SOCIAL HISTORY OF CULTURE

Art and literature between nation and society. The invention of national identities in long nineteenth-century Europe.

The course is interdisciplinary in the broadest sense of the term, focusing on literary, artistic, musical and theatrical sources, which will be examined using the historical method, according to a political and social history of culture perspective. The course therefore provides LLEAP specialist students with an example of a methodological alternative other than the investigation methods typical of aesthetically based subjects, however focusing on the same objects of critical investigation.

Knowledge and understanding:
• knowledge of the methods of analysis of the specific areas of historiographical research in the languages of study in relation to the different types of sources (of political-institutional history, religious, social and culture, historical mentality, cultural systems, literary history, artistic and performative);
• long-term knowledge and framing of origins and dynamics of the development of the European social imaginary, from the ancien régime and the Age of Revolutions (cultures, religious, political, economic institutions) up to modern parliamentary democracies;
Ability to apply knowledge and understanding:
• ability to articulate a coherent historical framework of the events that are at the origin of the processes of secularization of thought and of today's arrival in the modernity of the individual and of rights;
• ability to recognize the different types of historiographical research in relation to the kind of historical sources used, with the conscious use of the historiographical categories;
• ability to autonomously initiate investigations on specific cases related to the thesis topic.

None apart from those required by the LLEAP II degree course of studies

Art and literature between nation and society. The invention of national identities in long nineteenth-century Europe.

In nineteenth-century Europe the idea of Nation, "imaginary community", took root in the consciences of vast masses essentially through literature, visual arts, melodrama, theater. The great forms of social communication helped to forge a certain idea of Patria, a model of belonging and participation, through the invention of a collective heritage (of heroes and founding fathers, a common language and history, monuments, traditions) ; the re-enactment in a patriotic key of myths and exemplary figures of a remote past.
It is, in truth, the most classical of the existing models of "political" use of history.
The course aims to analyze the ways and forms through which, in the long European nineteenth century and beyond, literatures, theater, music and visual arts contributed to shaping national identities, thus retracing the origins of modern political cultures of mass.

a) lecture notes and b) some readings that will be indicated at the beginning of the course

The oral exam, with an average duration of about 20 minutes, will focus on at least two topics covered during the lessons and aims at a cross-examination of the student's preparation and of his ability to show and coordinate the topics covered by the course. ability to link different topics.

During the oral examination the student must demonstrate:
a) to know how to articulate a coherent historical framework of events and debates that are at the origin of the birth and development of the idea of nation in Europe and in our "Risorgimento" up to the affirmation of nationalist thought;
b) ability to recognize the different types of historiographical research in relation to the different historical, artistic, musical and literary sources examined, therefore
c) to be able to adequately comment on the complex of historical sources (visual, sound and written) analyzed in class,
d) to show a conscious use of the historiographical categories used during the lessons;
e) the ability to independently initiate in-depth studies and reflections on specific cases related to the topic of the course.

15 frontal lessons, with iconology and multimedial

Italian

Students attending will be required to print and bring to class a hard copy of the text to be read during the lessons, downloadable in pdf from the Moodle section in this webpage

oral

This subject deals with topics related to the macro-area "Poverty and inequalities" and contributes to the achievement of one or more goals of U. N. Agenda for Sustainable Development