Aims

The students shall be able to give an interpretation of the semantics of history. That is to say, they shall examine a series of historical facts and their relative representations coherently (with an emphasis on works of literature and iconographic expressions).
Students shall be able to compare various historical documents, be they graphic, literary, journalistic, or on film (fictional or documentary).
The course aims to develop the students' autonomy when doing research, as well as to develop their awareness of Italian culture, by enabling them to recognize its distinctive traits.

Main themes

Development of subjects concerning the XIX century that anticipate some important political and social aspects of contemporary life:
Birth of the concept of the Italian nation
Federalist ideas in Italy in the XIX century
Cultural and economic differences between the North and the South; the meridional question
Political "trasformismo" after 1876
Iconography and the Risorgimento
The Italian concept of Europe in the XIX century

Content and teaching methods

The course deals with the dominant traits of the written and iconographic cultural expressions in Italy at the time of the unification of the country (1861)
The course aims to show the manner in which Italy built its national identity. In the course of this process, positive and heroic aspects sided with extreme ideologies, which eventually led to the fascist dictatorship in the XX century. Parallely, we will consider the development of the concept of Europe throughout the XIX century.
The methodology will consist in comparison between written and iconographic sources from that period, and contemporary sources. One can frequently observe that the newspapers, the cinema and the television introduce themes and figures dating from that historical period to backup their current arguments.
By the end of the course, each student shall present a paper of approximately five pages, based on the comparative analysis of written and iconographic documents, and do an oral presentation of his/her work. The professor shall issue the documentation.

Other information (prerequisite, evaluation (assessment methods), course materials recommended readings, ...)

Requirements: intermediate knowledge of spoken and written Italian.
Marking: in view of the exam, each student shall develop a personal study, which coherently shows the relation between an important theme of Italian history and the expressions used in journalism and/or film. The topic can be chosen freely among those seen during the course. A written report (8.000 characters) is required of the students.
During the second half of the course, each student will do an oral presentation. If the level of this presentation is not adequate, either due to the linguistics or to the methodology, the student will be able to compensate his weaknesses by means of a new assignment to be agreed upon with the teacher.
Other: reading of books and newspapers, film and documentary analysis.

Other credits in programs