84287 - Social History (LM)

Learning outcomes

By the end of the module the student will be able to recognize the methodological and interpretative choices of historical research in the context of the historiographic tradition of the discipline. Through hands-on experience of guided readings in relation to the analysis of specific themes, he or she will demonstrate adequate knowledge of the sources of social history. He or she will critically evaluate the implications inherent to the diverse historiographic registers of social history.

Course contents

The course includes three parts.

In the first we will define what is meant by social history, when it was born, how it has changed over the last fifty years and what are its most important fields of research. In particular, some lessons will be devoted to the concept of micro-history and to the history of the family; of birth, marriage and death; of private life; of illness and medicine; of warfare and violence; of social classes and urban life.

In the second part the course will focus on a specific theme: the genealogy of racism in the early modern age, through the history of the word, discriminatory statutes, slavery, social, ethnic and colonial classifications, and representations.

These are some of the topics that will be addressed:

1. Race: history of a word

2. The debate on racism between the twentieth and twenty-first centuries

3. The heritage of the ancient world

4. Christianity and the religious ostility

5. Anti-Judaism during the Middle Ages

6. In the Iberian Peninsula: the limpieza de sangre

7. The discovery of the extra-European world: men, servants and savages

8. Hypothesis on the peoples of the New World

9. Classifications of civilizations

10. The slave trade; the Cam's curse

11. Non-European xenophobia

12. In Europe: how social difference was racialized

13. The 'war of races': England and France

14. The contribution of biology at the end of the seventeenth century

15. The contribution of aesthetics in the eighteenth century

16. To abolish slavery?

In the third part the attending students will discuss with colleagues and the teacher a topic or a source they will have chosen.

Readings/Bibliography

All students, attending or not, will have to study the following volumes:

Claudia Pancino, Storia sociale. Metodi, esempi, strumenti, Venezia, Marsilio, 2003;

Francisco Bethencourt, Razzismi: dalle crociate al XX secolo, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2017 (up to p. 480);

Michel Foucault, Bisogna difendere la società, Milano, Feltrinelli, 1998;

George L. Mosse, Il razzismo in Europa. Dalle origini all'Olocausto, Laterza, Roma-Bari, 1980 (only the first part);

George M. Fredrickson, Breve storia del razzismo, Roma, Donzelli, 2002

Non-attending students will add the following text:

Herbert S. Klein, Il commercio atlantico degli schiavi, Roma, Carocci, 2014

Teaching methods

In addition to the traditional lecture, the teacher will analyze texts and images concerning the theme of the course. Any educational materials will be made available on-line in the appropriate section (Alma-DL) of the University website http://campus.cib.unibo.it/

Assessment methods

The oral exam will take place in the dates expected at the end of the lessons. Attending students will agree with the teacher a little research to be discussed in the third part of the course by exposing it to their colleagues.

For a successful exam it is appreciated not only the direct and in-depth reading of the texts, but also the liveliness and the ability to critically re-elaborate the information.

Teaching tools

The course may also include participation in seminars and conferences promoted by the teacher, as well as visits to archives and libraries to make contact with the early modern age sources present in the city of Bologna and its surroundings. Internet will be used to access sites that redirect manuscript sources, images, texts and materials of interest.

Links to further information

https://www.unibo.it/sitoweb/vincenzo.lavenia

Office hours

See the website of Vincenzo Lavenia