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

Course Regulation

Coorte 2022

Offered

2024/25

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

Introduction to contemporary history, with particular reference to the framework of European civilization from the French Revolution to the fall of communism (1789-1989). Part one: The Nineteenth Century and the Birth of Mass Society: Economy, Politics, Society, Culture. Part two: imperialism, wars, totalitarianism and democracy in the “short century”. Part three: Republican Italy: a historical profile.

Reference texts

First and second part - Giovanni Sabbatucci- Vittorio Vidotto, Il mondo contemporaneo dal 1948 ad oggi, Laterza, varie edizioni.

Third part - a book choosen among the following:

- Eric J. Hobsbawm, Nazioni e nazionalismi dal 1870. Programma, mito, realtà, Einaudi, 2002.

- George L. Mosse, La nazionalizzazione delle masse. Simbolismo politico e movimenti di massa in Germania, 1815-1933, Il Mulino, 2009.

- Simone Attilio Bellezza, Il destino dell'Ucraina. Il futuro dell'Europa, Scholé, 2022.

- Thomas G. Fraser, Il conflitto arabo-israeliano, Il Mulino, 2015.
Specific information about the course and teaching materials will be available on the Unistudium platform: https://www.unistudium.unipg.it/unistudium/login/index.php to the page dedicated to the course of Contemporary History (Lettere ).
Students with disabilities and/or SLD who, having completed regular accreditation through SOL, have obtained access to University services, can apply for the compensatory tools provided for by the legislation (e.g. textbooks in digital format; teaching materials in accessible formats: presentations, handouts, exercises, provided if necessary in advance of the lessons), for which see page https:// www.unipg.it/disabilita-e-dsa. For the request, the student is invited to contact the teacher, who will put him/her in contact with the Referent for disability and/or SLD of the Department (prof. Alessandra Di Pilla: alessandra.dipilla@unipg.it).

Educational objectives

The course aims to provide a general knowledge of the events and historical development of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, as a tool to understand and orient oneself in contemporary world. In particular, through the attendance of the course, the student will learn:
1) to place the events in chronological succession and to recognize the main historical turning points and periodizations of the contemporary age;
2) to know the main currents of political-cultural, economic, philosophical thought from the Age of Enlightenment to the present day;
3) to reconstruct the political-institutional, economic and socio-cultural transformations that characterized the nineteenth-twentieth century modernization process;
4) to familiarize themselves with some of the historiographical interpretations of the contemporary age.
5) to understand the essential features of the methodology and the specificity and complexity of the interpretation of the sources relating to the contemporary historical age. E.g. photography, cinema, sound documents, digital information, social media.
The aim of the course is to contribute to the development of communication skills and the application of their knowledge.
Skills Required:
1) Use of an appropriate vocabulary and concepts necessary to describe historical phenomena, with reference to the events of the contemporary age.
2) Ability to understand and reflect on the complexity and the plurality of determining factors of the historical phenomena.
3) Even within the limits of a basic course, the student is required to move from a purely eventual view of history (narration of a succession of events) to one that hinges on the interpretative moment as an essential characteristic of historiographical knowledge.

Prerequisites

A general knowledge (high school level) of the main topics of contemporary history is recommended.

Teaching methods

Face-to-face lessons; . The discussion of the topics related to each of the three modules, illustrated through slides, will be integrated by the
projection of images, documentaries, films, sound documents. The multimedia materials used during the lectures are available on the unistudium page of the course.
Students with disabilities and/or SLD, after consultation with the teacher, can request any teaching materials in accessible formats (presentations, handouts, workbooks), provided in advance of the lessons, as well as the use of other technological facilitation tools in the study phase. For general information, please consult the University Services on page https://lettere.unipg.it/home/disabilita-e-dsa and contact the Contact Person for the Department (prof.ssa A. Di Pilla).
For the 2023/2024 academic year, the University of Perugia has admitted 11 categories of students to distance learning. Students who may be interested are invited to check the possibility of attending lectures in DAD on the website Procedura DAD - Università degli Studi di Perugia (unipg.it)

Other information

Students are warmly invited to register to the website of the course
unistudium in order to receive information about the course and
keep in touch with the teacher.
https://www.unistudium.unipg.it/unistudium/
Students with disabilities and/or DSA: for any information on the University's services, please visit https://lettere.unipg.it/home/disabilita-e-dsa and contact the Departmental Contact Person (Prof. Alessandra Di Pilla: alessandra.dipilla@unipg.it).

Learning verification modality

Written tests will be submitted at the end of the first and the second part of the course.
The written questionnaire consists of 10 multiple choice questions and 2 open-ended questions. The time available is 45 minutes. For multiple choice questions the student will get 2 point; for those with open answers 5 points, for a total of 30 points. The test aims to ascertain the level of knowledge of the topics covered in the course; to evaluate the student's ability to select and organize the information acquired according to a criterion of hierarchical relevance; to verify the ability to synthesize in the drafting of a short written text. The written test takes place online on the unistudium platform in the manner that will be indicated by the teacher.
The two written exemption tests, if passed with a sufficient score (18/30), give access to the final oral interview. This latter focuses
on module III and aims to verify the knowledge relating to the monographic part of the course, to ascertain the candidate's argumentative ability and language properties. The oral exam, at the request of the student, may integrate the written part if the marks obtained are not satisfactory. The duration of the oral exam, although variable, generally does not exceed twenty minutes. The final grade will be the result of the average score reported in the three separate tests.
Non-attending students will take the exam orally. For the purpose of a better outcome of the exam, it is strongly recommended to divide the program into two / three parts to be discussed in as many sessions.
Students with disabilities and/or DSA, who have been duly recognised by the SOL and have obtained access to the University's services, may, for the purpose of taking exams, make use of the compensatory aids, assistive devices and inclusive technologies provided for by the regulations, to be requested and agreed with the teacher well in advance of the exams. For further information, please visit https://www.unipg.it/disabilita-e-dsa and contact the Departmental Officer for Disability and DSA (Prof. Alessandra Di Pilla: alessandra.dipilla@unipg.it).

Extended program

Part I: An introduction to the history of XIX century, intended to facilitate the understanding of twentieth 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. The course will focuses 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 post-fascism, the constituent season and the phase of centrism , the opening of the center-left, the season of movements and "national solidarity", the crisis and the advent of the Second Republic and the search for a difficult balance, between economic crisis and political crisis.

Obiettivi Agenda 2030 per lo sviluppo sostenibile