.

2) Cemil Aydin, L'idea di mondo musulmano. Una storia intellettuale globale, Einaudi 2018;

James L. Gelvin, Il conflitto israeliano-palestinese. Cent'anni di guerra, Einaudi 2007.

3) Gustavo Corni, Breve storia del nazismo 1920-1945, Il Mulino 2015;

J.K.A Thomaneck and Bill Niven, La Germania dalla divisione all'unificazione, Il Mulino, 2005

W. G. Sebald, Storia naturale della distruzione, Adelphi 2004 (with illustrations).

 

Teaching methods

The method chosen for building the course and for passing on the knowledge to the students is, in first place, to insert within the basic structure supplied by the textbook the critical and in-depth study of the monographs. These will be commented upon from the historiographical point of view, shedding light on their originality compared to the previous research, and then analysed from the point of view of their contents. The student will need to connect the two levels, the general and the monographic one, and also go into some depth within the monographs to analyse not just the contents but the literary structure as well.

To help the student to undertake this approach and to enable him/her to bring this to fruition in the written test, some preparatory practice classes will be held to help with the writing of history under the guidance of Dr Greta Fedele.

Assessment methods

For all the students

The exam will consist of a written exam on the books in the reading list. The aim is to test the general preparation and the ability to read consciously and critically the monographs as explained in the “teaching methods” section above.

The test is made up of 7 questions structured like this: 3 questions on the textbook; 4 questions relating to the monographs, one per monograph.

Answers regarding the textbook must be no more than 10 lines; answers regarding the monographs must be between 30 and 60 lines per answer.

The evaluation of the exam will depend on the correctness of contents, the design and language used in answering to the questions.

Only in the winter session the exam for students attending the classes can be split in two parts: one in December on the text book and one in January on the monographs.

The attending students who take the exam in the subsequent exam sessions will take the test in a single shift.

The non-attending students will have to sit the exam in a single shift.

Teaching tools

Written exercises in preparation for the written test conducted by Dr Greta Fedele.

Introduction to the use of the digital resources relating to the issues of the course.

Office hours

See the website of Maria Malatesta