History

This course is part of the Laurea Magistrale program. The course is intended for advanced level students only. Enrollment is by consent of the instructor. This course discusses the conceptual grounds of the Universal claim in Roman culture, which are connected to political-military elements as well as to cultural and juridical patterns. The course examines elements of continuity and change in representations and auto-representations of the roman universal cosmic order within historiographical debate and will be able to critically assess the relevance of the theme in the actual organizational and political patterns. Students learn to apply a comparative approach to ancient sources and connect the roman idea of a Universal empire with other contemporary Universal empires, like e.g. Alexander the Great's empire or the Chinese Han dynasty’s Empire, as well as a diachronic approach, by considering how the notion of universal imperial rule has shaped the idea of international order after the end of Antiquity, from the Middle Ages to the present days. The course explores the reception of the historical experience of ancient Rome as a universal model, examining some aspects in which the influence of this historical experience was particularly significant.

This course introduces early medieval medical history. It looks at the ways in which medical knowledge developed in relation to changing culture and politics ca. 500-1000. It begins with the crisis of the sixth century, when climate change, pandemic, political instability, and new ideals about education led to a divergence between Greek and Latin medical traditions. This is sometimes described as a "dark age" of ignorance and superstition, but students look at the growing evidence of widespread interest in medical books and rational understandings of disease. 

This course covers the theoretical approaches and methodological components within cultural memory studies concerned with minoritarian groups and affect/emotion: e.g. Nora, Stoler, Rigney, Trouillot, Said, Azoulay, Sharpe, Hartman, Muñoz, Mbembe, Campt, Arondekar. It provides an introduction into archives (theory) and memory, especially in relation to power by introducing the political and academic assessment of the post-colonial dimension of cultural memory, and the queer dimension of historical scholarship.

This course focuses on protest and activism in contemporary Eastern Europe. It focuses primarily on the post-Soviet region, particularly Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine. However, through guest lectures, it also explores protest in Poland and the former Yugoslavia. The course examines various types of protest movements and political activism, including environmental movements and grass-root initiatives, protest events and large scale protest movements, activism and political activities of political emigrants, and other contemporary cases in the region. Furthermore, it introduces several theories related to studies of protest and social movements. The course consists of lectures, discussions, and student presentations.

This course studies the colonial history of Latin America during the 16th through 18th centuries. Topics include: America-- the fourth part; population and society; models of political organization; colonial spaces; colonial economy; work and slavery; resistance to the colonial world; religiosity and identities.

This course focuses on the therapeutic relationship between physician/surgeon and patient, at a time of major socio-economic change, political turmoil, and advent of the clinical gaze in medicine. After a first phase of contextualization, the course is organized in thematic subsections, in which text pertaining to these questions as well as some historical sources is read and discussed. The course examines the economic dimension of medicine and the impact it has on patients’ agency in the therapeutic relationship in a context of competition between surgeons, physicians, and other health practitioners. The course also focuses on the question of pain management and the sensory experience of surgery before the advent of anesthesia. Finally, there is a focus on the doctor/patient relationship in institutional contexts such as hospitals and prisons, with a deeper look at the case of military surgery. The colonial context, while not at the heart of this course, is also included. The question of power dynamics between physician and patients, including questions of in particular of class, race, and gender are present throughout.

This course involves the study of a range of literary styles in the genre of the short story and novel: contemporary realist fiction, historical novels, children’s literature, counter-factual narratives, even dystopian novels of the future. Literary works studied may include such works as Jane Austen, NORTHANGER ABBEY (1817); Andrew Miller, PURE (2011); James Joyce, DUBLINERS (1914); Philip Roth, THE PLOT AGAINST AMERICA (2005); Esi Endugyan, WASHINGTON BLACK (2018); Kate Grenville, THE SECRET RICER (2004); Margaret Atwood, ORYX AND CRAKE (2003).