HISTORY OF THE MEDITERRANEAN

The discipline belongs to the core educational activities of the Master’s Degree Programme in History from the Middle Ages to Present. Those activities prepare students to specialize in history in and outside Europe acquiring a specific understanding of the epistemological foundations of a historian’s practice and of the methodology of investigation of different types of sources, also the original ones. The instructional goal of the course is to give the thorough knowledge of the historical dimension of the countries which face the Mediterranean. This knowledge answers the learning outcome to prepare students to elaborate an analysis of the relationship between anthropological and social structures of Mediterranean countries and their political institutions.

The attendance and the active participation at the course and the individual study allow the students: 1) to acquire the knowledge and the understanding of the most important Mediterranean cultural frameworks; 2) to learn to compare the different societies which followed each other during the past in the Mediterranean area; 3) to be able to evaluate critically the studies on Mediterranean History and the original sources about it.

Knowledge of the basic events of European general and institutional History, even if the student hasn’t passed yet the specific examinations.

The first part of the course will examine some important cultural problems which have been studied by historians and anthropologists of the Mediterranean. In the second part of the course the lessons will deal with the analysis of the institutions and of the customs, especially of the Italian island regions.

For students, the planned texts are:

- Dionigi Albera, Anton Blok, Christian Bromberger (a cura di), Antropologia del Mediterraneo, Milano, Guerini scientifica, 2007.

- Norbert Rouland, Antropologia giuridica, Milano, Giuffrè, 1992 (from page 175 to page 487; the book can be found, at least in libraries).

- Of this, Povolo's introduction and essay on the Friulian affair (the first essay)
https://www.academia.edu/12369672/Lemergere_della_tradizione._Saggi_di_antropologia_giuridica_secoli_XVI-XVIII _

- Of this, the whole text, with more attention paid to the introductory part rather than to individual court cases (from p. 1 to page 143)
https://digilander.libero.it/rivista.criminale/e-book/gonario_pinna.pdf

- M. Blok, The Mafia of a Sicilian Village, Turin, Einaudi, 1986 (only preface by Charles Tilly and introduction)

-This is an article concerning Blok's book

http://www.rivistameridiana.it/files/La-mafia-tra-antropologia-e-storia.pdf

-FILMS (available for free online):

1) Before the Rain
2) Banditi a Orgosolo
3) Salvatore Giuliano

The examination will be oral and will last about 30 minutes. More specifically, without prejudice to the indispensable notional knowledge for passing the exam (a necessary but not sufficient condition), other criteria in the overall evaluation will be the use of scientifically appropriate language (20 percent) and the use of the student's own critical ability (10 percent).

Frontal lessons (highly interactive lecture-style presentation).

Italian

Teaching language: Italian.

In a continuous interaction with the students, during the course, as often as necessary, it will be given a supplemental bibliography and it will be possible also to examine audiovisual materials.

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