B4806 - History of Cultural Exchanges and Social Interactions in the Modern Era (1) (LM)

Conoscenze e abilità da conseguire

At the end of the course unit students will have acquired the capacity to use an entangled history methodological perspective using primary sources and literature on cross-cultural exchanges, mobilities of people and goods, and social interactions between different parts of the world but also within the same geographical space in the 18th and 19th century. Students will develop a critical ability to analyze interconnected phenomena concerning cultural and religious aspects, trade, forms of labor coercion and enslavement. At the end of the course students will demonstrate a sound theoretical framework within which specific research interests could be developed.

Contenuti

The aim of the course is to explain the concept of Entangled history and its different uses in research on the Early Modern and Modern period. The main focus of this course will be the social, economic and cultural exchanges between actors and goods in a global perspective. The interconnections between different societies or people will be analysed going beyond the concepts of nation, empire, and civilizations to understand better the complexity of the past and its multiple voices.

The course is structured in five modules: 1) What is Entangled History? Comparison with other historiographical methodological approaches 2) Social interactions between the Atlantic and the Mediterranean worlds; Race and Ethnicity 3) Global circulation of enslaved people 4) Entangled Empires: Merchants, Sailors, Workers 5) Cultural connections: Travelers, Interpreters, Missionaries

The first module concerns a methodological section on the concept of Entangled History and a comparison with Global History and the Comparative approach

The second module will be on the social and cultural interactions between the Atlantic and the Mediterranean worlds with a reflection on the problem of race and ethnicity

The third module will focus on the Global circulation of enslaved people

In the fourth module we will discuss the concept of Entangled Empires

The last module will be on cultural connections analyzing different actors such as travelers, captains, interpreters, missionaries

Testi/Bibliografia

Bibliography

Students may use this suggested bibliography to enrich their knowledge on the course themes, in addition to the indicated readings for each session (the professor is also available for further readings according to your interests).

Araujo Ana Lucia, The Gift: How Objects of Prestige Shaped the Atlantic Slave Trade and Colonialism (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2023)

Baily Cristopher Alan, The birth of the modern world, 1780-1914: global connections and comparisons (Oxford: Blackwell, 2004)

Beckert Sven, Empire of Cotton: A Global History (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2014)

Bernardi, C., Shahid, A., & Özbek, M., “Reconsidering labor coercion through the logics of Im/mobility and the environment.” Labor History, 64(6), 2003, 659–675. https://doi.org/10.1080/0023656X.2023.2254245

Chakrabarty, Dipesh, Provincializing Europe: postcolonial thought and historical difference (Princeton: Princeton Univ. Press, 2000)

Elliot John H., Empires of the Atlantic World: Britain and Spain in America 1492–1830 (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2006)

Mintz Sidney W., Sweetness and power: the place of sugar in modern history (New York: Penguin Books, 1986)

Stanziani Alessandro, Sailors, Slaves, and Immigrants : Bondage in the Indian Ocean World, 1750-1914 (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2014)

Subrahmanyam Sanjay, Connected history: essays and arguments (London: Verso, 2022)

Subrahmanyam Sanjay, "One Asia, or Many? Reflections from connected history." Modern Asian Studies, 2016, 50(1), 5–43.

Zemon Davis Natalie, “Decentering History. Local Stories and Cultural Crossings in a Global World”, History & Theory, Vol. 50, 2011, Issue 2, 188-202.

Zemon Davis Natalie Trickster Travels: A Sixteenth-Century Muslim Between World (New York: Hill and Wang, 2006)

All attending students are requested to prepare the required readings carefully, in order to be able to participate in class discussions each Friday.

Each Friday, one student or more students (in turn) will be asked to prepare a short oral presentation (no longer than 15 minutes) on one of the required readings (you have more than one option each Friday and you must choose only one paper or introduction+one book chapter of your choice)

The presenting students must register in one slot of this list:

In case the number of attending students exceeds the number of presentations available, we can have more presentations (maximum 3-4) in one day of different texts.

All the readings are uploaded in 'Virtuale' or can be downloaded from the university library

Week 1:

1. Introduction of the course
2. What is Entangled History? Comparison with other historiographical methodological approaches
3. Presentation and discussion of one of these papers:

   Gould, Eliga H., “Entangled Histories, Entangled Worlds: The English-Speaking Atlantic as a Spanish Periphery.” The American Historical Review, Vol. 112, No. 3, 2007, pp. 764-786.

   or

   Werner Michael, Zimmermann Bénédicte, "Histoire Croisée: Between the Empirical and Reflexivity", Annales. Histoire, Sciences Sociales, 2003/1, p. 7-36. URL: https://www.cairn-int.info/journal-annales-2003-1-page-7.htm

   Week 2:

4. Social Interactions between the Atlantic and the Mediterranean worlds
5. Race and Ethnicity
6. Presentation and discussion, introduction and one chapter:

   Schwartz, Stuart B., ed. Tropical Babylons: Sugar and the Making of the Atlantic World 1450-1650 (Chapell Hill: Univ. of North Carolina Press, 2004)

   or

   Bethencourt, Francisco, Racisms: from the Crusades to the Twentieth Century (Princeton, Princeton University Press, 2013).

   or

   Schaub, Jean Frédéric, Race is about politics: lessons from History (Princeton, Princeton University Press, 2019) if you read French you can choose also this book Frédéric Schaub, Silvia Sebastiani, Race et histoire dans les sociétés occidentales (xv^e-xviii^e siècle) (Paris, Albin Michel, 2021)

   Week 3:

7. Global circulation of enslaved people
8. Different trade and slave systems in different spaces and within the same geographical area
9. Oral presentation and discussion, introduction and one chapter:

   Von Mallinckrodt, Rebekka. The European Experience in Slavery, 1650–1850 (Berlin-Boston: De Gruyter Oldenbourg, 2024)

   or

   Hershenzon, Daniel, The Captive Sea: Slavery, Communication, and Commerce in Early Modern Spain and the Mediterranean (Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania Press, 2018)

   or

   Pargas, Damian and Schiel, Juliane, The Palgrave Handbook of Global Slavery through History (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2023)

   or

   M’hamed Oualdi, A Slave between Empires. A Transimperial History of North Africa (New York: Columbia University Press, 2020)

   Week 4:

10. Entangled Empires
11. Merchants, Sailors, Workers
12. Presentation and discussion of introduction and one chapter or of the article:

    Green Toby, A fistful of shells. West Africa from the rise of the slave trade to the age of revolution (Chicago: Chicago University Press, 2019)

    or

    Cañizares-Esguerra, Jorge, editor. Entangled Empires: The Anglo-Iberian Atlantic, 1500-1830 (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2018)

    or

    Linebaugh Peter and Rediker Marcus, The Many-Headed Hydra: Sailors, Slaves, Commoners and the Hidden History of the Revolutionary Atlantic (Boston: Beacon Press, 2000)

    or

    De Vito C., Lichtenstein A., "Writing a Global History of Convict Labour." International Review of Social History. 2013;58(2):285-325. doi:10.1017/S0020859012000818

    Week 5:

13. Cultural connections
14. Travelers, Interpreters, Missionaries
15. Presentation and discussion of introduction and one chapter:

Sanjay Subrahmanyam, Europe's India: Words, People, Empires, 1500–1800 (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2017)

or

Minuti Rolando, Tarantino Giovanni, East and West Entangled (17th -21st Centuries) (Firenze : Firenze University Press, 2023)

or

Linda Colley, The Ordeal of Elizabeth Marsh: A Woman in World History (New York, Pantheon Book, 2007)

Metodi didattici

Frontal lectures, slides, students' presentations, class discussion, reading of sources

Modalità di verifica e valutazione dell'apprendimento

Assessment methods

Students who attend at least 75% of the lessons are considered to be attending

Attending students will be evaluated through the final examination (100%).

The final exam is a paper on a topic of the student’s choice (12 credits). The student can choose to write the paper with Prof Bonazza or Prof Rosenboim, according to their topic of interest and to the professors’ availability. The topic of the paper and the research question must be agreed in advance with the professor. The length of the paper will be up to 6500 words including notes and bibliography. The paper must critically engage with the existing historiography on the chosen topic. The paper must be based on at least 6 academic secondary sources and also with some primary sources, if possible, which may include but not limited to the course’s bibliography. Proper use of the English language, adequate presentation and academic style will be part of the evaluation. The paper must have proper references in footnotes and a bibliography. For the references, Chicago Style is preferred but not mandatory.

Non-attending students are required to write the final paper (following the same guidelines as the attending students) and in addition to do a written exam. The written exam is based on 2 books, and includes 6 questions (3 for each book). The exam lasts 1.5 hours and will be taken in person at the computer lab.

The required readings for the written exam are:

Erez Manela, The Wilsonian Moment: Self-Determination and the International Origins of Anticolonial Nationalism (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2007).

Sanjay Subrahmanyam, Connected history: essays and arguments (London : Verso, 2022)

Marking criteria:

Proper language and the ability to critically analyze relevant topics will lead to a good/excellent final grade (27-30L)

Acceptable language and the ability to resume relevant topics will lead to a sufficient/fair grade (22-26)

poor language and a superficial knowledge of relevant topics will lead to the minimum grade to pass the exam (18-21)

Insufficient linguistic proficiency and fragmentary knowledge of relevant topics will lead to a failure in passing the exam

Exam sessions are scheduled for the following months of the academic year:

For Attending and Non-attending students: you can send me the paper by email when you prefer and after some exchanges and revisions we schedule a meeting for a short presention (normally during my office hour)

Non-attending students: the written exam is scheduled for January, February, March, May, June and September 2025 (check the dates on my AlmaEsami and on AlmaEsami of professor Rosenboim)

 

Strumenti a supporto della didattica

Research databases; Seminars; Virtuale

Students with disabilities and Specific Learning Disorders (SLD)

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

Orario di ricevimento

Consulta il sito web di Giulia Bonazza