87367 - ENTANGLED HISTORY AND RELIGIONS (1) (LM)

Anno Accademico 2022/2023

  • Docente: Cristiana Facchini
  • Crediti formativi: 6
  • SSD: M-STO/07
  • Lingua di insegnamento: Inglese

Conoscenze e abilità da conseguire

After completing the course students are familiar with the main interdisciplinary theoretical, methodological and technical tools of the historical-religious studies, that deal with religious pluralism in urban contexts in the Modern and Contemporary Ages. They will be able to analyze different source material in order to understand and describe how religions create their worldviews and interact with the broader cultural, economic and material context. They can critically identify the socio-cultural matrix of religions, as well as connections, developments, persistences and transformations of religious phenomena and the socio-political implications of the interaction between groups in complex societies in the Modern and Contemporary Ages. They can identify the specific contribution of different disciplines in addressing issues and problems of interest to the community such as the analysis of problems related to contexts characterised by cultural, linguistic and religious pluralism. They are able to give form to the results of their own research on the history of religious pluralism in the Modern and Contemporary Ages, documenting in an accurate and complete way the information on which they base their conclusions and giving an account of the methodologies and research tools used. They know how to apply the tools of communication and digital data in the editorial and publishing field.

Contenuti

Religious diversity and the city. A historical journey

The aim of this class is to investigate the relationship between religion and urban life, focusing on the theme of religious diversity. A historical journey through different cities will offer a number of distinctive urban examples of how religion contributed to forge the built environment, how religious interactions and encounters were establ  ished and negotiated, and ultimately how religious diversity morphed with the rise of the modern world. An overview on religions and empire will be also provided.

Week 1: Introduction to key terms. Theoretical approaches: the School of Chicago and the German School. Ancient urban models. Case study: Ancient Alexandria.

Week 2: The rise of Christianity and Islam and their relationship to cities. How to conceptualize religious diversity in the city: urban models, rituals, and practices. Visibility and invisibility of religious groups. Looking at the rise of Christianity and Islam.

Week 3: Religious diversity: the age of exploration and the Reformation; The rise of early global capitalism. Case studies: Venice and Granada.

Week 4: Religious diversity, the age of exploration and the rise of early global capitalism (1500-1800). Port cities and cosmopolitanism. Case Studies: Mexico City and Surat.

Week 5: Religious diversity, migration, violence & memory. Religious diversity between nationalism and empires. Religion and the industrial city. Current questions. A case study: Jerusalem

Testi/Bibliografia

A. Students who did attend classes will select:

1. the collection of articles of Prof. Facchini in Virtuale (Facchini Cities);

2. 4 articles in Virtuale (see Syllabus)

3. One book from the list below:

  • Brockey Liam Matthew, ed., Portuguese Colonial Cities in the Early Modern World, Ashgate, Aldershot, 2009
  • Burchardt M., M. C. Giorda, eds., Geographies of Encounter, Palgrave Macmillan, London 2022
  • Chaudhuri Supriya (ed.), Religion and the City in India, Routledge, London - New York, 2022
  • Goldhill Simon, Jerusalem City of Longing, Cambridge – London, The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2008
  • Katz Dana, The Jewish Ghetto and the Visual Imagination of Early Modern Venice, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2017
  • Khalek Nancy, Damascus after the Muslim Conquest: Text and Image in Early Islam,Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2011
  • King Charles, Odessa: Genius and Death in a City of Dreams, Norton & Company, 2011 (anche in italiano)
  • Lemire Vincent, Jerusalem 1900, Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press.
  • Lewis Michael J., City of Refuge: Separatist and Utopian Plan Planning (Princeton-Oxford: Princeton University Press, 2016)
  • Marcocci Giuseppe, Wietse De Boer et al. eds. Space and Conversion in Global Perspective, Leiden-Boston: Brill, 2015).
  • Mazower Mark, Salonika, City of Ghosts: Christians, Muslims, and Jews, 1430-1950, Vintage Books, New York, 2004.
  • Mundy Barbara, The Death of Aztec Tenochtitlan, the Life of Mexico City, University of Texas Press, Austin 2015
  • Rowe Nina, The Jew, the Cathedral, and the Medieval City: Synagoga and Ecclesia in the Thirteen Century, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge – New York, 2011 (chaps. 3,4,5)
  • Rubin Miri, Cities of Strangers. Making Life in Medieval Europe, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2020
  • Sanders Paula, Ritual, Politics, and the City in Fatimid Cairo, Suny University Press, New York, 1994
  • Sebag Simon Montefiore, Jerusalem: The Biography, London: Widenfeld & Nicholson, 2011
  • Sennet Richard, ed., Classic Essays on the Culture of the Cities, Meredith Corporation, New York 1969
  • Sennet Richard, Flesh and Stone: the Body and the City in Western Civilization, Norton, New York - London, 1996.
  • Wolper Ethel Sara, Cities and Saints: Sufism and the Transformation of Urban Space in Medieval Anatolia, Philadelphia: Penn State University Press, 2003
  • Monge Mathilde and Natalia Muchnik,Early Modern Diasporas. A European History, London and New York, Routledge, 2022.
  • Charles H. Parker, Global Calvinism, New Haven & London: Princeton University Press, 2022.

For students who did not attend classes:

1. the collection of articles of Prof. Facchini in Virtuale (Facchini Cities);

2. Two books from the list below: 

  • Brockey Liam Matthew, ed., Portuguese Colonial Cities in the Early Modern World, Ashgate, Aldershot, 2009
  • Burchardt M., M. C. Giorda, eds., Geographies of Encounter, Palgrave Macmillan, London 2022
  • Chaudhuri Supriya (ed.), Religion and the City in India, Routledge, London - New York, 2022
  • Goldhill Simon, Jerusalem City of Longing, Cambridge – London, The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2008
  • Katz Dana, The Jewish Ghetto and the Visual Imagination of Early Modern Venice, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2017
  • Khalek Nancy, Damascus after the Muslim Conquest: Text and Image in Early Islam,Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2011
  • King Charles, Odessa: Genius and Death in a City of Dreams, Norton & Company, 2011 (anche in italiano)
  • Lemire Vincent, Jerusalem 1900, Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press.
  • Lewis Michael J., City of Refuge: Separatist and Utopian Plan Planning (Princeton-Oxford: Princeton University Press, 2016)
  • Marcocci Giuseppe, Wietse De Boer et al. eds. Space and Conversion in Global Perspective, Leiden-Boston: Brill, 2015).
  • Mazower Mark, Salonika, City of Ghosts: Christians, Muslims, and Jews, 1430-1950, Vintage Books, New York, 2004.
  • Mundy Barbara, The Death of Aztec Tenochtitlan, the Life of Mexico City, University of Texas Press, Austin 2015
  • Rowe Nina, The Jew, the Cathedral, and the Medieval City: Synagoga and Ecclesia in the Thirteen Century, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge – New York, 2011 (chaps. 3,4,5)
  • Rubin Miri, Cities of Strangers. Making Life in Medieval Europe, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2020
  • Sanders Paula, Ritual, Politics, and the City in Fatimid Cairo, Suny University Press, New York, 1994
  • Sebag Simon Montefiore, Jerusalem: The Biography, London: Widenfeld & Nicholson, 2011
  • Sennet Richard, ed., Classic Essays on the Culture of the Cities, Meredith Corporation, New York 1969
  • Sennet Richard, Flesh and Stone: the Body and the City in Western Civilization, Norton, New York - London, 1996.
  • Wolper Ethel Sara, Cities and Saints: Sufism and the Transformation of Urban Space in Medieval Anatolia, Philadelphia: Penn State University Press, 2003
  • Monge Mathilde and Natalia Muchnik, Early Modern Diasporas. A European History, London and New York, Routledge, 2022.
  • Charles H. Parker, Global Calvinism, New Haven & London: Princeton University Press, 2022.

 

Metodi didattici

Lectures, and seminar methodology based on discussions of texts and sources. Students are required to read the material which is listed in the Syllabus

Modalità di verifica e valutazione dell'apprendimento

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


Students will select 3 books from the bibliography listed below, and will have to pass an oral examination. The questions will be aimed at testing the student's ability in exposing with an appropriate language some of the topics tackled by the books, as well as his/her skills in making connections between different texts in order to build an argument. Proper language and the ability to critically speak about the books' content will lead to a good/excellent final grade. Acceptable language and the ability to resume the books' content will lead to a sufficient/fair grade. Insufficient linguistic proficiency and fragmentary knowledge of the books' content will lead to a failure in passing the exam.

Strumenti a supporto della didattica

Visual Aid, Powerpoint, Documentaries 

Orario di ricevimento

Consulta il sito web di Cristiana Facchini

SDGs

Istruzione di qualità Parità di genere Ridurre le disuguaglianze Città e comunità sostenibili

L'insegnamento contribuisce al perseguimento degli Obiettivi di Sviluppo Sostenibile dell'Agenda 2030 dell'ONU.