Ateneo - UPO

The course aims to provide an introductory overview of the issue of national belongings, which is one of the fundamental dynamics shaping the evolution of politics and culture throughout the modern period.
The course consists of two parts: the first will provide a detailed examination of the various interpretations of the phenomenon of nationalism by historians and social scientists. The second part will trace the evolution of national identities both through a global historical perspective and through the analysis of particularly significant case studies.

Everyone will prepare for the exam by reading:
1) Simone A. Bellezza, Gli imperi del nazionalismo: politica e appartenenza nell’Europa centro-orientale, in L’età contemporanea. Prospettive di storia europea e globale, a cura di Marco Bresciani e Fulvio Conti, Carocci, Roma 2023, pp. 29-56 (downloadable from DIR)
2) Francesca Zantedeschi, Nazioni e nazionalismo in Europa, «Passato e Presente», XXV (2007), 70: 95-111 (downloadable from sul DIR)
3) Paolo Perri, Nazioni in cerca di stato, Roma, Donzelli, 2023;
and one of the following:
A) Simone A. Bellezza, Identità ucraina. Storia del movimento nazionale dal 1800 a oggi, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 2024.
B) Alfredo Sasso, Storia della Bosnia Erzegovina. Dal primo Novecento a oggi, Brescia, Scholé, 2026.

At a basic level, the aim of the course is to provide tools through which to know, understand and analyze the emergence of national identities in the contemporary age and understand how these dynamics have been both cause and effect of the major armed conflicts of this period. At a more advanced level, the goal is to provide a deeper understanding of specific contexts and how national identities have become intertwined with claims of a different nature (social, religious, gender). Students will also be provided with the tools to conduct a comparative analysis of national conflicts, both in Europe and globally.
For this course, the teaching corresponds to 1.2 CFU and the self-learning activities to 4.8 CFU.

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:
Lecture 1: Introduction to the course and practical information. Theories of nationalism: the primordialists: Shils, Geertz, Hastings.
Lecture 2: Theories of nationalism: economists and historians of the modernist school.
Lecture 3: Theories of nationalism: sociologists and anthropologists of the modernist school.
Lecture 4: Theories of Nationalism: Ethnosymbolism by Armstrong and Smith.
Lecture 5: Theories of Nationalism: The Postmodern Approach—from Banal Nationalism to Narrative Theories.
Lecture 6: Transnational History: From Migrations to Diasporas.
Lecture 7: Citizenship as a Concept and Classification Tool.
Lecture 8: From Empires to Nations: The Studies of George Mosse and Eugen Weber.
Lecture 9: The Risorgimento and Young Europe: From National Honor to (Civil) Wars.
Lecture 10: Nation-States and Decolonization.
Lecture 11: The Melting Pot and Multiculturalism: Nations in the New Worlds.
Lecture 12: Globalization and the Resurgence of Nations.
Lecture 13: Yugoslavia and Ethnic Cleansing: The Case of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Lecture 14: The Soviet Union and Russia: From an Empire of Nations to an Imperial Nation.
Lecture 15: Civil Nationalism: The Ukrainian Case.
Integration of the gender dimension.
The course dedicates ample space to the study of the gender dimension, in particular in lessons 8, 9, 11, 14, and 15.

At the basic level:Knowledge and understanding:Students must demonstrate that they have understood the dynamics through which national identities have emerged in the course of the contemporary age and how they are the result of social and political movements both from below and from above. Students must demonstrate knowledge of the specific path through which the national identities emerged in different geographical contexts.Applied knowledge and understanding:Students must demonstrate that he is able to use the knowledge learned to understand and analyze other national contexts in the contemporary world. At advanced level:Applied knowledge and understanding:Students must demonstrate that they have understood which factors determine the emergence of national conflicts and that he knows how to use them to analyze other wars between nations of the contemporary age.Making judgments:Students must demonstrate the ability to analyze the communication of the media on the ongoing conflict and to be able 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 Study Programme, framework A4.b2 (particularly for the Historical Area).