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HISTORY OF COMMUNICATION I Single discipline educational activity
Course Sheet Academic Year of enrolment:
Professor and Collaborators:
Hours of classroom activity:
Prerequisites:
Although a good basic knowledge of the fundamental historical issues of the contemporary era is desirable, the course is aimed, among other things, at filling any gaps for attending students.
Objectives
Contents Attending students will be equipped with the tools:
1) to understand the importance of History and historical knowledge
2) to form a mental perspective that helps them think more historically and critically, over the long term
3) to know the main methods, meanings, objectives of the historian's profession
4) to approach the most relevant issues of contemporary history, from the French Revolution at the end of the 18th century to the beginning of the 21st century, delving into, among other things, the links between the historical acceleration of the last two centuries or so and the current events that students find themselves living in these early years of the 21st century.
5) to know and understand the development of the mass media system in modernity, from the 18th to the 20th century, deepening in particular the relations between political communication and propaganda in the democracies and dictatorships of the 20th century, with particular reference to the case study of fascism, a historical phenomenon that had a great influence on contemporary Italy also in terms of the media.
Extended Syllabus 1) The first part of the course will be devoted to helping students understand the importance of history as a vehicle not only for knowledge but also as a critical and civic tool for living the present in an informed way.
2) In the second part, an effort will be made to acquaint students with the tools and methods of historians' work, in order to understand what is "behind" the teaching.
3) The third part of the course will provide a brief but critical and interpretative overview of the most relevant issues in contemporary history, from the French Revolution at the end of the eighteenth century to the beginning of the twenty-first century, exploring, among other things, the links between the historical acceleration of the last two centuries or so and the current times that students find themselves living.
4) In the fourth part, the monographic section of the course will focus on one of the great historical issues of the contemporary age: the development of mass media, with particular reference to the relations between political communication and propaganda, between democracies and anti-democracies. The system of propaganda during the dictatorial regime of Fascism in Italy, which profoundly influenced subsequent Italian history up to the present day, will be examined as a case study. In this context, the course will examine some of the main media and themes of fascist communication languages, including the cult of the leader, the cinema, the imperial myth, the plebiscitary relationship between power and the people, and the condition of women.
Recommended Bibliography For attending students:
1) Simona Salustri, Orientare l’opinione pubblica. Mezzi di comunicazione e propaganda politica nell’Italia fascista, Milano, Unicopli, 2018
https://www.unicopli.it/catalogo/storia/comunicazione-storica/orientare-...
2) Enzo Fimiani, I linguaggi politici del fascismo al tempo dei plebisciti, in Propaganda e comunicazione politica. Storia e trasformazioni nell'età contemporanea, a cura di M. Ridolfi, Milano, Bruno Mondadori, 2004, pp. 183-208
[the paper be provided by the teacher in pdf on the telematics platform]
3) Roberta Sassano, Camicette Nere: le donne nel Ventennio fascista, in “El Futuro del Pasado”, (2015), n. 6, pp. 253-280
[the paper be provided by the teacher in pdf on the telematics platform]
Non-attending students will add the essay:
4) Maria Rosa Capozzi, I linguaggi della persuasione: propaganda e pubblicità, in “Gentes”, (2014), n. 1, pp. 99-106
[the paper be provided by the teacher in pdf on the telematics platform]
Teaching Methods The course consists of 9 credits (equivalent to 54 hours of frontal classroom activity) and will be held in the first semester, between 2 October and around mid-December (unless lessons are made up in January), with 6 hours of lessons per week over three, from Monday to Wednesday (based on the academic calendar).
The lessons will be deliberately based on dialogue and interaction between lecturer and students.
Depending on the interests shown during the lessons, it will be agreed between the teacher and the students whether or not to use additional tools (such as the use of audiovisuals or the organization of seminars led by historians or authoritative scholars, capable of broadening the educational horizon and cognitive stimuli).
Evaluation methods Verification of learning:
The examination process consists of an oral exam.
The verification of learning will be based
1) for the attending students, both on the contents of the reference texts and on everything that will emerge from the frontal lessons
2) for non-attending students, on the contents of the reference texts.
The exam will aim to ascertain the level of preparation.
What is of most interest, however, is not the knowledge about the specific themes of the texts, but rather other aspects.
Among these, the development of the following skills:
(a) to think 'historically', with the critical tools to approach the more recent past and its complexities
b) to organize one’s knowledge in a comprehensive way
c) to use the enormous possibilities of the Italian language with a certain property of language.
Contacts/More Information Class attendance is not compulsory.
The weekly reception will be used to clarify any doubts about the course.
Of course, the professor can be contacted on the institutional e-mail address: enzo.fimiani@unich.it (expecting a reply within a reasonable timeframe and not immediately)