Themes, issues and sources in early modern history (15th-18th centuries). Students will acquire the ability to express and document a line of historic reasoning.
Exam programme:
1. Reading and careful study of a handbook of ealry modern history (XVI-XVIII centuries).
Recommended texts:
- G. Gullino, G. Muto, R. Sabbatini, A. Caracausi, Storia moderna. Manuale per l'università (EdiSES: 2014)
- Renata Ago, Vittorio Vidotto, Storia Moderna, Bari, Laterza, 2018 [2004]
2. One of the following monographic works:
- Patrizia Delpiano, La schiavitù in età moderna. Roma-Bari: Laterza, 2009.
- Lodovica Braida, Stampa e cultura in Europa tra XV e XVI secolo. Roma-Bari: Laterza, 2000.
- Federica Morelli, Il mondo atlantico, Una storia senza confini (secoli XV-XIX). Roma: Carocci, 2013.
- Federico Donelli, Islam e pluralismo. La coabitazione religiosa
nell’Impero ottomano. Milano, Le Monnier Università, 2017.
Learning Objectives
Knowledge and understanding: grasp of the principal nodes of a key phase in European and world history; ability to frame and critically
analyse relations between societies and institutions, religion and culture in different European contexts.
Applying knowledge and understanding: writing and presenting a short oral paper about a
research task, the choice and analysis of sources and the development of
critical and textual-linguistic skills.
Making judgements: awareness of the specificity of the historic approach, with particular reference to the use of sources and methods of
historiographic reconstruction.
Communicative skills: ability to conduct a 3-minute presentation in class
with the help of slides on a pre-agreed topic pertinent to the theme of the
course.
Learning skills: development of the ability to conduct research, and to
select and describe sources.
Prerequisites
High-school level knowledge of European and world history between the
end of the 15th and the beginning of the 19th century.
Teaching Methods
The course will in part use online materials and resources. Lecture-style
instruction delivered by the course leader will be accompanied by
professor-moderated class presentations given by students
(microteaching).
Further information
Course dates:
27 October–3 December, 2021.
Day and time: Wed (4-6pm); Thu (4-6pm).
Where: Classroom No. 8 (via Capponi)
Type of Assessment
An oral exam will take place after the end of the course, and will consist of a discussion of the topics dealt with in lessons and the readings on the programme. The assessment will refer to specific acquired knowledge and the ability to frame phenomena and issues in a critical way. Account will also be taken
of the ability to lucidly articulate issues and argue a given case.
Course program
1. Themes, issues and sources in early modern history.
2. The Protestant Reformation.
3. Europe during the wars of religion, 16th–17th centuries.
4. New historiographic approaches (history of emotions, connected histories, history of objects).
5. Us and others: the 17th–18th century debate on toleration, the
European representation of alterity; religious coexistence in the Ottoman Empire.
6. Revolutions, constitutions, citizenship.