Ateneo - UPO

This course will analyze the global vision of history strating with the attempts to write universal history to 20th-century world history.

Textbooks:
Eric Vanhaute, Introduzione alla World History, il Mulino, Bologna 2015;
Jerry Brotton, La storia del mondo in 12 mappe, Feltrinelli, Milano 2017.
Recommended: Marco Meriggi-Laura Di Fiore, World History. Le nuove rotte della storia, Bari, Laterza 2011.

This course aims at making students familiar with the specificity of the historical texts and at engaging them in a critical study of the modern period. It also stresses the importance of writing texts that use the historical vocabulary in a consistent way.

none

Lecture-based with in-class discussion.

Discussion of suitable methods how to teach history in the middle school. Suitable for all those who are interested in pursuing a teaching career.

1. The students will write a short text on three subjects. They will have to answer 10 multiple-choice questions (5 points in total). Students also have a write a report on a specific topic presented to the class (10 points).

#1#2 introduction. What is world history/universal history? Antiquity: Herodotus, the Bible.
#3 #4 Orosius and the Cristian paradigm. Sima Qian, Ibn Kaldun. The credibility of the biblical vision.
#5 #6 Universal histories in the early modern age. Bossiet, Voltaire, Turgot, the Scottish literati, the Universal History.
#7 #8: Condorcet, Ranke, Michelet. The racist theories of universal history.
#9 #10 Spengler; Toynbee; Hans Freyer; Karl Jaspers; the axial age; Osterhammel.
#11 #12 ecological histories: Jared Diamond; predictive histories: Morris, Why the West Rules; bestselling histories: Harari, Sapiens.
#13 #14 David Christian and big history. Genetic histories. The world history of France and Italy. Climate history. Smail, On Deep History and the Brain
#15 against world history: the post-colonial approach: Ranajit Guha. Scanziani, the politics of global history. David Graeber and prehistory.

The aim is to prepare students for the future by equipping them with analytical and critical thinking skills such as the ability to assess evidence and evaluate conflicting interpretations to make informed judgements of the past and better understand the present.