OVERVIEW

The course of Contemporary History (block B) is in line with the objectives of the degree course in Modern Languages ​​and Cultures (L-11), as it intends to provide the essential tools for understanding, in a global perspective, the dynamics, processes and events of the contemporary world, in a phase between the second half of the nineteenth century and the present time.

AIMS AND CONTENT

LEARNING OUTCOMES

The course provides a basic knowledge of the history of the contemporary age from both a political-institutional and economic-social point of view in order to pursue three objectives: contextualize events, identifying their causes and effects; carry out historical research through the correct use of sources; be familiar with the variety of historiographical interpretations; effectively communicate the contents of the course through historiographical conceps and language.

AIMS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES

At the end of the course, students must demonstrate:
- Ability to identify and locate in time and space the main issues inherent in the contemporary world;
- Ability to reconstruct a coherent and synchronic framework of the main dynamics and events of European history;
- Ability to outline its national features in a transnational and extra-European perspective, where possibile;
- Ability to understand the relationships between phenomena, their causal and multi-causal relationships, and to operate an initial form of historiographical conceptualization.

With regard to practical and communication skills, the student must demonstrate:
- Ability to actively follow the lectures, taking notes, asking questions, comparing the notes with the assigned study texts;
- Ability to clearly and consistently explain the topics asked during the exam, using a language appropriate to the discipline.

PREREQUISITES

Knowledge of the Italian language. For foreign students a basic knowledge of the Italian language is sufficient, cf. the paragraph “C.II.10. Avvertenze per gli studenti stranieri”, pp. 16-17, of the “Guida ai Corsi di Studio in Lingue del Dipartimento di Lingue e Culture Moderne”, a.y. 2021-2022.

Should the lessons will be held remotely also in this academic year 2021-2022, due to the persistence of the COVID 19 pandemic, it is necessary to have electronic device (PC, tablet, smartphone) with quick internet line to connect to the TEAMS and AULAWEB platforms to follow the lessons of the course.

TEACHING METHODS

Course of 36 hours, equivalent to 6 CFU.

As things currently stand, course for the academic year 2021-2022 will be carried out as distance learning and will take place on the "TEAMS" and "AULAWEB" platforms. Both platforms are available to regularly enrolled students by entering www.cedia.unige.it website.

Attendance is not compulsory but warmly recommended

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SYLLABUS/CONTENT

The course program is divided into various teaching units, roughly corresponding to the division into chapters of the textbook indicated in the exam program (see section 'Recommended reading/bibliography').

The lessons of the course will focus on the following thematic blocks of Italian, European and world history, between the second half of the nineteenth century and the present time:

1) When does the contemporary age begin? Periodizations, concepts and categories of the contemporary age;
2) The second industrial revolution and the birth of mass society;
3) The first globalization: new extra-European powers, colonial expansion, imperialism;
4) Liberal Italy (1861-1915);
5) World War I;
6) WWI aftermath in Europe and Italy;
7) The fascist regime;
8) Wall Street Crash of '29 and the New Deal;
9) Europe of the 1930s: democracies and totalitarianisms;
10) The Second World War;
11) The Cold War;
12) The decolonization;
13) Postwar Italy;
14) From the golden age to the crisis of the 70s: economic transformations and social changes;
15) Europe between integration, enlargement and resistance;
16) The fall of communisms in Europe and the end of the "Republic of Parties" in Italy;
17) The Middle East: Arab–Israeli conflict, geopolitics of energy, Islamic radicalism;
18) A world without a center: globalization, digital revolution, migration, financial and environmental crises.

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RECOMMENDED READING/BIBLIOGRAPHY

The recommended textbook for the course is:

Giovanni Sabbatucci, Vittorio Vidotto, Il mondo contemporaneo, Bari-Roma, Laterza, 2019 Edition.

More information on the textbook will be given during the lessons.

Furthermore, during the lessons, additional teaching materials (i.e. maps, cartographies) will be provided. Additional tools will be made available to students from time to time and will help them to spatially contextualize the study of the textbook.

TEACHERS AND EXAM BOARD

Exam Board

GIOVANNI CRISTINA (President)

ENRICA ASQUER

LESSONS

LESSONS START

The course will take place in the first semester (from 04/10/2021 to 14/01/2022).

In particular, the course will start on Wednesday 6 October from 18.00 to 19.00

The timetable of the lessons is as follows:

- Wednesday (18.00-19.00)

- Friday (10.00-12.00)

Any changes (i.e. coinciding with holidays) will be communicated during the lessons and promptly announced via aulaweb2021

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Class schedule

CONTEMPORARY HISTORY B

EXAMS

EXAM DESCRIPTION

The examinations, if the situation related to COVID-19 allows it, will be written and in Italian and will consist of a series of questions - both general and more specific - aimed at verifying the students' level of preparation and ability to elaborate on the single themes dealt with in the course. The questions will selectively cover the entire chronological span of the course (from the second half of the 19th century to the present day).

Examinations will be held at the end of the course and in all the scheduled sessions. The system of registration for individual exams via the University's online system remains unchanged.

Students who are unable to take the examination in written form may arrange other types of examination with the teacher. In this case it is necessary to contact the teacher in advance (one month before the date of the exam).

ASSESSMENT METHODS

The written examination consists of a test with various types of questions.

In the case of an oral examination, it will consist of an interview of varying length (approximately twenty minutes).

In the final assessment, particular attention will be paid during the examination both to expressive abilities - especially in relation to the use of an adequate and non-generic historiographic language - and to the ability to contextualise in time and space the processes, themes and dynamics addressed in the lessons and to critically link them together in a comparative and transnational perspective.

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Exam schedule

FURTHER INFORMATION

Students with “Special Needs”: the compensatory/dispensative tools recognized by the Department coordinator, Prof.ssa Sara Dickinson, and by the University Service for students with special needs are applied.

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