Teaching Activities 39th Cycle

Ciclo XXXIX: a.a. 2023-2026

I. Main Teaching activities

Module 1: https://www.dottoratostoria.unina.it/index.php/event/1116/

Title: Religious History, History and Anthropology of Religions and History of Christianity from Antiquity to Contemporary Time

Total hours and teaching year: 15 Hours; First-year module.

Contents: This teaching module aims to analyze the history of Christianity as social and religious history in the longue durée perspective, with particular attention to social, anthropological, and doctrinal dynamics, from antiquity to modern and contemporary times. This module will lay a special emphasis on the typologies of sources and their different historiographical interpretations. The module will address more specialized topics such as the debates on the “origins” of Christianity in both ancient and modern times as well as on the diffusion and the particular historical adaptation of the Marian devotion.  

Teaching will be delivered in English or Italian.

Module 2: https://www.dottoratostoria.unina.it/index.php/event/ciclo-di-lezioni-the-east-and-the-west-in-historical-perspective/

Title: The East and the West in Historical Perspective.

Total hours and teaching year: 15 Hours; First-year module.

Contents: The topic of the module will be the relationship between West and East in the space of Eurasia. Considering a chronological framework that extends from ancient Greece to the contemporary age, the theme will be first analyzed from the point of view of political, economic, and social history, focusing attention on the movement of men, goods, ideas, and visions that mutually move between West and East. From this point of view, particular attention will be paid to the space of the Mediterranean Sea, as a crossroads of trade and communication routes and, at the same time, as a privileged place of interaction between cultures. Secondly, there will be an analysis of the historiographic and cultural problems related to the concept of “East”, which becomes a place of alterity to Europe, according to a cultural representation that lasts from ancient Greece to the contemporary age.  

Teaching will be delivered in English or Italian.  

Module 3:

Title: History and Memory,

Total hours and teaching year: 15 Hours; Second-year module.  

Contents: This course will provide the student with methodological and cognitive tools calculated to address the thematic issue concerning the complex relationship between history and memory, with particular reference to such topics as historical memory as a form of collective/cultural memory and as an instrument of historical politics; the relationship between historical politics and nation-building; the public uses and abuses of history; the memory wars and the memory laws in the European setting.  

Teaching will be delivered in English or Italian.  

Module 4:

Title: Institutions and Political Powers.

Total hours and teaching year: 15 Hours; Second-year module.

Contents: The course aims to provide Ph.D. students with skills, knowledge, and competencies about the history of institutions and the organization of political power in the long run. It will address theories and practices of sovereign powers, concerning government, administration, and constitutional issues. Particular attention will be devoted to institutional languages and political communication, as well as to the role played by knowledge and expertise. From a spatially aware perspective, the course will consider multiple scales of analysis, from the territorial and the nation-state to the European and global ones.  

Teaching will be delivered in English or Italian.  

Module 5:

Title: Empire in History and Historiography from Antiquity to the Contemporary Age.

Total hours and teaching year: 15 Hours; Second-year module.

Contents: This course provides the students with the specialized knowledge and tools aimed to enable them to put into their thematic and historiographical frame such complex entities as empires and composite monarchies from antiquity to the contemporary age. Special attention will be paid to theoretical principles and conceptual definitions forming the basis of major interpretative paradigms elaborated by different historical schools and to the analysis of concrete examples of research paths and practices.  

Teaching will be delivered in English or Italian.  

II. Other supplementary teaching activities

1. Seminar:

LEGAL CULTURE IN HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE


The main legal categories of the European tradition in their ancient genesis, modern reception, and cultural perception; the tools for using them for historical research purposes.
PhDs will be actively involved in interdisciplinary discussions focusing on the scientific construction of the legal tradition in its historical context, i.e., in its main philosophical, social, and political factors diachronically considered; the emergence of the public and private, civil and natural legal categories in the ancient legal culture, and their subsequent reception, influence and transformation; the ambivalent relationship of the modern culture towards the legal tradition and the main historiographical lines of interpretation of the legal phenomenon, in their cultural interdependence and their relevance for historical research.  


2. Workshop activities:

PRACTICE WORKSHOP ON THE HISTORY OF LATIN AND ITALIAN WRITING

The course is organized in collaboration with Spes, the School of Palaeography and History created by a consortium of Italian universities and national cultural associations, directed by Attilio Bartoli Langeli (https://www.centrostudisantarosa.org/spes/).
The lectures will focus on some specific cases in the history of Latin and Italian writing from the 6th to the 20th century. The approach is exquisitely practical, privileging the reading of documents, without neglecting the analysis of the writing, the documentary, and the historical-geographical context. Different sources in time and space will be chosen. The course aims to consider the history of writing as part of social history, paying particular attention to the introduction of writing, the weight and control of its procedures, and its dissemination and social uses.  


3. Linguistic improvement:  https://www.cla.unina.it/corsi 

IMPROVEMENT OF FOREIGN LANGUAGE SKILLS


The ability to read foreign languages is an essential requirement for carrying out original historical research. The improvement of linguistic skills of PhD students is therefore an important educational goal to be pursued. This linguistic improvement will be achieved not only through language courses provided by the university language center (CLA) but also through seminars and meetings devoted to the reading and critical interpretation of texts and sources in their original language, with a thematic and linguistic selection aimed at addressing the specific research needs of each student.  


4. Computer training:  

DIGITAL HISTORY: THEORIES AND PRACTICES

The emergence of the World Wide Web, the development of tools for digitizing huge amounts of historical material, and the availability of native digital sources are increasing and changing the way historians find and analyze sources, as well as the way they present their work. PhDs will be introduced to recent literature on these developments and to the main software used by historians. It includes the practice of using the Internet to gather sources, collaborate with other professional historians, present their findings, and interact with consumers of historical representations.  


5. Research and knowledge management of European and international research systems:

NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL RESEARCH FUNDING

Research projects often originate from funding made available through competitive calls and by a selection through a refereeing system. Understanding the dynamics of the complex process of attracting and managing research funding is essential to identify the economic sources that make it possible to pursue one’s project and to develop a management plan that is feasible and validated by all concerned: universities, public/private foundations, and institutions, research institutions, departments, research groups or units, etc. In this module, PhD students will therefore be introduced to the main national and international research funding opportunities, to the critical reading and interpretation of a call for proposals, and to the simulation of a funding application.  


6. Valorisation and dissemination of research results, intellectual property, and open access to data and research products: https://www.dottoratostoria.unina.it/index.php/events/open-science-training/

OPEN SCIENCE FOR HISTORY

Thanks to the European Commission’s Horizon Europe framework program, open science enters fully into the practice of scientific research. PhDs will be trained in realizing good practices of open science applying the right tools, adapting to their subject area, and performing fair data management. Particular attention will be paid to the logic and the potential of an open approach to scientific communication as an alternative to the current system and its criticalities, and to the technical aspects of open science practices in the field of history, humanities, and cultural heritage.  


7. Fundamental principles of ethics, gender equality, and research integrity  

ETHICS, GENDER BALANCE, AND RESEARCH INTEGRITY

Inclusivity, gender balance, and research integrity have long occupied a prominent place not only on the agenda of European policymakers but also on that of the top management of Italian universities, albeit still with strong differences between one and the other. Widespread is the conviction that we need science education for all, gender equality in our organizations, embedded ethics and research integrity, communication that can be trusted, and open science. Finally, it is necessary to put citizens at the center of attention to ensure excellent and innovative research that meets today’s challenges for a better future. In this cross-cutting module, also referring to the Horizon Europe project portfolio and the EC Communication “A New ERA for Research and Innovation and the new Gender Equality Strategy 2020-2025”, PhDs will be introduced to the principles of gender equality, ethics, and research integrity.  


8. Seminars

CLASSICS IN ANCIENT, MEDIEVAL, MODERN, AND CONTEMPORARY HISTORIOGRAPHY

This course will provide the students with the general knowledge and the specialized skills aimed to enable them both to understand, in its main outlines, the overall development of the Western historiographical tradition from antiquity to the contemporary age and to acquire a more intimate acquaintance with key authors, schools, currents or episodes through analytical and critical reading of major and paradigmatic historiographical works put within the context of the prevailing cultural and political trends of their times.


9. Seminars: https://www.dottoratostoria.unina.it/index.php/it/event/carmine-pisano-i-politeismi-del-mondo-classico-tra-storia-e-storiografia/

RELIGIONS AS AN OBJECT OF HISTORICAL KNOWLEDGE: PROBLEMS AND METHODS OF INVESTIGATION


The module intends to focus on methodological and epistemological problems related to the study
of religions as an object of historical knowledge. The general theme will be developed in the light
of the following issues, which will serve as a field of application and comparison of different
approaches.