87367 - Entangled History and Religions (1) (LM)

Learning outcomes

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.

Course contents

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, as it might have been organised and performed in different urban contexts. A historical journey through different cities will offer a number of different urban examples of how religion contributed to forge the built environment, how religious interactions and encounters were established and negotiated, and ultimately how religious conflict and interactions might determine the future of cities.

Week 1: Introduction to key terms: Religion & Urbanity. 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. What is diversity? How to conceptualize religious diversity in the city: urban models, rituals, and practices. Visibility and invisibility of religious groups. Case-studies: the ghetto and the Muslim city.

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

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

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

Readings/Bibliography

A. Students who did attend classes will select:

1. the collection of article of Prof. Facchini in Virtuale;

2. Two articles in Virtuale;

3. One book from the list below:

Dana Katz, The Jewish Ghetto and the Visual Imagination of Early Modern Venice, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2017.

Nancy Khalek, Damascus after the Muslim Conquest: Text and Image in Early Islam, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2011

Space and conversion in Global Perspective, eds., Giuseppe Marcocci, Wietse De Boer, Aliocha Maldawki, Ilaria Pavan, Brill, Leiden – Boston, 2015.

Liam Matthew Brockey, ed., Portuguese Colonial Cities in the Early Modern World, Ashgate, Aldershot, 200.

Simon Goldhill, Jerusalem City of Longing, Cambridge – London, The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2008.

Simon Sebag Montefiore, Jerusalem: the Biography, London: Widenfeld & Nicholson, 2011.

Mark Mazower, Salonika, City of Ghosts: Christians, Muslims, and Jews, 1430-1950, Vintage Books, New York, 2004.

Barbara Mundy, The Death of Aztec Tenochtitlan, the Life of Mexico City, Austin: Austin University Press 2015

Charles King, Odessa: Genius and Death in a City of Dreams, New York & London: W.W. Norton

Supriya Chaudhuri (ed.), Religion and the City in India, Routledge, London - New York, 2022

4. One book on religion and empires (Syllabus).

B. Students who did not attend classes 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.

Bibliography for students who did not attend class:

1 book to select among:

Richard Sennet, ed., Classic Essays on the Culture of the Cities, Meredith Corporation, New York 1969.

Richard Sennet, Flesh and Stone: the Body and the City in Western Civilization, Norton, New York - London, 1996.

2 books among:

Dana Katz, The Jewish Ghetto and the Visual Imagination of Early Modern Venice, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2017.

Space and conversion in Global Perspective, eds., Giuseppe Marcocci, Wietse De Boer, Aliocha Maldawki, IlariaPavan, Brill, Leiden – Boston, 2015.

Benjamin Kaplan, Divided by Faith: Religious Connflict and the Practice of Religious Toleration in Early Europe, Cambridge – London, The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2007.

Liam Matthew Brockey, ed., Portuguese Colonial Cities in the Early Modern World, Ashgate, Aldershot, 200.

Simon Goldhill, Jerusalem City of Longing, Cambridge – London, The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2008.

Simon Sebag Montefiore, Jerusalem: the Biography, London: Widenfeld & Nicholson, 2011.

Mark Mazower, Salonika, City of Ghosts: Christians, Muslims, and Jews, 1430-1950, Vintage Books, New York, 2004.

Nina Rowe, 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)

Nancy Khalek, Damascus after the Muslim Conquest: Text and Image in Early Islam, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2011

Paula Sanders, Ritual, Politics, and the City in Fatimid Cairo, Suny University Press, New York, 1994

Ethel Sara Wolper, Cities and Saints: Sufism and the Transformation of Urban Space in Medieval Anatolia

Charles King, Odessa: Genius and Death in a City of Dreams, New York & London: W.W. Norton

Supriya Chaudhuri (ed.), Religion and the City in India, Routledge, London - New York, 2022

Peter Harris, The Fall of Rome and the Rise of Islam, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011

Global Catholicism

Global Calvinism

Diasporas

Teaching methods

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

Assessment methods

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.

Teaching tools

Visual Aid, Powerpoint, Documentaries

Office hours

See the website of Cristiana Facchini