History

This course is part of the Laurea Magistrale degree program and is intended for advanced level students. Enrollment is by permission of the instructor. The course provides information, in the fields of Indology, history, religious studies, and anthropology, indispensable for critically analyzing South Asian intellectual history in colonial and post-colonial times. The course provides in-depth analysis to the following themes: Discourse on religion and religious conflicts in colonial and postcolonial India; the debate on historiography in post-colonial India; the criticism of "secularism" in postcolonial India; representations of social marginality in contemporary South Asia. The course also provides high-level knowledge of intellectual transformations and history of thought in modern and contemporary South Asia, specifically during the colonial and post-colonial period. The course covers in depth the issue of religious and social reforms and the main theoretical positions emerged in the current debate on the historiographical and anthropological representation of the development of South Asian society. 

What is at stake in reading, writing, depicting and telling the histories of Berlin’s architectural and urban landscape? How do historical and analytical frameworks shape scholarly understandings of the city? How does the architecture of Berlin shape its history and theory? Conducted as a discussion seminar, this course uses recent architectural and urban histories of 20th century Berlin to explore different ways of narrating the city’s history. Each week, students will approach Berlin’s urbanity through different textual and visual media to discuss the themes and methods—from femininity to migration, politics to privatization—by which they narrate the entanglement of Berlin’s physical and social landscape. Over the course of the semester, students will develop their scholarly reading techniques, and their fluency in the multipolar and manifold circumstances of the city. The premise of the course is that engaging the narrative can lead to ‘changing the narrative,’ thereby opening the door for students to develop an original final project, situating their worldly experience in the past, present and future of Berlin.

In this course, students examine the origins of the idea of human rights, how it became institutionalized in law and international politics, and how its history and prospects have become so fiercely contested today. Students reflect on the history of abolitionism, human rights, and humanitarianism in a global setting, and analyze the impact of modern international and multi-cultural perspectives on the evolution of human rights history.

The course explores beliefs in witches, demons, and magic, and phenomena such as angels, ghosts, dreams, and miracles using case studies from a range of European countries across the period 1450 - 1750. It investigate the interplay between popular and elite ideas about witchcraft and magic and how these changed over the course of the period. Topics include: witchcraft, sabbats, the diabolic pact, and black magic; witch trials, torture, and execution; demonic possession and exorcism; angels, ghosts, and fairies; and monsters and miracles. Students discuss a range of textual and visual primary sources including woodcuts, witchcraft trials, popular pamphlets, and official treatises (all in translation). 

This course compares and contrasts pre-colonial, colonial and 'post-colonial' experiences of eastern and western Polynesian societies. Students are introduced to a range of sources for historical research, including indigenous sources.

This course investigates the nineteenth-century roots of contemporary issues in the middle east. It introduces the issues, actors, and processes that have shaped the post-Ottoman region and its neighbors during the past two centuries. The course surveys broad trends in the evolution of the Ottoman Sultanate during the nineteenth century, then focus on themes for discussion and analysis. It also examines the Ottoman state, the diverse communities that made up the empire, and the great powers that surrounded it. The course attends to political, military, economic, social, and cultural developments, attempting to understand historical breaks and continuities that continue to affect the region today. Finally, it critiques analytical categories (nation, class, faith, and gender) while relating them to concrete case studies and asking whether they are relevant to different societies.

After decades of division and the restoration of urban normality after 1990, Berlin is in a situation that makes it sensible and exciting to take a look back at the “Golden Times” of the 1920s and compare them with the questions and problems of today's situation. With the founding of the Weimar Republic in 1918, the political framework conditions were in place to reorganize the Berlin area. The city of Berlin in its current area was created on October 1, 1920 with the “Greater Berlin Law”, which brought about the merger with 7 other cities, 59 rural communities and 27 manor districts. After this merger, Berlin developed into a metropolis in the 1920s that is still considered a symbol of modernity today. The 1920s were only “golden” for a few, but against the background of the size and anonymity of the megacity and the freedoms guaranteed by the new republic, the 1920s appeared to be a time of experiments, attractions and the fascination for the new. What problems had to be overcome back then and what solution strategies were tested and implemented? And what ideas about the future of Berlin were developed back then? Against the background outlined and in a comparative perspective, the seminar will deal with questions of local administration, economy and work, housing, transport and infrastructure and, in two main areas, with questions about population and migration as well as the offers of culture and cultural workers. Excursions in the city area and visits to museums/exhibitions are planned for the areas listed. 

This course offers a study of the theory of social movements including features of social movements and key components for the emergence and development of social movements. It examines the history of social movements in three periods: 19th and 20th centuries (up to the 1960s); 1960s-1980s; 1990 to present. Finally, this course discusses specific social movements such as labor, racial and cultural rights, nationalism, feminism, environmentalism, LGBT, etc. 

This course examines the intricate relationship between colonialism, urban development, and economic growth through the lens of political ecology. A central theme of the course is the examination of colonial legacies and their enduring impact on contemporary urban and environmental dynamics. We will critically analyze how Europe's historical growth has often occurred at the expense of other regions, relying on extractive and exploitation of resources in colonized territories to fuel metropolitan centers. Through the classical readings in this field, contemporary case studies, and critical discussions, we will interrogate the role of colonialism in shaping global patterns of urbanization, resource extraction, and environmental degradation. By the end of the course, we will gain insights into potential pathways for building more equitable and environmentally sustainable futures.