Ateneo - UPO

The course consists of two modules. The first will examine the various stages of world historical evolution during the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Each topic will also be considered from a methodological perspective, introducing the rudiments of historical research methodology and the history of historiography. The second will address the construction of national identity in the contemporary era, focusing on the Ukrainian nation and its conflict with Russia. The lectures will analyze the stages that led to the emergence of a Ukrainian national identity over the last two centuries and how this has been variously interpreted, sometimes in harmony with and sometimes in opposition to the mirror dynamics also at work in Russia. This will provide a more thorough explanation of the reasons behind the invasion with which Russia has sought to put an end to the project of an independent Ukraine since 2014.

All students will prepare the topics covered in the course through the complete reading of • Alberto Mario Banti, L’età contemporanea. Dalla Grande Guerra a oggi, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 2009 e successive. • Simone A. Bellezza, Identità ucraina. Storia del movimento nazionale dal 1800 a oggi, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 2024. • La Guerra d’indipendenza ucraina. Come il conflitto ha cambiato il Paese (2014-2024), a cura di Simone A. Bellezza, Oleksyi Bondarenko, Marco Puleri e Matteo Zola, Brescia, Scholé, 2025. • Alexander Etkind, La Russia contro la modernità, Torino, Bollati Boringhieri, 2025. and of a monograph of their choice from this list:: • George Mosse, Sessualità e nazionalismo. Mentalità borghese e rispettabilità, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 1996. • Eric J. Leed, Terra di nessuno. La grande guerra. Esperienza bellica e identità personale nella prima guerra mondiale, Il Mulino, 2007. • Victoria De Grazia, L’impero irresistibile. La società dei consumi americana alla conquista del mondo, Torino, Einaudi, 2005. • Alessandro Portelli, L’ordine è già stato eseguito. Roma, le Fosse Ardeatine, la memoria, Donzelli, Roma 1999. • Mario Del Pero, Libertà e impero. Gli Stati Uniti e il mondo, 1776-2011, Roma-Bari: Laterza, 2011. • Silvio Pons, La rivoluzione globale. Storia del comunismo internazionale 1917-1991, Torino, Einaudi, 2012. • Sara Lorenzini, Una strana guerra fredda. Lo sviluppo e le relazioni Nord-Sud, Il Mulino, Bologna 2017. • Serhii Plokhy, Chernobyl. Storia di una catastrofe nucleare, Rizzoli, Milano 2019. • Arturo Marzano, Marcella Simoni (a cura di), Il labirinto di Gaza. Storie, politiche, rappresentazioni (1987-2023), Brescia, Scholé, 2024.

The basic aim of the course is to provide a basic understanding of political, social, economic, and cultural dynamics spanning the period from World War I to the present day. It also aims to provide a historical context for the other subjects taught in the degree program and potential future research. The course aims to provide students with the basic knowledge and methodological tools necessary to analyze modern and contemporary society using a historical approach. Furthermore, at a basic level, the course aims to provide tools for understanding and analyzing the emergence of national identities in the contemporary age and how these dynamics have been both the cause and the effect of the major armed conflicts of this period. The advanced objective of the course is to provide an understanding of the development of the historiographical debate on each of the topics covered. The course is designed to impart the operational skills needed to concretely apply historical knowledge and develop the ability to navigate different historiographical interpretations. Further knowledge of Ukrainian and Russian national history will also be provided. Furthermore, tools will be provided to enable comparative analysis of other national conflicts both in Europe and globally.

None.

The course will consist mainly of frontal lectures, although they will sometime involve the direct involvement of students in reading and analyzing some primary sources. The lectures are an integral part of the exam program: the lecturer will provide the slides of the lectures and other useful materials.

Students with physical disabilities, Learning Disabilities or Special Education Needs can request specific services and tools via the Staff Sviluppo e Coordinamento Carriere e Servizi alle Studentesse e agli Studenti, consulting the University webpage: https://www.uniupo.it/en/services/services- students-physical-or-learning-disabilities Students with disabilities, learning disabilities or special education needs, once they have contacted the University Staff, can refer to the tutor in charge of the course to define the examination modalities, concerning academic aspects.

The exam will consist of an oral test. Here a synthetic description of the results requested by the lecturer to achieve different grade ranges: - an imprecise knowledge of concepts and event structured as a series of notion without solid conceptual links between them, expressed in imprecise form will be evaluated as sufficient. Corresponding grade range: 18-22. - a deeper but not particularly detailed knowledge of concepts and events, expressed in a correct language, sufficient to aptly describe the topic dealt with, will be considered as moderately good. Corresponding grade range: 22-26. - A solid knowledge that displays a clear grasp of the connections between different phenomena and the capacity to autonomously handle the conceptual tools acquired with the study, applying them to different events, will be considered satisfying. It will be considered fully satisfying if the student will show a capacity to deal with the chosen texts in a critical way, pinpointing the author’s opinions and treating then as informed points of view with which to critically engage. Corresponding grade range: 27-30 cum laude.

The lectures will be conducted according to the following outline. First Module. - Lecture 1: Introduction to the course: practical issues. What is history: methodological introduction. - Lecture 2: The general characters of the contemporary age. - Lecture 3: The First World War. - Lecture 4: The Russian revolutions. The USSR of Lenin and Stalin. - Lecture 5: Italian fascism and the category of totalitarianism. - Lesson 6: The 1929 crisis and the rise of Nazism in Germany. - Lesson 7: The Second World War: the Shoah. - Lesson 8: Cold War. - Lesson 9: Decolonization. - Lesson 10: The cultural revolution of the 1960s. Asia after World War II. - Lesson 11: The Middle Eastern conflicts and the crisis of the 1970s. - Lesson 12: Italian Republican history. - Lesson 13: The collapse of the USSR and the end of the Cold War. - Lesson 14: The end of history? The Neoliberalist Globalization - Lesson 15: Environmental crisis and new wars in a multipolar world. Second Module: - Lesson 1: Introduction to the course: practical issues. What is a nation?: history and the public use of history. - Lesson 2: Imperial Russia. - Lesson 3: The birth of the Ukrainian national movement in the nineteenth century. - Lesson 4: Ukrainian independence in the First World War and in the civil war. - Lesson 5: Soviet collective identities and Soviet Ukraine. - Lesson 6: Ukrainians in Europe and the Second World War. - Lesson 7: The Ukrainian diaspora in the West. - Lesson 8: The soviet Thaw. - Lesson 9: The Sixties and the Seventies. - Lesson 10: From autonomy to Ukrainian independence. - Lesson 11: Putin’s Russia and Russian national identity. - Lesson 12: The history of Memorial. - Lesson 13: The Orange Revolution and the Revolution of Dignity. - Lesson 14: Ukraine and the war. - Lesson 15: Ukraine’s participation in the ESC.

Basic level: Knowledge and understanding: knowing and understanding issues related to contemporary European and world history, and understanding the dynamics through which national identities have emerged during the contemporary era and how they are the result of both bottom-up and top-down social and political movements. Applied knowledge and understanding: understanding and being able to discuss issues concerning society, economics, politics, and culture in modern and contemporary Europe and the rest of the world, as well as understand the specific path through which the opposing national identities of Ukraine and Russia emerged. Independent judgment: being able to independently evaluate historical processes and independently and critically navigate historiographical discussions and interpretations. Communication skills: being able to explain to non-experts the main political, economic, social, and cultural phenomena that have characterized modern and contemporary societies. Being able to present a paper during the course or summarize the results achieved in a complete but concise manner, using the correct vocabulary of the discipline. Advanced level: Knowledge and understanding: Ability to develop even complex discussions about Europe and the world in the 19th and 20th centuries, understand the factors that determine the emergence of national conflicts, and be able to use these factors to analyze other contemporary wars between nations. Knowledge of the main features of historiographical interpretations of each topic. Learning skills: Ability to update or expand one's knowledge by independently drawing on texts, scientific articles, documents, and digital materials specific to the discipline. Independent judgment: Ability to analyze media coverage of the ongoing conflict and to identify the specific historiographical current to which the various texts analyzed during the course belong. These learning outcomes are consistent with the provisions of the SUA of the Degree Program, table A4.b2 (particularly for the Historical Area).