Unit CONTEMPORARY HISTORY

Course
Humanities
Study-unit Code
GP005973
Curriculum
Classico
Teacher
Luca La Rovere
Teachers
  • Luca La Rovere
Hours
  • 72 ore - Luca La Rovere
CFU
12
Course Regulation
Coorte 2019
Offered
2021/22
Learning activities
Base
Area
Storia, filosofia, psicologia, pedagogia, antropologia e geografia
Academic discipline
M-STO/04
Type of study-unit
Opzionale (Optional)
Type of learning activities
Attività formativa monodisciplinare
Language of instruction
Italian
Contents
An introduction to Contemporary history. Part I. The Nineteenth century and the rise of mass society: economy, politics, cultures. Part II. Wars, totalitarianisms and democracies in the Twentieth century. Part III. brief history of Republican Italy from postwar to present.
Reference texts
Sabatucci-Vidotto, Il mondo contemporaneo dal 1948 ad oggi (Laterza)
Guido Formigoni, Storia essenziale dell'Italia repubblicana, Il Mulino 2021
Educational objectives
Students are expected to acquire a general knowledge of XIX and XX century history, as an instrument to understand the reality in which they live. Attending the lectures, students will learn to recognize the most important events and the main trends of thought which marked the process of modernization. Students are expected to shift from a trivial view of the past, as a mere sequence of facts, to one based on the interpretations of the events, as the main feature of the historiographic knowledge.
Prerequisites
A general knowledge (high school level) of the main topics of contemporary history is highly recommended.
Teaching methods
Face-to-face lessons; photos, documentaries and films (DVD, Youtube, etc.). Some of the multimedia materials used during the lessons will be uploaded on unistudium.
Other information
Students are warmly invited to register to the course’s page on unistudium in order to receive every information about the course and stay in contact with the teacher.
https://www.unistudium.unipg.it/unistudium/
Learning verification modality
Written exams will be held at the end of the I and II part of the course. The exam will be a written paper based on 10 multiple choice answer questions (1 point each) and 4 open answer questions (5 points each). The exam aims to assess the student’s degree of knowledge of the program of the course and his/her linguistic ability. The written exams give access to the final oral examination (III part).
Depending on the changing of the situation connected to pandemic, the modality of evaluation could change.
Extended program
Part I: An introduction to the history of XIX century, intended to facilitate the understanding of Nineteenth century history. The following topics will be afforded : the origins of mass politics: liberalism, democracy, socialism, nationalism. Industrial revolutions and the birth of mass society: ways of life, mentalities, values and forms of organization of the urban bourgeoisies and working classes. The “myth of progress”: science and mass culture in XIX century. A fading of religious values: the secularization of Western societies. International relationships at the end of XIX century: Imperialism and colonialism. Racism and anti-semitism.
Part II: Political and social history of XX century. An insight on the following topics: war and modernity; the crisis of parliamentary democracies; the crisis of ’29 and the “new deal”; the industry in the age of fordism; public interventionism: the age of welfare state; the arise of totalitarian regimes (Fascism, Nazism, Stalinism); the second world war and the destruction of European jews; international relationships in the age of the Cold war; decolonization and the “third world”; the “golden age”; the end of the cold war and the “new global order”.
Part III: The history of republican Italy will be examined, in its most relevant passages, in connection with the international context and taking into account the political, social, economic, cultural aspects: the transition to postfascism, the constituent season and the phase of centrism, the opening of the center-left, the season of movements and "national solidarity", the advent of the Second Republic and the search for a difficult balance, between economic and political crisis.
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