HISTORY OF EDUCATIONAL AND CULTURAL PROCESSES

Single discipline educational activity

Course Sheet

Course code:

PE248

Academic Year of enrolment:

2020

Year of supply:

2020/2021

Type of Course:

Characterising

Degree:

Course of 2nd Cycle Degree in ADVANCED EDUCATIONAL SCIENCES

Disciplinary Sector:

History of Pedagogy

Language:

Italian

Location:

CHIETI

Credits:

Programme Year:

Professor and Collaborators:

ELIA DOMENICO FRANCESCO ANTONIO

Cycle:

Second semester

Hours of classroom activity:

Individual study hours:

171

Prerequisites:

Students are expected to have a solid knowledge of contemporary Italian history 1861-1945 and a general knowledge of the history of pedagogy.

Objectives

The aims of the course are to:
- develop an understanding of history of education as a discipline,
- develop historical skills, encouraging students to engage with primary and secondary sources;
- promote an appraisal of the role of geographic and ecological factors fostering European colonial expansion;
- increase students’ understanding of the reasons behind and flaws of any racist explanation of the European colonial expansion;
- develop a critical understanding and a discussion of the contribution of the school system to the Italian nation building process from 1861 to 1945;
- point out the role of the construction of otherness in the process of nation building in Italy, with regards to the opposition between Italians and colonized peoples.

Contents

The course covers some of the episodes of the long and difficult process of conceptualization of the “Otherness” in the relationships between European, African and South American peoples.
Classes will focus on:
- the impact of geographic and environmental in enabling European and Colonial powers to reach a position of dominance over their colonies;
- the representations of Africa in Italian schoolbooks during the Liberal and Fascist ages, with regards to the expectations of colonial expansion;
- the representation of colonies in Geography curricula during the Liberal and Fascist ages. The focus will be on explicit and implicit transmission of the ideas of racial diversity and hierarchy;
- stereotypes about colonial peoples conveyed through images of Italian patents and trademarks between the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century. Images of patents and trademarks are analysed as “informal catalysts” of imagination which contributed to the spread of colonial stereotypes and prejudices in Italian society.

Extended Syllabus

The course aims to develop a critical understanding of how the concept of otherness emerged in Italian education processes. Its scope is education processes involving the global and national dimension between the 19th and the 20th century.
The course focuses on the role of geographical, ecological and environmental factors as providing competitive advantages to European countries. It points out the systematic undervaluation of these factors in 19th and early 20th century explanations of colonialism, which were based on racist premises and contributed to the spread of prejudices against colonial peoples.
The course includes two modules of 27 hours.
The first module is based on the lecture of Armi, acciaio e malattie by J. Diamond. It stresses the role of geographic and environmental factors in the development of human societies, taking into consideration different case studies. As a result, it emphasizes the flaws of 19th and early 20th century explanations of the rise of European powers based on claims of intellectual or cultural superiority.
The second module includes the analysis and evaluation of primary and secondary sources such as schoolbooks, school curricula and images of patents and trademarks. It focuses on the impact of some school subjects, eg. Geography, in promoting an idea of otherness based on claims of intellectual, cultural and racial superiority. The emergences and pervasiveness of racial stereotypes in Italian formal and informal education are investigated through a variety of sources. Students learn how to enter into a dialogue with different sources, build an interpretation based on evidence, and distinguish historical interpretation from bias.

Recommended Bibliography

- Jared Diamond, Armi, acciaio e malattie. Breve storia del mondo negli ultimi tredicimila anni, Torino, Einaudi, 2014, pp. 400 [section 1st, 3rd, 4th]
- Gianluca Gabrielli, Il curricolo «razziale». La costruzione dell’alterità di «razza» e coloniale nella scuola italiana (1860-1950), Macerata, Eum, 2015, pp. 236 [capitolo II, capitolo III]
- D.F.A. Elia, La costruzione di un’identità nazionale contrapposta all’alterità in Età liberale. Pregiudizi culturali nei confronti dell’Africa nelle immagini dei marchi depositati presso l’Archivio Centrale di Stato, in «Rivista di Storia dell’Educazione», n. 1, 2020, pp. 101-116 [open access]
- D.F.A. Elia, New sources of cultural history of education: Italian trademark pictures as vehicles of colonial during the Fascist era, in «Pedagogia Oggi», a. XVIII, n. 1, 2020, pp. 269-288 [open access].

Methods of Provision

Conventional

Teaching Methods

Lecture-style instruction; active learning and laboratory; case-studies; conferences. If Health Laws and University regulations allow, teaching activities, teachers office hours’, and exams may take place online (in whole or in part). For any further information and updates, please refer to the University website.

Evaluation methods

Verification of learning:

Oral examination.Oral examination to assess historical knowledge and the ability to construct historical explanations with regards to open questions and essay discussion (students attending only). The weightnings allocated to open questions and to discussion of essays produced during the course are 50% and 50%. Oral examination is marked with a maximum of 30/30.

Contacts/More Information

Students are required to work in small groups in order to analyze and evaluate historical sources and to do research. All group members will be involved in the process.

Università degli Studi
"G. d'Annunzio"

Chieti - Pescara

Aree

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