B5111 - Experiences and Memories of Western Europe (1) (LM)

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course students will possess a critical and in-depth knowledge of a) the historiographical debate about the national and transnational configuration of European experiences and memories; b) the different methodological approaches to study them and, c) the processes related to the redefinition of the coordinates of the public and institutional memory in contemporary Europe. They will have acquired a critical knowledge of the key concepts and tools apt to identifying factors of change and of continuity in the debate on memory policies and how these can be reshaped with regard to political-institutional, social and gender factors. They will also be able to recognize the relevance of and the interest in historical memory on the part of communities in contemporary Western European cultures - including artistic production and public communication - and the specific role of historiography in fostering a critical and scientific approach. They will be able to outline a research question by critically selecting and evaluating the sources necessary to address it so as to be able to develop scientifically grounded interpretations; they will have achieved capabilities to produce contents of scientific quality that can be disseminated through the various channels of historical knowledge communication, including teaching, with an awareness of the implications for dissemination and for teaching.

Course contents

"For a Common Memory of the Past”. New sensitivities about the war after ‘89

Despite the different experiences of the Second World War undergone by each country, Western Europe has developed a set of common memory principles and practices in the postwar decades, thanks mainly to the process of progressive European integration. Starting from this assumption, the course aims to offer a path of reflection on the Policies of Memory related to World War II that were defined in the last thirty years in the framework of Western Europe with specific characteristics, albeit in close connection with the parallel path taken in Eastern European countries.

The course will reflect on the way and forms - protagonists and dominant elements, contradictions - in which states, societies, but also historiographical authors/schools of single Western European countries have looked with new sensitivities at the topic of war since the 1990s (coinciding with the development of new global conflicts) and defined new memorial paradigms after 1989, through the study of specific cases in national and transnational perspectives, and the analysis also of primary sources.

The course will be divided into the following 5 clusters:

1- The 1990s and the changing sensibility on the war: new gazes, new conflicts

2- "For a Common Memory of the Past”. European Union memory policies and memorial laws.

3- Dominant features of the public narrative of World War II in Western Europe after 1989: the "Victim Paradigm"

4- Exemplarity of the German model and consequent overshadowing of national collaborationism

5- Elements of contradiction, antagonistic memories and new research perspectives.

 

Attending students, previously divided into groups, will be required to read, discuss and present an essay/chapter (List A) in the classroom.

Seminar Schedule:

20th February – The 1990s and the changing sensibility on the war

27th February – European Union memory policies and memorial laws

5th March – Dominant features of the public narrative

12th March – Exemplarity of the German model

19th March – Elements of contradiction, antagonistic memories

Application form, to be completed by Feb. 18th, at the following LINK

Readings/Bibliography

The following bibliography is indicative; it gathers most references that will be used in class, lists the texts will be considered or quoted during the course. For the bibliography relating to the final exam, consult the appropriate section [Assessment methods]

  

Annette Wieviorka, L'era del testimone, Cortina, Milano, 1999

Pieter Lagrou, The Legacy of Nazi Occupation. Patriotic Memory and National Recovery in Western Europe 1945-65, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2000

Stéphane Audoin-Rouzeau, Annette Becker, La violenza, la crociata, il lutto. La Grande guerra e la storia del Novecento, Einaudi, Torino 2002

Jay Winter, Remembering War. The Great War between Memory and History in the Twentieth Century, New Haven & London, Yale University Press, 2006

Henry Rousso, Face au passé. Essais sur le mémoire contemporaine, Paris, Belin, 2016

Giovanni Contini, Memorie Divise, Rizzoli 1997

Alessandro Portelli, L'ordine è già stato eseguito, Donzelli 1999

Leonardo Paggi, La memoria del nazismo nell'Europa di oggi, Nuova Italia 1997

Leonardo Paggi Il popolo dei morti. La Repubblica italiana nata dalla guerra (1940-1946), Il Mulino 2009

Filippo Focardi, Bruno Groppo (a cura di), L'Europa e le sue memorie. Culture e politiche del ricordo dopo il 1989, Viella, Roma 2013

Nikolay Koposov, Memory Laws, Memory Wars. The Politics of the Past in Europe and Russia, Cambridge University Press, 2018

Filippo Focardi e Pieter Lagrou (a cura di), Culture del ricordo e uso politico della storia nell'Europa contemporanea, numero monografico della rivista "Qualestoria" 2/2021

Filippo Focardi, Giovanni Contini e Marta Petricioli, Memoria e Rimozione. I crimini di guerra del Giappone e dell’Italia, Viella, Roma 2010

Italia e Germania dopo la caduta del Muro. Politica, cultura, economia, a cura di Monica Fioravanzo, Filippo Focardi, Lutz Klinkhammer, Viella, Roma, 2019

Filippo Focardi, Nel cantiere della memoria. Fascismo, Resistenza, Shoah, Foibe, Viella, Roma, 2020

Le ombre del passato. Italia e Polonia di fronte alla memoria della Shoah, a cura di Francesco Berti, Filippo Focardi, Joanna Sondel-Cedarmas, Viella 2018

Michael Rothberg, Multidirectional Memory. Remembering the Holocaust in the Age of Decolonization, Stanford University Press, Stanford, 2009

Filippo Focardi, Alessandro Pes, Il colonialismo e l'Europa tra memoria e uso pubblico della storia, numero monografico della rivista “Memoria e Ricerca”, 2/2023

Teaching methods

The course alternates lectures and debates in which the active participation of students is required. The readings to be discussed in class will be assigned in the first week of lessons.

For the preparation of class discussions, the texts will be uploaded on the "didactic materials" related to course.

Assessment methods

To be considered attending, students must take part to at least 75% of the lessons and engage actively in the discussions.

 

Attending students are required to participate actively to all classes.

They can choose between two forms of final exam:

1) A 6000-7500 words paper (12 credits) on a topic of one of the following areas, related to the two modules of the integrated course:

• Politics of memory in Western Europe post 1989 (Rovatti)
• Traces or imprint of the war in Eastern Europe, 1945-2022(Voisin)

Students are required to choose a specific subject within one of this two areas, with agreement of one of the two professors, or a subject transversal to the two modules, in this case the topic must be agreed upon with both professors(Rovatti and Voisin).

Deadline for the submission of the final paper is either 15^th April or 12^nd June

The evaluation of the essay will depend on its originality, source base and its critical depth. The grade assigned to the paper will be based on:

- selection of the topic of the paper and its relatedness with the course content

- ability to identify relevant and diverse bibliography

- critical analysis

- clarity in structure and aims

- language proficiency

The final grade will result from the evaluation of all aspects concerning the course: active participation in class; accuracy and punctuality in delivering the paper; accuracy in oral presentation and academic writing; capability to deepen and master topics addressed during the course; ability to identify relevant bibliography; critical analysis; clear and logical structure of the final paper.

2) A written exam (12 credits), related to both modules.

The written exam (120 minutes) includes 5 open-ended, choice questions related to the texts (about 20 essays/chapters) analyzed in the classroom during lectures of both the Western European Experience and Memories module (List A) and the Eastern European Experience and Memories module (List B).

 

List A

1-T. Judt, “The Past in Another Country. Myth and Memory in Postwar Europe” pp. 293-323. In I. Deàk, J.T. Gross, T. Judt (eds.), The Politics of Retribution in Europe. World War II and Its Aftermath, Princeton New Jersey, Princeton University Press, 2000 [Virtuale]

2-L. Paggi, “La violenza, le comunità, la memoria”, pp. IX-XXXVII. In La memoria del nazismo nell'Europa di oggi, La Nuova Italia, Firenze 1997 [Virtuale]

3-A. Sierp, “Le politiche della memoria dell’Unione europea”, pp. 19-33. In «Qualestoria», 2 (2021) Culture del ricordo e uso politico della storia nell’Europa contemporanea https://eut.units.it/it/fascicolo/qualestoria-rivista-di-storia-contemporanea-xlix-nro-2-dicembre-2021-culture-del-ricordo-e-uso-polit/4429

4-F. Focardi, “Il passato conteso. Transizione politica e guerra della memoria dalla crisi della prima Repubblica alla fine dei governi Berlusconi”, pp. 195-234, in Id, Nel cantiere della memoria. Fascismo, Resistenza, Shoah, Foibe, Viella, Roma, 2020 [Virtuale]

5-V. Galimi “Vichy: un passato che non passa? Opinione pubblica e politiche della memoria in Francia”, pp. 91-107. In F. Focardi, B. Groppo (eds), L'Europa e le sue memorie, Viella 2013 [Virtuale]

6-G. De Luna, cap. 4 “Il trionfo delle vittime” e cap. 5 “La competizione tra le vittime”, pp. 82-103. In La Repubblica del dolore. Le memorie di un’Italia divisa, Feltrinelli, 2015 [Virtuale]

7- R. S.C. Gordon, Scolpitelo nei cuori. L’Olocausto nella cultura italiana (1944-2010), Torino, Bollati Boringhieri, 2013, cap. 10- Dopo la consapevolezza, pp. 271-298. [The Holocaust in Italian Culture 1944-2010, Stanford, Stanford U.P., 2012, pp. 188-206] [Virtuale]

8- G. Schwarz, “Il 27 gennaio e le aporie della memoria”, pp. 100-123. In «Italia Contemporanea», 296, 2021 [Virtuale]

9- C. Cornelissen, “Gli intrecci fra cultura del ricordo e politica della storia. Il caso della Germania dagli anni Novanta”, pp. 137-154. In «Qualestoria», 2 (2021) Culture del ricordo e uso politico della storia nell’Europa contemporanea https://eut.units.it/it/fascicolo/qualestoria-rivista-di-storia-contemporanea-xlix-nro-2-dicembre-2021-culture-del-ricordo-e-uso-polit/4429

10- C. Gentile, “Le memorie dei perpetratori: rimozione, rivendicazione, cordoglio”, pp. 317-338. In Le vittime italiane del nazionalsocialismo, Viella, 2021 [Virtuale]

11- V. Deplano, “Memoria coloniale e memoria europea. Schiavismo, espansionismo e imperialismo nella narrazione della Casa della storia europea”, pp. 221-236, In «Memoria e Ricerca», 2 (2023) https://www-rivisteweb-it.ezproxy.unibo.it/doi/10.14647/107743

12- D. Guzzi, “Gli spettri della guerra d’Algeria. Conflitti di memoria e reticenze istituzionali nella Francia contemporanea”, pp. 301-318, In «Memoria e Ricerca», 2 (2023) https://www-rivisteweb-it.ezproxy.unibo.it/doi/10.14647/107747

13 - A. Pes, “Discorso pubblico e stereotipo del «buon colonizzatore». Le istituzioni italiane e il passato coloniale”, pp. 255-273, In «Memoria e Ricerca», 2 (2023) https://www-rivisteweb-it.ezproxy.unibo.it/doi/10.14647/107745

 

Non-attending students are required to pass 2 written exams, valid for both modules (12 credits). The two written exams will be held separately on the same day (or on two consecutive days):

The first written exam (120 minutes, same for attending students) includes 5 open-ended, choice questions related to the texts (about 20 essays/chapters) analyzed in the classroom during lectures of both the Western European Experience and Memories module (List A) and the Eastern European Experience and Memories module (List B).

The Lists A and B will be provided before the start of class.

The second written exam (180 minutes) involves short critical paper (max. 4 pages) from one of the two proposed tracks/question related to the topics covered in the modules of the integrated course.

In addition to an accurate study of the texts analyzed in the two courses (List A + B), in order to pass the second written exam non-attending students should study the following 2 books:

 

• Filippo Focardi, Bruno Groppo (a cura di), L'Europa e le sue memorie. Culture e politiche del ricordo dopo il 1989, Viella, Roma 2013
• Antonella Salomoni, Le ceneri di Babij Jar. L’eccidio degli ebrei di Kiev. Bologna, il Mulino, 2019
  
  

There will be 6 appeals for written tests:

- mid-April, late May/mid-June, mid-July- early

- mid September, mid-October, mid-December.

The syllabus to be studied for the written tests may change between two academic years; non-attending students in debt should study the year's syllabus given in the examination call.

 

The grade assigned to the short critical paper will be based on the precision in answering the question, the capacity to develop a critical analysis using an adequate scientific language.

For all exam forms (final paper, first written exam, second written exam):

- appropriate language and the ability to critically analyze relevant topics will lead to a good/excellent final grade;

- acceptable language and the ability to resume relevant topics will lead to a sufficient/ fair grade;

-inadequate language proficiency and fragmentary knowledge of relevant topics will result in failing the exam.

 

This 6 CFU course is part of the 12 CFU Integrated Course "SOCIETIES IN TRANSITION AND CULTURES OF CONFLICT IN CONTEMPORARY EUROPE."

If the student has included the integrated course (12 Cfu) in his/her study plan

-the final grade for attending students will be assigned by the professor with whom the topic for the final paper has been agreed upon (Rovatti or Voisin); or by both professors (Rovatti and Voisin), if they choose the written exam.

- the final grade for non-attending students will result from the arithmetic mean of the grades obtained in the two written exams, assigned together by the professors (Rovatti and Voisin).

Teaching tools

During frontal lessons the teacher will use power point presentations containing text and visual sources.

Audiovisual materials, documentary sources will be proposed to integrate some lessons. Teaching materials such as articles or short essays will be made available to students on the course page of "Virtuale".

Students who require specific services and adaptations to teaching activities due to a disability or specific learning disorders (SLD), must first contact the appropriate office: https://site.unibo.it/studenti-con-disabilita-e-dsa/en/for-students .

Office hours

See the website of Toni Rovatti