OVERVIEW

The classes intend to offer students a few basic clues to acquire and to develop skills concerning the origins, the transformations, the contents, the sources, and the research methods of social history, paying also attention to the dynamics of the academic debate, with special reference to the contemporary era.  They will rely on the experience of mass migrations from Italy as a preferential case study to exemplify and to address such issues.

AIMS AND CONTENT

LEARNING OUTCOMES

Classes aim at enabling students to acquire and to develop skills concerning the
origins, the transformations, the contents, the sources, and the research
methods of social history, paying also attention to the dynamics of the
academic debate, with special reference to the contemporary era. Mass
migrations from Italy, one of the most relevant social phenomena in this
country’s history after the national unification, and their possible
interpretations will offer the preferential case study to address such issues
by means of the analysis of specific experiences.

 

AIMS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES

The classes have two main purposes. On the one hand, they intend to offer students a few basic clues to acquire and to develop knowledge concerning the origins, the transformations, the contents, the sources, and the research methods of social history, paying also attention to the dynamics of the academic debate, with special reference to the contemporary era. On the other hand, the lessons will highlight a case study for social history. In other words, they will offer a brief overview of the most relevant events and historiographical issues concerning mass migrations from Italy, one of the most remarkable phenomena in the history of this country after the national unification, suggesting a few possible periodizations and interpretations. By the end of the classes the students will have the knowledge and the main methodological and theoretical tools to master the most important events, analytical categories, and historiographical issues related the social history of the contemporary era, with special reference to the case study of Italian mass migrations. They will also acquire skills about the availability, use and interpretation of sources and will be able to discuss the most significant historiographical paradigms.

PREREQUISITES

None. A basic knowledge of contemporary history is desirable but not compulsory.

TEACHING METHODS

Frontal lessons, for as many as 36 hours, with the aid of audio-visual sources.

SYLLABUS/CONTENT

Mass migrations from Italy as a case study for social history. After discussing the origins, transformations, contents, sources, and research methods of social history, the classes will highlight mass migrations from Italy as a case study for one of the most relevant social phenomena of this country after the national unification, on the grounds that such exodus had roughly twenty-six million people as main characters – let alone the individuals who were indirectly involved, starting with relatives who remained at home – between 1876 and 1976. In particular, the classes will address the possible periodizations of Italian migrations, as for both the destinations and the volume of the fluxes; the concept of “migrant” and the sources to draw quantitative data about the several phases of the exodus; the documentation to reconstruct the migrants’ experiences; the main interpretative paradigms, with special references to the notions of “diaspora” and “transnationalism”; the global context for Italian migrations; the relationship between expatriation and the economic cycles; xenophobia and anti-Italian prejudice in the host societies; the new mobility in the wake of the 2008 economic recession; the public use of the history of Italian migrations. Attention will be also paid to the fact that people’s mobility, albeit not at a mass level, was a constant feature of pre-industrial Italy and to the circularity of migration-related phenomena, shaped by conspicuous return fluxes and the temporary presence in Italy by migrants willing to move somewhere else.

RECOMMENDED READING/BIBLIOGRAPHY

Patrizia Audenino e Maddalena Tirabassi, Migrazioni italiane. Storia e storie dall’Ancien régime a oggi, Milan, Bruno Mondadori, 2008, ISBN 978-88-6159-208-7;

Michele Colucci e Matteo Sanfilippo, Guida allo studio dell’emigrazione italiana, Viterbo, Sette Città, 2010, ISBN 978-88-7853-202-1;

All the materials upoloaded to Aulaweb.

TEACHERS AND EXAM BOARD

Exam Board

STEFANO LUCONI (President)

NICOLETTA VARANI (President)

ENRICO BERNARDINI

LESSONS

LESSONS START

Monday, 23 September 2019.

Class schedule

SOCIAL HISTORY

EXAMS

EXAM DESCRIPTION

For students attending and not attending classes, the exam is divided into two compulsory parts, both rigorously individual and without any aid (except for students who are entitled to such support as, for instance, conceptual diagrams on the basis of specific prescription). First part: elaboration of a written review on a research monograph assigned by the instructor, or a brief written paper drawing upon a source assigned by the instructor and selected preferably among those available at the Archivio Ligure della Scrittura Popolare at the DISFOR. The length of the text for both the review and the paper must be comprised between six and seven double-spaced pages (times new roman 12, margins 2.2 cm on left, right, top and bottom) and must be submitted as a PDF file to the instructor’s email account at least fifteen working days before the day of the exam. Monograph and source can be assigned by email only. Second part: oral exam about the issues addressed at classes and on the contents of the readings listed in the “Recommeded reading/bibliography” section of this syllabus.

ASSESSMENT METHODS

First part: the successful review will provide an outline of the structure and contents of the research monograph, along with an assessment of its conclusion against the backdrop of the sources used and the existing works on the topic; the successful paper will critically draw upon the source, discussing the documentation’s assets and shortcomings, and will exploit it to offer a segment of the Italian migration experience, placing its own case study within the historical and historiographical context. Second part: the questions of the oral exam will aim at assessing students’ familiarity with the issues addressed at classes and the contents of the readings listed in the “Recommeded reading/bibliography” section of this syllabus. They will also assess the knowledge of both the historical events and the possible periodizations, the understanding of the interpretative categories used to reconstruct migration-related phenomena, and the ability to resort to the specific lexicon of the discipline. Clarity in expressing one’s ideas and arguments will be a further element of evaluation. The final grade will result from the combination of the assessment of all these factors. Students are advised not to prepare the second part of the exam by learning names and dates by heart. Further clues about how to prepare the exam will provided during classes, especially as for the written part.

Exam schedule

FURTHER INFORMATION

There is no special program for students who do not attend classes. Students who decide not to attend classes by their own free choice are nonetheless required to keep themselves up to date about the contents of the lessons and to get ready to discuss such topics during the exam. Consulting the materials uploaded to Aulaweb is, therefore, essential and inescapable, even though the mere reading of such texts is not enough to pass the exam.