00932 - Contemporary History (M-Z)

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course the student knows the main features of the political-institutional and socio-economic history of the XIXth and XXth century and has critically deepened the methodologies and fundamental nodes of contemporary historical evolution. Is able to recognize the evolution of key-processes and events, from which long-term structures derive, how and why they developed and in what way they reappear during the contemporary age.

 

Course contents

The overall structure of the course is based on the essential elements of the cultural transmission of historical knowledge: periodization and overview, ideas and passions, along the period from the birth of the idea of nation to the scenarios of globalization, between the XXth and the XXIst century. Starting from the American Revolution of the late XVIIIth century, the earlier of the great democratic-marked events, from which the shape of today's Western world emerged, the lessons will analyze the crucial political-institutional and socio-cultural transformations of modernity and contemporaneity. We will focus on the elements of change and the long-term consequences, identifying key concepts, establishing connections between the local and the global scale and, finally, connecting biographies and places. The significant interest on the issues of constitutional history and the evolution of the rights and duties of citizenship will bring to the fundamental link between the study of history and the growth of a solid civic culture. The deep attention to the sources will allow us to outline didactic paths “from the documentation to the historical narration”, which gradually bring students closer to the research methodology in archives and libraries.

 

Readings/Bibliography

Students must study 4 books: the 2 textbooks listed below, plus 2 books at their choice, according to the following guidelines:

Textbooks (both):

Carlo De Maria, Percorsi didattici di storia moderna e contemporanea, Bradypus, Roma 2018 [from chapter 6 onwards]

Alberto Mario Banti, L’età contemporanea. Dalla Grande Guerra a oggi, Laterza, Roma-Bari 2018 (2009)

Methodology and historiography (1 book at the choice of the student):

Laura Di Fiore, Marco Meriggi, World History. Le nuove rotte della storia, Laterza, Roma-Bari 2018 (2011)

Agostino Giovagnoli, Storia e globalizzazione, Laterza, Roma-Bari 2017 (2009)

Mariuccia Salvati, Il Novecento. Interpretazioni e bilanci, Laterza, Roma-Bari 2008 (2001)

Carlo De Maria, Una famiglia anarchica. La vita dei Berneri tra affetti, impegno ed esilio nell'Europa del Novecento, Viella, Roma 2019 (published in march 2019)

Topics of Italian history / International horizons (1 book at the choice of the student)

 

Topics of Italian history:

Corrado Bonifazi, L’Italia delle migrazioni, Il Mulino, Bologna 2013

Emanuele Felice, Perché il Sud è rimasto indietro, Il Mulino, Bologna 2016

Emanuela Scarpellini, L’Italia dei consumi. Dalle Belle Epoque al nuovo millennio, Laterza, Roma-Bari 2018 (2008)

Vittorio Vidotto, Emilio Gentile, Simona Colarizi, Giovanni De Luna, Storia d’Italia in 100 foto, immagini a cura di M. Fugenzi, Laterza, Roma-Bari 2018 (2017)

Emilio Gentile, Le origini dell’Italia contemporanea. L’età giolittiana, Laterza, Roma-Bari 2011

Patrizia Dogliani, Il fascismo degli italiani. Una storia sociale, UTET, Milano 2014 (2008)

Carlo De Maria, Le biblioteche nell’Italia fascista, Biblion, Milano 2016

Marie-Anne Matard-Bonucci, L’Italia fascista e la persecuzione degli ebrei, Il Mulino, Bologna 2016 (2008)

Mariuccia Salvati, Passaggi. Italiani dal fascismo alla Repubblica, Roma, Carocci, 2016

Carlo De Maria, Lavoro di comunità e ricostruzione civile in Italia. Margherita Zoebeli e il Centro educativo italo-svizzero di Rimini, Viella, Roma 2015

Agostino Giovagnoli, La Repubblica degli italiani. 1946-2016, Laterza, Roma-Bari 2018 (2016)

Eloisa Betti, Precari e precarie. Una storia dell'Italia repubblicana (1958-2018), Carocci, Roma 2019 (published in march 2019)

Francesca Socrate, Il Sessantotto. Due generazioni, Laterza, Roma-Bari 2018

Giampietro Berti, Carlo De Maria (a cura di), L’anarchismo italiano. Storia e storiografia, Biblion, Milano 2016

International horizons:

Federico Romero, Storia internazionale dell’età contemporanea, Carocci, Roma 2017 (2012)

Simona Colarizi, Novecento d’Europa. L’illusione, l’odio, la speranza, l’incertezza, Laterza, Roma-Bari, 2017 (2015)

Stefano Bottoni, Un altro Novecento. L’Europa orientale dal 1919 a oggi, Carocci, Roma 2011

Giovanna Cigliano, La Russia contemporanea. Un profilo storico, Carocci, Roma 2013

Francesco Benvenuti, Russia oggi. Dalla caduta dell’Unione Sovietica ai nostri giorni, Carocci, Roma 2013

Massimo Campanini, Storia del Medio Oriente contemporaneo, Il Mulino, Bologna 2017

Enrica Collotti Pischel, Storia dell’Asia Orientale, 1850-1949, Carocci, Roma 2015 (2004)

Antonio Fiori, L’Asia orientale. Dal 1945 ai giorni nostri, Il Mulino, Bologna 2011

Stefano Luconi, La “nazione indispensabile”. Storia degli Stati Uniti dalle origini a oggi, Mondadori Education - Le Monnier Università, Milano-Firenze 2016

Arnaldo Testi, Il secolo degli Stati Uniti, Il Mulino, Bologna 2017

Loris Zanatta, Storia dell'America Latina contemporanea, Laterza, Roma-Bari 2017 (2010)

Arrigo Pallotti, Mario Zamponi, Anna Maria Medici, L’Africa contemporanea, Mondadori Education - Le Monnier Università, Milano-Firenze 2017

 

Teaching methods

Frontal and multimedia lessons.

 

Assessment methods

Written test, plus oral interview.

The written test is on the 2 textbooks and consists of five open questions with a value of six points each. The written test is considered passed with a total score of at least 18/30. Only in this case students are admitted to the oral interview.

The oral interview focuses on the 2 books chosen by the students among the 3 sections: “Methodology and historiography”, “Topics of Italian history” and “International horizons”.

For both tests, the evaluation criteria are as follows: relevance of the answers; ability to argue; adequacy of the disciplinary language used; ability to apply the acquired knowledges to a critical interpretation of contemporaneity.

 

Teaching tools

Exploration of online resources related to the methodologies of teaching history, historical communication and public history.

 

Office hours

See the website of Carlo De Maria