Prerequisites
Basic knowledge of Modern History and/or Contemporary History
(through a specific exam). Attending students who have not taken the aforementioned exams will be able to compensate with ad hoc readings for the chosen presentation.
Course unit content
Political information, news, history? After a general reflection on the characteristics of historical writing and the concept of memory, the course will proceed with some lessons on the relationship between history and its rewritings, false beliefs, fakenews and the manipulation of history, the writing of history and forms of narration, the construction of memory and negationism, the use of online resources (Wikipedia and others) as a source, and cancell culture. The approach is aimed at historicizing the existence and use of misinformation, identifying its mechanisms in the different historical phases in a continuous dialogue with contemporaneity, identifying changes and also underlining the persistence in contemporaneity of mechanisms that were already historically present.
The second part of the course will be articulated through discussions of themes proposed by the professor and presented by the students selected from a range of case studies relating to the early modern, modern and contemporary ages, entrusting individual students, or possibly groups of two, with the presentation of the cases identified.
After a series of lectures, the attending students will work through oral presentations discussed in class, critically commenting on historiographical essays around specific cases of 'forgeries'.
Given the nature of the course, attendance is strongly recommended. Those who take advantage of this option will be given the opportunity to choose whether to conduct the second part of the examination through a written paper or through the oral interview. Those who choose the written paper must present it orally during the final examination.
By way of example, a list of cases is given: the Donation of Constantine, the forger Annio da Viterbo, the forger Alfonso Ceccarelli, the forger Abate Vella and the Council of Egypt, the historian Marc Bloch's reflection on false news concerning the First World War, Hitler's false diaries, Mussolini's false diaries, negationism (concerning the Holocaust), climate negationism, historical memory laws, the case of Roald Dahl and cancel culture. Any other topics of specific interest proposed by the students will be considered together with the lecturer. On Elly I will upload critical essays and extracts that are difficult to find.
Any changes to the examination programme will be communicated at the beginning of the course
Full programme
Program for ATTENDING STUDENTS:
T. di Carpegna Falconieri, Nel labirinto del passato. 10 modi di riscrivere la storia, Laterza, 2020: cap. I-IV.
M. Bloch, La guerra e le false notizie. Ricordi (1914-1915) e riflessioni (1921), (varie edizioni) solo la seconda parte: Riflessioni di uno storico sulle false notizie di guerra, composta di: 1. La critica delle testimonianze; 2. Quattro libri sulle false notizie; 3. Problemi e prospettive.
P. Preto, Falsi e falsari nella Storia. Dal mondo antico a oggi, Roma, Viella, 2020, pp.69-71; 116-120; 191-195; 236-238; 245-252.
G. Pedullà, Annio, Il falsario di Dio, in Atlante della letteratura italiana, vol. I, Torino, 2010 pp. 596-603.
R. Bizzocchi, Certezze granitiche. Una fonte epigrafica, in Prima lezione di metodo storico, a cura di S. Luzzatto, Torino, 2012, pp. 69-86.
S. Levis Sullam, Memoria, in Lessico della storia culturale, a cura di A.M. Banti, V. Fiorino, C. Sorba, Roma, 2023, pp. 194-212.
F. Benigno L’abate Vella e l’arabica impostura, in Atlante della letteratura italiana, Torino, 2010.
S.Luzzatto, Il corpo del duce, Torino, Einaudi, 1998, pp. 120-128.
La bibliografia d’esame potrà subire variazioni che verranno comunicate all’inizio del corso.
NON - ATTENDING STUDENTS will take the entirely oral exam and in addition to the texts indicated for attending students they will have to bring the following volume:
G. Maifreda, Contested Images. Political history of figures from the Renaissance to cancel culture, Feltrinelli, Milan, 2022
Given the seminar nature of the course, attendance is highly recommended.
NB. The exam bibliography may undergo changes which will be communicated at the beginning of the course
Teaching methods
Lectures and seminar workshops with the active participation of students
Assessment methods and criteria
Oral exam, oral presentation in class, short written essay
