OVERVIEW

The course of Contemporary History (unit B) is in line with the objectives of the degree course in Modern Languages ​​and Cultures (LCM), as it intends to provide the essential tools for understanding, in a transnational perspective, the dynamics, processes and events of the contemporary world, in a phase between the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of XXI century

The course is reserved for students with a surname E-O.

AIMS AND CONTENT

LEARNING OUTCOMES

The aim of the course is provide students with basic knowledge of 19th and 20th century history both from a political-institutional and social-economic point of view, in order to achieve four main targets: contextualize events, identify causes and effects; being able to undertake historical research through the correct use of sources; being familiar with various historiographical interpretations; efficiently communicate the contents learned.

AIMS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES

The course aims to offer the basic knowledge of contemporary history and to provide the methodological tools to establish thematic and cultural links between the historical dynamics presented.

At the end of the course, the student will be able to:

• master the basics of events and cultures in Italy, Europe and the world in the contemporary age

• understand the political, social, economic and cultural transformations that characterized the 19th, 20th and early 21st centuries

• interpret the results of historiographical research with a conscious and critical approach

• have the methodological tools to present specific themes of contemporary history

• have direct knowledge of the historical sources presented

SDGs

This course contributes to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals of the UN 2030 Agenda.

16. Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions

17. Partnerships for the Goals

PREREQUISITES

A good knowledge of written and spoken Italian is necessary to pass the exam

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.

TEACHING METHODS

Course of 36 hours, equivalent to 6 CFU.

Attendance is not compulsory but warmly recommended.

The course, for the academic year 2024/2025, will take place through classroom lectures.

Distance learning will be used, through the TEAMS platforms, only in the case of a Red weather alarm when all the University offices are closed.

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SYLLABUS/CONTENT

Program:

1. The Congress of Vienna and the Restoration
2. The awakening of nationalities, the liberal, democratic and national revolutions (1820-1848)
3. The Italian Risorgimento: the historical context and the main figures
4. Italian unification
5. German unification
6. The American continent
7. Imperialism and colonialism
8. Liberal Italy, the origins of the Catholic movement and the workers' and socialist movement
9. The First World War
10. Post-war Italy and the advent of fascism
11. The thirties and the age of totalitarianism
12. The Second World War and the Resistance in Italy and Europe
13. The Cold War
14. The age of centrism in Italy
15. The process of European integration
16. The big changes of the sixties
17. The world and Italy in the 1970s
18. The eighties and nineties: the fall of the Berlin wall and the end of the bipolar system

RECOMMENDED READING/BIBLIOGRAPHY

For attending students:

- lecture notes

- material uploaded to the aulaweb

- Alfredo Canavero, Storia contemporanea, Pearson, 2019

Non-attending students:

- material uploaded to the aulaweb

- Alfredo Canavero, Storia contemporanea, Pearson, 2019

- prepare two, chosen from the following volumes on which they will report in written form:

• Paolo Borruso, Debre Libanos 1937. Il più grave crimine di guerra dell'Italia, Bari, Roma, Laterza, 2024
• Agostino Giovagnoli e Elisa Giunipero (a cura di), Cina, Europa, Stati Uniti. Dalla Guerra fredda a un mondo multipolare, Milano, Guerini e associati, 2023
• La Conferenza internazionale di Genova del 1922, Genova, Istituto ligure per la storia della Resistenza e dell'età contemporanea Raimondo Ricci, 2022
• Paolo Pombeni, L'apertura. L'Italia e il centrosinistra (1953-1963), Bologna, Il mulino, 2022
• Guido Formigoni, I cattolici italiani nella prima guerra mondiale. Nazione, religione, violenza e politica, Brescia, Morcelliana, 2021
• Guido Levi, L’europeismo ai tempi dell’Assemblea Costituente, Milano, Wolters Kluwer; Padova, CEDAM, 2020
• Daniela Preda, Alcide De Gasperi: European Founding Father, Brussels, Peter Lang, 2017
• Lara Piccardo, Ai confini dell’Europa. Piccola storia della Crimea contesa, Bari, Cacucci, 2017
• Marco Impagliazzo, Il martirio degli armeni. Un genocidio dimenticato, Brescia, Morcelliana, 2015
• Maurizio Ridolfi (a cura di), I Presidenti: storia e costumi della Repubblica nell’Italia democratica, Roma, Viella, 2014
• Agostino Giovagnoli, Il caso Moro. Una tragedia repubblicana, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2009

TEACHERS AND EXAM BOARD

Exam Board

LUCA BARBAINI (President)

LESSONS

LESSONS START

I semester 2024

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Class schedule

CONTEMPORARY HISTORY B

EXAMS

EXAM DESCRIPTION

Written exam at the end of the course and at all the scheduled dates. 

The written exam, in Italian lasting two hours, includes:

- on the Nineteenth Century: 3 open-ended questions and 2 multiple choice questions,

- on the Twentieth Century: 3 open-ended questions and 2 multiple choice questions.

To pass the exam, both parts must be sufficient.

The system for registering for individual sessions through the University's online system remains unchanged.

ASSESSMENT METHODS

The assessment test consists of a written exam:

- on the Nineteenth century: 3 open-ended questions and 2 multiple choice questions,

- on the Twentieth century: 3 open-ended questions and 2 multiple choice questions.

The evaluation parameters are: presentation skills, correct use of historiographical vocabulary, critical reasoning skills.

Exam schedule

FURTHER INFORMATION

Students with SLD certification, disability or other special educational needs are advised to contact the teacher at the beginning of the course. These students will be granted the compensatory / dispensatory tools recognized by the University.Contact Person for the Department Prof.ssa Sara Dickinson.

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