Courses

Prerequisites: Knowledge of Italian is necessary for this course.

This course will examine the history of the Italian Risorgimento by following the major historiographical trends of the recent decades. First, it will approach the Risorgimento through the prism of cultural and intellectual history by investigating a series of topics, such as the discursive  patterns of the ‘Risorgimento canon’, the gendered tropes of nationalism, the creation of a new public sphere through operas, festivals and  plebiscites, the connection of nationalism with religion, and the relation of empire to nation and liberalism. Second, it will look at the  Risorgimento through the eyes of local and regional history by examining local patriotisms, revolutions and civil wars and the division between North and South. Finally, it will offer a new topography of Italian history by placing the Risorgimento in its Mediterranean and global context and by exploring its international aspects: the global icons that it produced (i.e. Garibaldi, Mazzini); the networks of exiles in other Mediterranean and European countries; the war volunteers; and the connection of Italian patriots with the wave of liberalism and revolution that swept the globe from India to Latin America.