This course explores the connection between national identity and ‘historical memory’ — i.e. the way in which a society, its media and institutions talk about their past and how this shapes national identity. Examining Italians’ different perspectives on major historical turning points, we will explore how these moments have molded Italians’ different identities. The USA is not the only country that has seen recent debates over statues, monuments, and the commemoration of the past — and in Italy, too, such disputes are key to battles over national identity. Controversies around the legacy of Fascism, colonialism, and political violence continue to shape contemporary politics. In this course we will examine the importance of history to Italians, and the different perspectives that they have on their country’s past, and we will address a series of related questions. On what values is the Italian Republic founded? Who are its heroes, and what martyrs and victims does it choose to remember? What should publicly funded museums or school textbooks say about the past? Italy’s founding fathers sought to promote a glorious narrative of the past that could rally Italians behind a common identity. Yet throughout the country’s history, attempts to unite Italians have always faced difficulties. Divides of region, class, gender, culture, religion and migration status have often complicated the idea of a monolithic ‘Italianness’. This course draws on recent studies on ‘historical memory’ in public life — meaning, not just what we individually remember, but the way that a society collectively talks about its own past, and the conflicts and contradictions that this involves. Students will examine how this historical memory is created not just by professional historians, but by media, cultural products (movies, novels), political institutions and popular myths. They will be able to critically analyze different representations of the past, and develop their own independent perspective on how identities are formed.
Department: History
Location: Florence
Semester: Spring
Credits: 3