OVERVIEW

The course aims to provide students with a basic framework for the understanding of the contemporary history of European and non-European countries, through a perspective that highlights the plurality of methodological approaches in historical analysis. The chronological scope of the course ranges from the French Revolution (1789) to the end of the Cold War (1989-91) and includes an analysis of the main historical events and the treatment of the most relevant historiographical issues for the contemporary age. Special attention will be devoted to the gender perspective. 

AIMS AND CONTENT

LEARNING OUTCOMES

The aim of this course is to provide a basic framework for the understanding of the main political, social, economic and cultural phenomena of the contemporary age (from the French Revolution to the end of the Cold War), setting them into a national as well as into a global perspective.

AIMS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES

The aim of this course is to provide a basic framework for the knowledge and understanding of the main historical events and processes, and the treatment of the most relevant methodological and historiographical issues for the contemporary age.

Specific objectives of the teaching, in the 6cfu version, are the knowledge, understanding and linking of the main processes and problems (economic, social, cultural and political) of the contemporary age. 

In the 9 cfu version, the above-mentioned objectives are supplemented by a critical awareness of the main questions posed by the historiographical debate.

In both cases, one of the teaching objective is the enhancement of the gender perspective.

At the end of the course, students attending the teaching in the 6cfu version will be able to:

- demonstrate a solid understanding of the main turning points of contemporary history (knowledge and understanding);
- develop the ability to build links between phenomena and propose analysis that takes into account historical development also in comparative terms (knowledge and ability of applied comprehension);

-enhancing transversal skills, including functional literacy (basic level), i.e. the ability to communicate effectively in written and oral form, adapting one's communication to the context;
- use an appropriate disciplinary language (written and oral communication skills).

In addition to the above-mentioned outcomes, those attending the 9cfu course are expected to:

- demonstrate to have learnt the rudiments of the historical method (sources and methodology);

- be able to develop a critical approach to historiographic interpretations (autonomy of judgment).

TEACHING METHODS

Frontal teaching will be the main teaching method used during classes, but participation will be strongly encouraged. Powerpoint presentations will be used and some materials will be shared on Aulaweb.

For all information, please follow the lecturer's communication via Aulaweb 2023/2024.

SYLLABUS/CONTENT

The programme deals with the main issues of contemporary history. The chronological span goes from the eighteenth-century revolutions to the end of the Cold War.

For all modules (6 and 9 credits) the program is organized following the topics considered in the reference manual.

RECOMMENDED READING/BIBLIOGRAPHY

THE PROGRAM IS THE SAME FOR THOSE ATTENDING THE LECTURES AND THOSE STUDENTS WHO ARE NOT ATTENDING.

Reference Manual:  A. M. Banti, L’età contemporanea, vol I (Dalle rivoluzioni settecentesche all’imperialismo) and vol. II (Dalla Grande Guerra a oggi), Laterza, Roma-Bari, 2012.

For the 6 cfu program, students must prepare the manual (both volumes).

For the 9 cfu program, students must prepare, in addition to the manual on which he/she/they will be examined in the written test, 1 monographs chosen from the list below.

LIST OF BOOKS TO CHOOSE FROM (Students may choose to read the monographs in the original language in which they were published):

Marco Armiero, Roberta Biasillo, Wilko Graff von Hardenberg, La natura del Duce. Una storia ambientale del fascismo, Einaudi, Torino 2022;

Stéphane Audoin-Rouzeau, Annette Becker, La violenza, la crociata, il lutto. La Grande guerra e la storia del Novecento, Einaudi, Torino 2002 [2000];

Tony Ballantyne, Antoinette Burton, L'età degli imperi globali, 1870-1945, Einaudi, Torino 2022 (trad. di Piero Arlorio);

Alberto Mario Banti, La nazione del Risorgimento. Parentela, santità e onore alle origini dell’Italia unita, Einaudi, Torino 2011 [2000];

Alberto Mario Banti, L'onore della nazione. Identità sessuali e violenza nel nazionalismo europeo dal XVIII secolo alla Grande Guerra, Einaudi, Torino 2005;

Sven Beckert, L’impero del cotone. Una storia globale, Einaudi, Torino 2016 [2014];

Stefania Bernini, Marrying and Divorcing in Post-war Europe. Politics and Societies Across the Iron Curtain, Edizioni Ca’ Foscari, Venezia 2020 (open access);

Maud Bracke, La nuova politica delle donne. Il femminismo in Italia 1968-1983, Edizioni di storia e letteratura, Roma 2019;

Cristopher R. Browning, Uomini comuni. Polizia tedesca e "soluzione finale" in Polonia, Einaudi, Torino 2004 [1992];

Gregory Claeys, Marx e il marxismo, Einaudi, Torino 2020;

Enzo Collotti, Fascismo, fascismi, Sansoni, Firenze 1994;

Victoria De Grazia, Le donne nel regime fascista, Marsilio, Venezia 2001 (3a ed.);

Valeria Deplano, La madrepatria è una terra straniera. Libici, eritrei e somali nell'Italia del dopoguerra (1945-1960), Le Monnier, Firenze 2017;

Christopher Duggan, Il popolo del Duce. Storia emotiva dell'Italia fascista, Laterza, Roma-Bari 2019 [2012];

Vinzia Fiorino, Il genere della cittadinanza. Diritti civili e politici delle donne in Francia (1789-1915), Viella, Roma 2020;

Peter Gatrell, L'inquietudine dell'Europa. Come la migrazione ha rimodellato un continente, Einaudi, Torino 2020;

Antonio Gibelli, L’officina della guerra. La Grande Guerra e le trasformazioni del mondo mentale, Bollati Boringhieri, Torino 2009 [1991];

Paul Ginsborg, Famiglia Novecento. Vita familiare, rivoluzione e dittature. 1900-1950, Einaudi, Torino 2013;

Paul Ginsborg, Storia d'Italia dal dopoguerra a oggi, Einaudi, Torino 1989;

Gabriella Gribaudi, La memoria, i traumi, la storia. La guerra e le catastrofi del Novecento, Viella, Roma 2020;

Dagmar Herzog, Sex After Fascism. Memory and Morality in Twentieth-Century Germany, Princeton U.P., Princeton 2005;

Eric J. Hobsbawm, Il trionfo della borghesia. 1848-1875, Laterza, Roma-Bari 2018 [1975];

Tony Judt, Postwar. La nostra storia 1945-2005, Roma-Bari, Laterza 2017 [2005];

Nicola Labanca, Oltremare. Storia dell’espansione coloniale italiana, Il Mulino, Bologna 2021 [2002];

David S. Landes, Prometeo liberato. Trasformazioni tecnologiche e sviluppo industriale nell’Europa occidentale dal 1750 ai giorni nostri, Einaudi, Torino, 2016 [1969];

John R. McNeill, Qualcosa di nuovo sotto il sole. Storia dell'ambiente nel XX secolo, con una nuova introduzione Einaudi, Torino 2020 (trad. Piero Arlorio);

George L. Mosse, Il razzismo in Europa dalle origini all’olocausto, Laterza, Roma-Bari 2020 (1978);

Franz Neumann, Behemoth. Struttura e pratica del nazionalsocialismo, Bruno Mondadori, Milano; 2007 [1942];

Claudio Pavone, Una guerra civile. Saggio storico sulla moralità nella Resistenza, Bollati Boringhieri, Torino, 2013 [1991];

Luisa Passerini, Autoritratto di gruppo, Giunti-Barbera, Firenze 1988;

Robert O. Paxton, Il fascismo in azione, Mondadori, Milano 2005 [2004];

Adriano Prosperi, Un volgo disperso. Contadini d'Italia nell'Ottocento, Einaudi, Torino 2021;

Federico Romero, Storia della guerra fredda. L'ultimo conflitto per l'Europa, Einaudi, Torino 2009;

Emily S. Rosenberg, In un mondo sempre più piccolo. Le correnti transnazionali dal 1870 al 1945, Einaudi, Torino 2022 (trad. di Paola Pace);

Guri Schwarz, Tu mi devi seppellir. Riti funebri e culto nazionale alle origini della Repubblica, Utet, Torino 2010;

Frank Trentmann, L'impero delle cose. Come siamo diventati consumatori. Dal XV al XXI secolo, Einaudi, Torino 2017 e 2023 (2016);

Barbara Sorgoni, Parole e corpi. Antropologia, discorso giuridico e politiche sessuali interraziali nella colonia Eritrea (1890-1941), Liguori, Napoli 1998;

John Tosh, A Man’s Place: Masculinity and the Middle-Class Home in Victorian England, Yale University Press, New Haven (Conn) 1999;

TEACHERS AND EXAM BOARD

Exam Board

ENRICA ASQUER (President)

GURI SCHWARZ

MATTEO CAPONI (Substitute)

FRANCESCO CASSATA (Substitute)

LESSONS

LESSONS START

Classes will be held in the second semester, and will begin between 19th and 23rd February 2024 (to be precised later).

Class schedule

L'orario di tutti gli insegnamenti è consultabile all'indirizzo EasyAcademy.

EXAMS

EXAM DESCRIPTION

For students not attending the lectures the exam will take place only orally. It will be focused on the discussion of the two volumes of the manual (6cfu) and of the monograph chosen (9cfu).

For students attending the lectures there will be a written test divided into two parts that will take place during the course.The first test will take place mid-course and will cover the first volume of the textbook, while the second test will take place in the last lecture of the course and will cover the second volume of the textbook. Both tests will consist of two open questions.

For those students (9cfu) who have passed both written tests, the oral exam will concern the discussion of the chosen monograph.

For those students (6cfu + 9cfu) who have passed just one written test, the oral exam will concern the discussion of the volume of the textbook in the test that was NOT passed, in addition to the monograph of choice (9cfu).

For those students who do not pass either test, the oral exam will concern both volumes of the textbook (6cfu), plus the monograph of their choice (9cfu).
 

ASSESSMENT METHODS

The examination committee verifies the achievement of the course’s objectives, as follows.

The written tests (for those attending 6 cfu and 9 cfu) and the oral exam for those not attending or those who do not pass the written test(s), will assess the student's ability to:

- demonstrate a solid understanding of the main turning points of contemporary history (knowledge and understanding);
- demonstrate the ability to build links between phenomena and propose analysis that takes into account historical development also in comparative terms (knowledge and ability of applied comprehension);
- show transversal skills, including functional literacy (basic level), i.e. the ability to communicate effectively in written and oral form, adapting one's communication to the context;

- use an appropriate disciplinary language (written and oral communication skills).

For those attending the 9cfu version of the course, in addition to the above, the oral examination will assess, also discussing the monograph of their choice, the students' ability to:

- show that they have learnt the rudiments of the historical method (sourcer and methodology);

- develop a conscious critical approach to historiographic interpretations (autonomy of judgment).

Exam schedule

FURTHER INFORMATION

Students are invited to consult the page (http://www.aulaweb.unige.it/) where all information and teaching materials will be published.

lass attendence is highly reccomended.

Erasmus students may discuss changes to the content of the program with the course instructor.