00932 - Contemporary History (M-Z)

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course, the student understands the fundamental characteristics of the political-institutional and socio-economic history of the 19th and 20th centuries and has critically explored the methodologies and key issues of contemporary historical evolution. They are able to identify the development of specific phenomena and events, the long-term structures from which they originate, how and why they decline, and in what form they reappear in the course of the contemporary era.

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 today’s Western world emerged, 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 local and 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. Focusing the 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.

In more detail, the course is organized into three main sections: “Methodology and historiography”, “Pathways in international history”, and “Themes in Italian history”.

The first section, “Methodology and historiography”, covered in the initial sessions, focuses on key questions related to the nature and purpose of history. It examines how historical knowledge is constructed, the use of periodization, and the comparison of different interpretations. Attention is also given to changes in historical study over time, with particular emphasis on shifts in interpretive approaches from the 20th to the 21st century.

The second and most extensive section, “Pathways in international history”, explores a broad chronological span from the late 18th century to the present within a global framework. Beginning with the American Revolution of 1776, considered a foundational democratic transformation of the modern era, this section addresses major developments including migration, inequality, and global interconnections. Case studies will include the histories of the United States, Latin America, the Middle East, Africa, Russia, East Asia (China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan), and Europe.

The third and final section, “Themes in Italian history”, examines selected aspects of Italy’s economic, social, and political history. Topics include regional disparities since unification, environmental issues, the evolution of consumption from the Belle Époque to the early 21st century, phases of Italian colonialism, fascism and anti-fascism, and political parties in the republican era.

 

The course consists of 30 sessions, which will address the following topics:

1. Methodology and historiography. History and globalization: changing interpretive frameworks between the 20th and 21st centuries. The decline of Eurocentrism and the emergence of the “spatial turn” in World History.
2. Pathways and networks between the local and the global: The contribution of the biographical method to the study of contemporary history.
3. Interpretations and assessments of the 20th century: The century of globalization; the century of totalitarianism; the “short” century; the American century; the social democratic century.
4. International history. The American Revolution and the birth of the United States - origins and contradictions of American democracy.
5. The French Revolution and the dissemination of the idea of nationhood.
6. Napoleon Bonaparte and the emergence of a new form of power.
7. The Middle East and Europe: transcontinental connections between the 19th and 20th centuries.
8. Latin America in the 19th and 20th centuries: democratic aspirations, "caudillismo" (military dictatorship), and populism.
9. Europe from 1848 to the age of imperialism: social change and democratization processes.
10. Africa in the modern era: from precolonial societies to European imperialism, up to new forms of colonialism in the 21st century.
11. Italy from Unification to the eve of the World War I.
12. The World War I (1914 - 1918): Political and cultural origins of the conflict; military fronts and home fronts in the European context.
13. Italy in the World War I: Photographic itineraries.
14. The peace settlements and the international situation after the World War I.
15. The crisis of the interwar period.
16. Aspects of Fascist history: Regime propaganda (a visual inquiry); administering racism - the persecution of Jews in Fascist Italy.
17. The World War II and the emergence of Cold War geopolitics.
18. A history of women’s emancipation: from 18th - 19th century “proto-feminism” to political and civil achievements in the late 20th century.
19. Contemporary China: from 1945 to the present.
20. Contemporary Russia: from the Tsarist empire to Putin’s Russia.
21. Japan and East Asia: key developments in the 19th and 20th centuries.
22. Contemporary India and the decolonization process.
23. New global economic and political dynamics between the 20th and 21st centuries.
24. Migration in historical perspective: transoceanic mass migration in the 19th and 20th centuries; South-North migration flows in the contemporary world.
25. Themes in Italian history. Italian colonialism-phases, legacies, and memory from the Liberal period to the present.
26. Regional disparities in Italian history: Explaining the historical underdevelopment of the South.
27. Environmental history in Italy (19th - 21st centuries).
28. Fascism and anti-fascism: from the founding of the “Fasci di Combattimento” (1919) to the Republican Constitution (1948).
29. The 1968 movements and transformations in Italian society during the 1960s and 1970s.
30. Political history of the Italian Republic.

 

Readings/Bibliography

Students must study 3 books: the textbook, plus 2 books at their choice, according to the following guidelines:

Textbook (obligatory): 

Federico Romero, Storia internazionale dell’età contemporanea, Carocci, Roma 2021 (2012)

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

Laura Di Fiore, Marco Meriggi, World History. Le nuove rotte della storia, Laterza, Roma-Bari 2021 (2011)

Agostino Giovagnoli, Storia e globalizzazione, Laterza, Roma-Bari 2022 (2003)

Eloisa Betti, Carlo De Maria (a cura di), Biografie, percorsi e networks nell'Età contemporanea. Un approccio transnazionale tra ricerca, didattica e Public History, Bradypus, Roma 2018 - PDF open access

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

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

 

Topics of Italian history:

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

Gabriella Corona, Breve storia dell'ambiente in Italia, il Mulino, Bologna 2015

Valeria Deplano, Alessandro Pes, Storia del colonialismo italiano. Politica, cultura e memoria dall'età liberale ai nostri giorni, Carocci, Roma 2024

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

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

Emanuela Scarpellini, L’Italia dei consumi. Dalle Belle Epoque al nuovo millennio, Laterza, Roma-Bari 2021 (2008)

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

International horizons:  

Massimo Campanini, Storia del Medio Oriente contemporaneo, il Mulino, Bologna 2020 (2006)

Giovanni Carbone, L'Africa. Gli stati, la politica, i conflitti, il Mulino, Bologna 2021

Giovanna Cigliano, La Russia contemporanea. Un profilo storico, terza edizione, Carocci, Roma 2023

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

Aram Mattioli, Mondi perduti. Una storia dei nativi nordamericani, 1700-1910, Einaudi, Torino 2019

Mariuccia Salvati (a cura di), Europa. Luoghi di memoria, Treccani, Roma 2020

Arnaldo Testi, Il secolo degli Stati Uniti, il Mulino, Bologna 2022 (2008)

Loris Zanatta, Storia dell'America Latina contemporanea, Laterza, Roma-Bari 2021 (2010)

 

Teaching methods

Frontal and multimedia lessons.

 

Assessment methods

Written test, plus oral interview.

The written test is on the textbook 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 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.

In particular, answers that will be given with a proper language and with exactitude are going to be evaluated with the top marks (29-30L).

Answers that will be given without precision or property are going to be evaluated with intermediate marks (25-28).

Vagueness in the content of the answer, one or two questions left unanswered will result in marks not higher than sufficient (18-24). Substantial errors and unanswered questions will result in a grade of Insufficient.

Drafting a well-written short paper (book critical review) on one of the selected books during the lessons, according to the instructions given by the professor, allows to skip the written exam and access to the oral exam directly.

 

Teaching tools

To support easier access to course materials, the professor uploads on Virtuale platform, before each class, the slides that will be used and, after the class, the video recording of the class made with Panopto.

During the lessons, we will explore online resources related to the methodologies of historical communication and public history.

Students with SLD or temporary or permanent disabilities. It is suggested that they get in touch as soon as possible with the relevant University office (https://site.unibo.it/studenti-con-disabilita-e-dsa/en) and with the lecturer in order to seek together the most effective strategies for following the lessons and/or preparing for the examination.

 

Office hours

See the website of Carlo De Maria