2014/2015

2014/2015

DM249

M-STO/04 (CONTEMPORARY HISTORY)

DEPARTMENT OF HUMANITIES

PERCORSO COMUNE

1°

(20/01/2015 - 20/05/2015)

1

6 lesson hours

Italian

ORAL TEST

FRANK THOMAS (titolare) - 1 ECTS

As required for the admission to the TFA in class A037

The course intends to
- give a brief overview of (or recall) the evolution of historical writing, from ancient Rome until the 20th century
- emphasize the paradigm shift caused by the new "scientific" way of writing history emerging between the 17th and 19th century
- underline the leading role of the Middle Ages in this process
- show how modern historiographies (20th century) are operating on different levels and addressing different audiences
- show how stereotypical "school knowledge" can be opened by a conscious use, that is a "historicizing" of the historians' writings

Examples from ancient (Livy), medieval (chronicles) and early modern (historiae) historiography will help to paint a (however fragmentary) picture of the traditional forms of writing about the past. A focus will then be laid on the "scientific" revolution in historical writing, represented by figures such as Mabillon and Muratori or by initiatives such as the Acta Sanctorum and the Monumenta Germaniae Historica. For these historians, the Middle Ages were the period where new methods (critique of the sources) and new contents (the formation of the regional and national states) could be explored.
More recent examples of studies on a medieval topic (emperor Frederick II) will be analyzed in order to
- give insight in the complex historiographical practice in modern times, a cultural field characterized by strongly differentiated sectors of active and passive "players" (academic, popular, ideologically committed authors and audiences)
- weaken traditional stereotypes and prejudices by better understanding the process of production of historical writing

- lectures
- classroom reading of excerpts from historiographical texts
- discussion

Paolo Cammarosano, Guida allo studio della storia medievale, Roma/Bari 2004, pp. 3-52

Written and oral final examination