History

This course examines the clash between Carthage and Rome in its proper Mediterranean context. It will explore the many simultaneous events of the Third Century, from Portugal to Iraq, showing how smaller communities were drawn into the conflict, and how even the superpowers were dependent on and manipulated by so many supposedly weaker parties. The history will be examined from various viewpoints, from Hellenistic kings and Roman soldiers, to Celtic farmers, small islanders and Carthaginian cavalrymen. 

This course is part of the Laurea Magistrale degree program and is intended for advanced level students. Enrollment is by permission of the instructor. In this course, students acquire the capacity to use an entangled history methodological perspective using primary sources and literature on cross-cultural exchanges, mobilities of people and goods, and social interactions between different parts of the world but also within the same geographical space in the 18th and 19th century. Students develop a critical ability to analyze interconnected phenomena concerning cultural and religious aspects, trade, forms of labor coercion and enslavement. At the end of the course, students demonstrate a sound theoretical framework within which specific research interests could be developed.

The course explains the concept of Entangled history and its different uses in research on the Early Modern and Modern period. The main focus of this course is the social, economic and cultural exchanges between actors and goods in a global perspective. The interconnections between different societies or people is analyzed going beyond the concepts of nation, empire, and civilizations to understand better the complexity of the past and its multiple voices. The course is structured in five modules: 1) What is Entangled History? Comparison with other historiographical methodological approaches 2) Social interactions between the Atlantic and the Mediterranean worlds; Race and Ethnicity 3) Global circulation of enslaved people 4) Entangled Empires: Merchants, Sailors, Workers 5) Cultural connections: Travelers, Interpreters, Missionaries. 

This course examines the complex historical realities of cultural autonomy, strategic negotiation, adaptation and everyday resistance in a particular time and place. 

This course examines the transformation of the Classical Mediterranean into the radically different world of Late Antiquity. It explores topics such as the growth of imperial bureaucracy, the development of court ceremonial, the displacement of polytheism by Christianity, the emergence of new styles of art and literature, and the growing prominence of barbarians. 

Histories of modernity are inextricably entwined with histories of empires. Even in a time when the formal empires have arguably collapsed, the categories through which we approach the modern world are still deeply shaped by the persistence of imperial modes of thinking. This course focuses on a range of key concepts of modernity and encourages critically thinking about these concepts by drawing particular attention to the tensions between their metropolitan and colonial careers. The course offers a broad and critical narrative of world history from the nineteenth through the twenty first century. A primary goal of the course is to provide an understanding of how these concepts carry many different histories within them, how they are open to contending interpretations, and how crucial the sense of their varied historical contexts is to the practice of social sciences and humanities. As an introductory course to Historical Studies, content that engages the diversity of students' lifeworld's and is cognizant of our African location are used. We employ innovative teaching and delivery methods, including multilingual pedagogies and digital literacy, that allow more time for active engagement and the development of critical reading and writing skills in the Humanities. DP requirements: 100% of required coursework and course evaluation. Assessment: Continuous assessment (essays, projects, tests, etc.) counts 100%.

This course is part of the Laurea Magistrale degree program and is intended for advanced level students. Enrollment is by permission of the instructor. In this course, students acquire deep knowledge of British cultural, political, philosophical, socio-economic history. They develop high ability to elaborate on texts and their cultural contexts, favoring critical thought. The course analyzes diverse forms of British Orientalism(s) in literature, visual art, and cultural theories, with specific reference to late 19th century and 20th century. Lessons investigate Orientalism as part of the cultural history of England, connected to colonialism and imperialism, but also to (albeit ambiguous) processes of intercultural exchanges. The course takes into consideration diverse literary genres where the notions of cultural difference and diversity, racism, and sexism intertwine with issues connected to gender, 'race', social positioning, and identity. It is introduced by lessons on cultural, postcolonial and intercultural studies.

This course moves thematically and chronologically from the Pax Romana established by Augustus to the rise of imperial cities in Africa under Septimius Severus. Themes of peace, triumph and conflict will be viewed through a series of core-and-periphery test cases. Themes will include Augustan Peace, The Wars in Judaea, The Spoils of Territorial Expansion under Trajan (looking at Dacia and Parthia), Territorial Consolidation under Hadrian (exploring Rome and Britain) and the Art of Ruling in Absentia (as exemplified by Marcus Aurelius’ reign on the Danube). Students will analyze the Roman conceptualization of events taking place on the fringe of empire and the nature of their portrayal at the administrative core in terms of Roman imperial expansion and later contraction and collapse. Imperial propaganda will be investigated through a reading of the most famous imperial architectural designs in Rome and tested against archaeological evidence for daily life in the related provinces. 

The course tracks the 150-year period, between the founding of Italy to the present day, analyzing the history, context, and political and philosophical theories which have vied not only for the identity of Italy and Italians, but collective humanity itself. Students study the context of these political movements, and the ideological creations used to justify and push their dominance, as well as those birthed to challenge this hegemony. 

The course provides students with a historical narrative that spans the birth of Italy to the modern day. Students engage with the political, economic, and philosophical contexts of four distinct periods. These consist of Risorgimento Italy and the dominance of Nationalism in the newborn state, Fascist Italy in the wake of the First World War, the resurgence of Communist politics post Second World War, and finally the Populism that emerged toward the end of the millennium.

America was an invention, not a discovery. It is as much an idea or an art project as it is a place or a polity. This course investigates the many and fragile meanings of something called “America” in literary history. Students investigate the first contacts between Indigenous peoples and European colonizers in the early modern era, the monopolization of the term “American” by the United States in the nineteenth century, and more modern interrogations of what America might be and what it represents. The course moves through North America, Central America, South America, and the Caribbean as it investigates how empire, colonialism, slavery, transnational dynamics, and cross-cultural transformations among Indigenous, European, and African civilizations impacted the literary and cultural legacies of “America. The course questions how America was invented, and often contested, in literary forms and genres that range from colonial records and natural histories to poems and more contemporary forms. In the many ways of writing about America, what did the place and term come to mean to different people at different times in the past? What was America then, and how does it help us understand what it is today?

Through the reading of scholarly texts, collective analysis of sources, and personal research, this course aims to address European integration through the lens of gender and how gender issues impact European integration. The course highlights the contribution of women’s networks to bringing European societies closer together, but also examines the place of feminism and reflections on gender in the development of European values, which today help to set Europe apart globally. Particular attention is paid to the different experiences of gender and feminism in Western Europe and in Central and Eastern Europe during the Cold War and after the fall of the Berlin Wall.