2021-2022
HIPS courses offered at University of Florence
FALL 2021
Core course: HISTORICAL CULTURES AND COLLECTIVE IDENTITY (8 ECTS)
Lesson 1 – prof. Marcello Verga
Date: September 20th
Title: Cultural Heritage
Topics: UNESCO, its history and its publications
Lesson 2 – prof. Marcello Verga
Date: September 21th
Title: Cultural Heritage and European Union
Topics: European cultural policy
Lesson 3 – prof. Marcello Verga
Date: September 22th
Title: Museums of History: the House of European History
Topics: European Parliament and History’s Museum (Bruxelles).
Lesson 4 – prof. Rolando Minuti
Date: September 27th
Title: Modernity: birth and development of a historical concept I. Approaches, concepts, methodological problems
Topics: An outline of the history of concepts. The historiographical meaning of modernity and related concepts. European modernity and ‘other’ modernities in early modern age.
Lesson 5 - prof. Rolando Minuti
Date: September 28th
Title: Modernity: birth and development of a historical concept II. From the age of Humanism to the Enlightenment
Topics: Classical heritage and the development of a new idea of modernity in early modern culture. Erudition, politics and religion in early modern historiography.
Lesson 6 - prof. Rolando Minuti
Date: September 29th
Title: Modernity: birth and development of a historical concept III. European historiography in the age of the ‘long’ Enlightenment
Topics: An outline of the approaches to historiography in the 18th century. Varieties and tensions of the idea of modernity. European expansion, ethnographical approaches and the problems of cultural diversity.
Lesson 7 – prof. Stefano Bottoni
Date: October 4th
Title: Social memory and politics of memory in post-authoritarian systems
Topics: The class examines the patterns of post-communist transition in Eastern Europe compared to post-1945 handling of Nazi and Fascist past, highliting similarities and differences
Lesson 8 – prof. Stefano Bottoni
Date: October 5th
Title: Obcjective truth? State security archives in Romania
Topics: The class examines the process that led to the opening of the communist-time archives in Romania and the controversies over the past that these materials have stirred up over the last decades
Lesson 9 – prof. Stefano Bottoni
Date: October 6th
Title: Lustratsia. How (not) to deal with the communist past
Topics: The class examines forms and outcomes of the “lustration” projects in post-communist Russia and Eastern Europe, paying special attention to the case of Romania and Poland
Lesson 10 – prof. Stefano Bottoni
Date: October 7th
Title: Representing the past in Hungary and Albania
Topics: The class compares how several museums and public institutions (House of Terror and Memento Park in Hungary; House of Leaves and the National Museum of History in Albania) have been representing the totalitarian past in the two countries, pointing out the different narratives put forward by curators and political stakeholders
Lesson 11 - prof. Stefano Bottoni
Date: October 12th
Title: Discussion of reaction papers
Topics: The class hosts a discussion of the three reaction papers presented by the students about the global role of contemporary nationalism (Florian Bieber àEri Nishida); on lustration practices in Eastern Europe (Cyntia Horne àJefferson Mendez); on memory “industry” and its future (Gavriel D. Rosenfeld à Catarina Levria)
Lesson 12 - prof. Francesco Salvestrini
Date: October 13th
Title: Rivers and human settlement in Medieval and Modern Italian cities. The case of Florence I
Topics: Medieval and Modern use of rivers in European cities. Economy, culture, religion, society. Examples from the continent and the case of Florence
Lesson 13 - prof. Francesco Salvestrini
Date: October 14th
Title: Rivers and human settlement in Medieval and Modern Italian cities. The case of Florence II
Topics: Protection of cities from river floods in Medieval and Modern periods. The case of Florence
Lesson 14 - prof. Igor Melani
Date: October 15th
Title: 20th century Authoritarian Regimes and World Expositions: “Esposizione Universale di Roma”, 1942
Topics: World Expositions between 19th and 20th centuries. The birth of the project for a World Exposition to be held in Rome in 1942. Fascism and the use of national-culture identitarian rethoric; Urban Planning and Musealization.
Lesson 15 - prof. Igor Melani
Date: October 18th
Title: Use and abuse of history: The Renaissance within the Exposition of Italian Civilization
Topics: Uses and meanings of Renaissance within Italian and European historiography (1860-1940); Italy and the Renaissance; Displaying Italian Renaissance: objects, people, meanings.
Lesson 16 - prof. Giorgio Bacci
Date: October 28th
Title: Borders, Identities and Migration in Contemporary Art
Topics: The class undertook a series of journeys into Contemporary art analysing different artists who are far from each other geographically but who often share experiences and thematic confluences. In particular, we afforded anthropological, artistic and historical themes such as walls (Fiamma Montezemolo, Rula Halawani) and inhospitable landscapes (Richard Misrach and Guillermo Galindo’s borderscapes), analyzing the capacity of contemporary art to deal with contemporary society.
Lesson 17 - Dr. Chiara Renzo
Date: November 4th
Title: International humanitarianism and the refugee problem I: WWII and the Jewish refugees.
Topics: Refugee Crisis and Humanitarianism in the first half of 1900s with a focus on the Jewish refugees escaping Nazi territories and the role of Italy, the persecution of the Jews in Italy. Class linked to the related internship (4th November, pm).
Lesson 18 - Dr. Chiara Renzo
Date: November 5th
Title: International humanitarianism and the refugee problem II: Jewish displaced persons after 1945.
Topics: Refugee Crisis after World War II with a focus on the problem of the Jewish displaced persons (DPs) after the Holocaust; Jewish DPs in refugee camps in postwar Italy; Jewish DPs’ clandestine departures to Palestine and the political role of Italy. Class linked to the related internship (5th November, pm).
Lesson 19 - prof. Francesca Tacchi
Date: December 3th
Title: Representing the “others” in the long 19th century and beyond
Focus: Analysis of the “non European” world presented by some European illustrated periodicals in the long 19th century, focussing on Japanese, Portuguese and Philippine representations. The class hosts a discussion of the reaction papers presented by the students about Representing Asia (Eri Nishida); travel accounts in general (Catarina Levria); popular images of Orient (Jefferson Mendez).
Elective courses (8 ECTS)
VISUAL REPRESENTATION AND MEDIALIZATION OF HISTORY
Lesson 1 - proff. Giovanna Potestà-Nipesh Palata Naranayan
Date: September 21th
Title: Understandig the urban
Topics: Introduction to course; difference between city and settlements; how to look at physical urban space; different interpretations of cities in different contexts and historical periods.
Lesson 2 - proff. Giovanna Potestà-Nipesh Palata Naranayan
Date: September 22th
Title: Understandig the urban
Topics: early settlements and early cities; the built city and the city of people; administrative, economic and religious references in the ancient cities; the form of the city: geometrically planned or organic; cities in the mainland and cities in colonies; houses and blocks in ancient cities
Lesson 3 - proff. Giovanna Potestà-Nipesh Palata Naranayan
Date: September 28th
Title: Understandig the urban
Topics: The way of planninn of Greeks and Romans; the street, the block and the public space; infrastructure for public use; aqueducts and sewages as planned networks; housing according to diverse social and economic conditions; similarities in housing among the Mediterranean cultures.
Lesson 4 - proff. Giovanna Potestà-Nipesh Palata Naranayan
Date: September 29th
Title: Understandig the urban
Topics: Medieval Cities; different urban forms in continental Europe. Political administration and space use. Economic transitions and spatial transformation. Spaces for gathering. Social relevance of public space. Housing models and their transformation. From the row house to the Florentine palace
Lesson 5 - proff. Giovanna Potestà-Nipesh Palata Naranayan
Date: October 5th
Title: Understandig the urban
Topics: The city as ideal utopia. The planned cities of Renaissance. Analogies with planned cities of Islamic tradition; the planning principles of Renaissance; the changed interpretation of public space in the evolving society and power systems.
Lesson 6 - proff. Giovanna Potestà-Nipesh Palata Naranayan
Date: October 6th
Title: Understandig the urban
Topics: The metropolis of the 19th century. The city of capital. How the bourgeois taste influences the way of living the city. The conditions of laborers and slums. The need for a new city. The 20th century utopias between Europe and US. Planning Utopias in the 20th century. The city of Modernism. Howard, Wright and Le Corbusier. The influences of Modernism through CIAM. Achievements and downfalls of the Modernist city.
Lesson 7 - prof. Ida Gilda Mastrorosa
Date: October 21th
Title: Public history between past and present. Ancient Rome through the media: institutions, practices, figures
Topics: Overview on ancient Rome's political practices and protagonists and their representation through videos you-tube (e.g. Barbarians Rising: Boudica, Warrior Queen) in order to clarify how video-makers use ancient sources and specific communicative techniques to enhance the non-specialized public’s awareness of ancient history.
Lesson 8 - Dr. Corin Deinhart
Date: October 22th
Title: Public history between past and present. Intersecting the Historiography of Cambodian Photography and Film with Methods in Public History
Topics: Analysis of public history themes and methods through the case od Cambodian genocide. Focus on Khmer Rouge history and the S-21 photographs (with the help of “Khmer Rouge History App” and the website of the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum). Discussion with the students about two articles (Preserving the Ghastly Inventory of Auschwitz, and Colorizing Photos from the Past: The Ethics of Making History).
HISTORY AND INSTITUTIONALIZATION OF MEMORY
Lesson 1 – prof. Monica Galfré
Date: November 11th
Title: 1968: Global phenomenon and national manifestations
Topics: Classes held together with the students of the MA course “History of Contemporary Italy”. Seminar held in collaboration with Dr. Alberto Pantaloni. Focus on the students and workers revolts. In the second part of the class focus on the British case.
Lesson 2 – prof. Antonella D’Ovidio
Date: November 23th
Title: History and identity in Italian Opera in XIX century: from national to transnational perspective
Topics: Relationships between Italian opera, politics and the concept of "national identity"; transnational history and opera studies. Guided visit to Historical Archive of Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino.
HISTORIES OF INCLUSION AND EXCLUSION
Lesson 1 - prof. Giovanni Tarantino
Date: October 25th
Title: Feelings Matter: Public History and Emotion
Topics: Affective cartography; Emotional grammars of identity/alterity.
Lesson 2 - prof. Giovanni Tarantino
Date: October 26th
Title: (Visually) Labelling the Other: Between History and Memory
Topics: Genealogies of racial and ethnic representations; historical spaces as historical media; (de)commemorations
Lesson 3 - prof. Monica Pacini
Date: November 11th
Title: Going for Gender Balance
Topics: Classes together with the students of the MA course “Gender history”. Women’s representation in political and social decision making in Europe; International agreements, Diversity of settings (national and sectorial), Party gender cultures and electoral laws, good practices. Analysis by the students on gender gap in the Japanese education system (Eri Nishida); gender issues in the Philippines (Jeffersob Mendez); Women's representation in politics: Portugal from 1911 to today (Catarina Levria).
Lesson 4 - prof. Maria Paiano
Date: November 19th
Title: Human rights from the French Revolution to the present day: The Catholic perspective
Topics: The Catholic Church in the face of the Declaration of human rights and of the "modern freedoms": intransigentism and liberal Catholicism. Initial attempts of conciliation by the papal magisterium: Pope Leo XIII (1878-1903), the age of Totalitarianism, the Vatican II Council and evelopments in the post-conciliar era. Class development: Nishida absent. Letria and Mendez took part in the lesson very actively, showing interest and critical thinking skills.
Lesson 5 - prof. Valeria Galimi
Date: November 29th
Title: The construction of the "other". Representations and stereotypes across history
Topics: Gender and race representation in the French Algeria during the 1930s. Discussion about how in French culture, and in particular in the colonial world during the interwar period, the topic of gender and race were used to represent a hierarchical and unequal society. Focus on the diffusion of visual stereotypes in popular culture (cartoons, caricatures).
Reading: Ethan B. Katz, An Imperial Entanglement: Anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, and Colonialism, The American Historical Review, Volume 123, Issue 4, October 2018, pp. 1190–1209.
Lesson 6 - prof. Valeria Galimi
Date: December 1th
Title: Histories of inclusions and exclusions. Representations and stereotypes: three case studies
Topics: Students presented their research included in the general topic of “the construction of the Other” and the representation of visual and cultural stereotypes. Particular attention was paid to the construction of the research object, the methodology and the analysis of the sources.
PRACTICAL EXPERIENCE AND SKILLS (8 ECTS)
Internships
1) Dr. Chiara Renzo
Date: September 23th
Title: Foundation “Museum and Documentation Centre of deportation and Resistance – Memorial sites on Tuscany” (Prato)
Topics: Guides visit to the Museum and intership in collaboration with the local staff. The Foundation collects and preserves witness accounts on deportation and on the people’s resistance to Nazism and Fascism, in order to promote the remembrance of historical events and to foster a culture of peace and solidarity among peoples against all kinds of intolerance, racism, discrimination and totalitarianism.
2) prof. Cristiano Giometti
Date: October 11th
Title: Between Art and Documents: Exhibition in Florence between the 19th and 20th centuries
Topics: History of art exhibition in Florence and their political meanings as instruments of civil values and propaganda. Guided visit to Palazzo Fenzi, historical Sagas headquarter.
3) prof. Cristiano Giometti
Date: October 13th
Title: Opera Duomo Museum
Topics: Guided Visit to the Museo dell’Opera del Duomo of Florence. Discussion about the sculture decorations of Santa Maria del Fiore: Arnolfo di Cambio, Andrea Pisano, Donatello.
4) Dr. Chiara Renzo
Date: October 20th
Title: State Archive of Florence
Topics: After a discussion of the reading by C.S. Capogreco, Mussolini’s Camps. Civilian Internment in Fascist Italy (1940-1943), Routledge, 2019, pp. 48-96, guided visit of the State Archive of Florence in collaboration with Archive’s staff (Dr. Andrea Tanturli and Dr. Francesca Fiore) and analysis of some primary sources held by the Archive on the civilian internment in Tuscany during WWII.
5) Dr. Nipesh Palat Narayanan
Date: November 2nd
Title: Understanding the urban
Topics: What and where is the Global South? Discussion on the colonial construction of the Global south and how contemporary knowledge is built around this construct.
6) Dr. Nipesh Palat Narayanan
Date: November 3rd
Title: Understanding the urban
Topics: Intellectual imperialism and the urban. This lecture read southern urban theory by engaging with the work of Connell, Alatas, and Guevara. It deconstructed the western notion of urban developed using racial categorizations.
7) Dr. Chiara Renzo
Date: November 4th
Title: International humanitarianism and the refugee problem I: WWII and the Jewish refugees
Topics: Internship linked to the core course class (4th November, morning). Refugee Crisis and Humanitarianism in the first half of 1900s with a focus on the Jewish refugees escaping Nazi territories and the role of Italy, the persecution of the Jews in Italy. Discussion with the students about S. Klein, Italy’s Jews form Emancipation to Fascism, CUP, 2018, pp. 85-130.
8) Dr. Chiara Renzo
Date: November 5th
Title: International humanitarianism and the refugee problem II: Jewish displaced persons after 1945.
Topics: Internship linked to the core course class (5th November, morning). Refugee Crisis after WWII with a focus on the problem of the Jewish displaced persons (DPs) after the Holocaust; Jewish DPs in refugee camps in postwar Italy; Jewish DPs’ clandestine departures from Italy to Palestine. Analysis with the students of oral testimonies from the Archives of the US Holocaust Memorial Museum and of primary sources from the Bad Arolsen Archives (International Tracing Service).
9) Dr. Nipesh Palat Narayanan
Date: November 9th
Title: Understanding the urban
Topics: Different conceptions of the society and the city – reading Ibn Khaldun, Al Afghani, and Ambedkar. This lecture took three key thinkers from Africa, western Asia, and south east Asia to present how the urban and city life has been conceptualized outside of Eurocentric theorizations.
10) Dr. Nura Abdelmohsen
Date: November 15th
Title: The Auschwitz Memorial (Florence)
Topics: Guided visit, in collaboration with the Memorial staff, together with some students of the BA course “History of Contemporary Europe”.
11) Dr. Nipesh Palat Narayanan
Date: December 8th
Title: Group Presentation. Groups of 4 students were created to engage on a policy relevant topic and suggestions based on the lectures.
Jefferson Mendez prepared a presentation with others in the class, which was well appreciated.
12) Dr. Lorenzo Venuti-prof. Francesca Tacchi
Date: November 22th
Title: Building memories. The Coverciano’s Museum of soccer
Topics: Guided visit to the museum (typical of an “old” conception of museum), in collaboration with the Museum staff. Class together with students of the MA course “History of Sport” (Tacchi).
13) proff. Tiziana Serena-Francesca Tacchi
Date: December 13th
Title: Photograhic paths: Old and new Florence
Topics: A stroll through Florence, in search of some sites photographed at the beginning of the XX century (available with a mobile APP), compared to the present. Focus on Duomo and Palazzo della Signoria.
SPRING 2022
Elective courses
Proff. Matteo Puttilli-Mirella Loda
Urban geography
Topics: the course investigates the city as a socio-political space. It first deepens the very concept of "city", with particular focus on the concepts of public space, right to the city and quality of life; it then discusses methodologies for researching and planning the city, with case-studies from the Global North and South
Prof. Panagiotis Bourlessas
Social and cultural geography
Topics: the course offers an introduction to the discipline of Human Geography, attending particularly to the social and cultural dimensions. Precisely, bringing to the fore the vital role that spaces and places play in the production and re-production of (our) lifeworlds, the course will provide its participants with central concepts and tools in order to understand, analyse, deconstruct and reconstruct the complex spatial dynamics which societies and their cultures are produced through.
Prof. -
Anthropology of cultural heritage
Topics: -
Prof. Marina Pucci
Archaeology in conflict areas
Topics: the class provides the Basics of archaeological research in the Ancient near East (mainly for non archaeologists) and aims to provide the students with the basic knowledge on archaeological methods and aims, of valorization of archaeological heritage with special reference to the relationship to local communities and conflict areas.
Workshop
Prof. Lapo Somigli
Workshop Digital Humanities
Topics: the workshop illustrates methodologies and tools for historical research in its various phases: functional tools for the data management of data, their analysis and also their scientific communication will be presented, with both a theoretical and practical approach.
Last update
23.02.2022