27280 - Seminars (1) (G.B)

Learning outcomes

At the end of the seminar students will be able to interpret issues related to specific historical phenomena in a diachronic and transversal perspective, thought the elaboration and synthesis of the data coming from the analysis of written records and material sources and from the collective debate originated from the contact with other people. They will be able to formulate autonomously and in an organized way a research path or an intellectual work, using the specific acquired tools with methodological rigour, precision and accuracy.

Course contents

The seminar is aimed at students at both the bachelor's and master's levels, within the discipline of history open to contributions from archaeology, anthropology history and social geography.

The central theme of the seminar is "Archaeology of the Contemporary World." The seminar will deal with the emergence and evolution of an Archaeology of the contemporary world, relating to places that have left material traces of conflicts, natural and warlike events: battlefields, cities bombed or destroyed by armies, concealed concentration and extermination camps, villages martyred by massacres, fortification lines and trenches, earthquakes, etc.

The topic is treated from different aspects: those related to landscape, recovery (including through diggins) and protection of ruins, and the identification and reconstruction of topographies. The course will also examine the politics of memory built on such places, literature and testimonies in relation to the recovery of material traces of events, the monumentalization of vestiges, and monumental and museum choices. And it will draw on iconographic, photographic and film sources, particularly for the archaeology of 20th-century conflicts, from the Great War to conflicts in the former Yugoslavia. Focusing on European history, it will attempt a comparison with experiences on other continents.

This year special attention will be given to the theme of LOST VILLAGES: villages and small towns  that have disappeared and deliberately remained in ruins, particularly after wars (but also  natural) events in 20th century Europe. A comparison will also be made on similar cases especially in the Asian area.

Archaeology of the contemporary is a relatively recent field of research in international historiographical debate, but because of this it is enriched by a new interdisciplinary scholarly production, on which the seminar will focus.

Readings/Bibliography

Readings will be assigned during the course. Large part of the current literature is not in Italian. The seminar will also help to get into the themes, case studies  and methodologies and it will suggest, where possible, readings in English, French, German and Spanish languages essentially.

Teaching methods

Seminar

Assessment methods

Active participation, readings during the seminar, a final written paper preferably on a case study. See rules in the Italian version.

Teaching tools

Readings, iconographic, photographic and film sources.

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 Patrizia Dogliani