Disciplinary definitions and 'boundaries' are cultural constructs, context-based and subject to conventions. Historical, technical, cultural, gender, social, political conditions are among the forces that shape the multidimensional space of such definitions. Rules and regulations often dismiss complexity, or have to reduce it. The division between 'hard science' and 'humanities' is one of the results, but more detailed examples can be found in the history and practice of individual disciplines, like musicology. Among scholars involved in 'humanities' in Europe and Northern America there has been a growing feeling that their disciplines be under attack, and that the only path to survival be the acceptation of 'hard science' as a model. The risk that such a strategy may bring to an impoverishment of scholarship, favoring an ill-defined and ineffective form of empiricism, must be considered, especially if one looks at the long-term plans of institutions like the European Research Council. In this paper, I will try to place the subject into the more ample framework of the changes in political and economical systems in the West from the 1970s (which brought to the current economical crisis), of the ongoing processes aiming to reduce or abolish public welfare, including public universities.
2011/2012 ; Questa tesi è dedicata a esplorare gli sviluppi - letterari, editoriali, critici - della fantascienza Italiana a partire dai primi anni Cinquanta fino agli ultimi anni Settanta. Il lavoro si suddivide in tre macrosezioni. La prima, di carattere introduttivo e preliminare, fornisce lo sfondo teorico e storico alle due seguenti. Ho indicato alcuni riferimenti teorici relativamente al concetto di genere e in particolare alla circoscrizione del genere fantascientifico, adottandone una concezione tassonomica, ossia intendendo il genere fantascientifico piuttosto che come un insieme al quale le opere possono appartenere o meno, come un repertorio di topoi e temi tipici, passibili di un riuso stereotipizzato o rifunzionalizzante a seconda delle intenzioni dell'autore. Ho anche cercato di dare almeno in parte conto del complesso dibattito che accompagna il problema definitorio e che si riflette nelle numerose posizioni storiografiche relativamente alle origini del genere e alla sua periodizzazione. Infine una ricostruzione delle vicende della fantascienza in Italia ha offerto l'occasione per tentare di rispondere ad alcune domande fondamentali: ci sono precedenti italiani alla fantascienza del secondo Novecento? Come mai nel secondo dopoguerra la fantascienza viene principalmente importata da altri paesi attraverso le traduzioni dall'inglese e dal francese? Chi ha letto fantascienza in Italia in questi decenni? E, infine, quale è stato il rapporto che la critica letteraria italiana ha avuto con la fantascienza? Il problema dei rapporti tra letteratura fantascientifica e critica ha offerto anche l'occasione di posizionare il presente lavoro nel panorama degli studi esistenti, fornire alcuni rilievi metodologici e motivare la circoscrizione dell'oggetto di studio. Se come momento iniziale del percorso è stato scelto simbolicamente il 1952, anno di nascita delle prime pubblicazioni specializzate e di invenzione del termine "fantascienza", il termine ad quem del lavoro è invece posto alla fine degli anni Settanta, in virtù del fatto che in un breve torno d'anni vi furono alcuni importanti studi e convegni (il più importante dei quali tenutosi a Palermo nel 1978), che segnarono l'entrata del genere nell'ambito degli studi universitari. Dunque il periodo considerato comprende i primi tre decenni in cui la fantascienza è stata scritta, pubblicata e letta come tale in Italia, ossia con la consapevolezza, da parte degli attori in gioco, di aver a che fare con un genere codificato, dotato di un suo repertorio di topoi e di un suo canone di modelli. Alle principali pubblicazioni specializzate di questi anni è dedicata la seconda sezione: «Urania» di Mondadori (1952-corrente), «I Romanzi del Cosmo» di Ponzoni (1957-'67), la romana «Oltre il Cielo» (pubblicata da Armando Silvestri, 1957-'70), la piacentina «Galassia» (dell'editore La Tribuna, 1961-'79), la romana «Futuro» (edita dalla piccola sigla omonima, 1963-'64), «Robot», pubblicata a Milano da Armenia (1976-'79). Si tratta di riviste o serie periodiche vendute in edicola: la prima fantascienza italiana si presenta come un genere contraddistinto da una vocazione popolare e, almeno inizialmente, assente dalle librerie. Di ciascuna pubblicazione ho ricostruito la storia e la politica editoriale: che tipo di editore la pubblicava, chi ne era il curatore e chi vi collaborava, che tipo di testi - narrativi, critici, informativi, venivano pubblicati e, dunque, che interpretazione ciascuna di esse dava del genere fantascientifico e a che pubblico si rivolgeva. Le fonti adoperate comprendono, oltre alle testate medesime, studi, testimonianze appositamente raccolte e carte d'archivio edite e inedite. Le significative differenze che corrono tra questi periodici danno conto di un'ampia serie di concezioni possibili del genere: se la mondadoriana «Urania» si inserisce a pieno titolo nel settore periodici del grande editore industriale con tirature che arrivano a superare le 40.000 copie a numero negli anni Sessanta, tra le altre testate «Oltre il Cielo», rivista in cui la narrativa affianca gli articoli di missilistica e aeronautica, sopravvive soprattutto grazie agli abbonamenti sottoscritti dal Ministero dell'aeronautica, «I Romanzi del Cosmo» non superano le 20.000 copie di tiratura, «Galassia» le 10.000, fino alle 5.000 di «Futuro». Così, mentre «Urania» sosteneva con una distribuzione capillare la politica editoriale dei curatori (Giorgio Monicelli prima, Fruttero e Lucentini in seguito) rivolta un pubblico il più possibile ampio, e «I Romanzi del Cosmo» ne inseguivano i successi presso un pubblico giovane e desideroso di intrattenimento, le altre si rivolgevano piuttosto a nicchie particolari di pubblico. «Galassia» ad esempio, sotto le successive direzioni di Roberta Rambelli, Ugo Malaguti, Vittorio Curtoni e Gianni Montanari, offriva agli appassionati più raffinati le tendenze recenti e sperimentali della fantascienza internazionale e vantava traduzioni integrali e di qualità; «Futuro», creata da Lino Aldani, Carlo Lo Jacono e Giulio Raiola tentava la via di una fantascienza letterariamente impegnata, e così via. Altrettanto differenziati sono stati gli atteggiamenti di queste pubblicazioni - o meglio: di ciascun curatore - nei confronti degli autori italiani. Svantaggiati dalla concorrenza di una produzione angloamericana cospicua e già pronta da tradurre, gli scrittori italiani che si sono cimentati col genere hanno dovuto fare i conti con le opere tradotte anche in termini di modelli letterari e di repertori tematici consolidati. La relativa ristrettezza del mercato delle pubblicazioni specializzate e le sue periodiche contrazioni non hanno favorito d'altronde la professionalizzazione degli scrittori, che in molti casi si sono rivolti anche ad altri settori del lavoro intellettuale. La seconda e la terza sezione del lavoro ritraggono insomma la fitta rete di legami tra produzione editoriale e produzione letteraria. Proposito in particolare della terza sezione è esemplificare gli esiti di queste dinamiche, attraverso la lettura critica ravvicinata della produzione di tre autori e un'autrice: Lino Aldani, Gilda Musa, Vittorio Curtoni e Vittorio Catani. Si tratta di scrittori che hanno esordito sulle pubblicazioni considerate prima, e in molti casi ne sono stati a lungo lettori, collaboratori o curatori. Le opere di questi quattro autori incarnano modi differenti di intendere la fantascienza, come differenti sono i percorsi da cui ciascun autore proviene. Aldani si impadronisce dei meccanismi e dei topoi tipici del genere per dar vita a una narrativa in cui coesistono un'anima avventurosa e una distopica. Musa coniuga elementi tipicamente fantascientifici a una spiccata sensibilità linguistica, adoperando il genere per riflettere sui destini dell'uomo nella modernità e soprattutto per raggiungere un pubblico più ampio di quello delle sue raccolte poetiche. Curtoni sperimenta le tendenze più recenti della fantascienza anglosassone proponendo racconti che guardano a modelli come quelli di Philip K. Dick e James Graham Ballard. Infine Catani offre l'esempio di una fantascienza italiana meno concentrata sulla sperimentazione formale, ma in grado di incorporare elementi tecnologici e scientifici nelle sue tematiche profonde - dal rapporto tra tecnologia e corpo umano al ruolo dell'economia finanziaria nel mondo post-industriale. Nel complesso questi autori dimostrano non solo l'esistenza di una fantascienza italiana, ma l'esistenza di una fantascienza italiana di qualità. ; XXV Ciclo ; 1984
International audience ; Catholic Antisemitism and Popular Literature in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries. The Work of Ugo MioniThis essay analyses the role played by Catholic popular and children's fiction in spreading political antisemitism between the late nineteenth century and the 1930s. In particular, it will take into consideration the imposing output of Ugo Mioni (1870- 1935), a priest from Trieste who was considered by Antonio Gramsci to be one of the authors most representative of Catholic popular literature. Starting from his journalism debut as director of the newspaper L'Amico in Habsburg Trieste, Mioni, who was close to the positions of Karl Lueger's emerging Christian Social Party, combined a violent Italian nationalism with a political antisemitism not without racist overtones. In subsequent decades, Mioni transposed into novel form the topoi of the intransigent Catholic discourse on Jews and its variations. Between the 1920s and 1930s, in an effort to react against the biological and potentially anti-Christian antisemitism professed by the neo-pagan currents of the right-wing movements, Mioni recovered a more strictly religious dimension of his hostility towards Jews. Nevertheless, he did not question his assessment as to the nefarious role played by Jews in modern society. Hence Mioni's literary work appears to be one of the fundamental carriers of the of hatred against Jews among the Italian population before the racial laws of 1938.
International audience ; Catholic Antisemitism and Popular Literature in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries. The Work of Ugo MioniThis essay analyses the role played by Catholic popular and children's fiction in spreading political antisemitism between the late nineteenth century and the 1930s. In particular, it will take into consideration the imposing output of Ugo Mioni (1870- 1935), a priest from Trieste who was considered by Antonio Gramsci to be one of the authors most representative of Catholic popular literature. Starting from his journalism debut as director of the newspaper L'Amico in Habsburg Trieste, Mioni, who was close to the positions of Karl Lueger's emerging Christian Social Party, combined a violent Italian nationalism with a political antisemitism not without racist overtones. In subsequent decades, Mioni transposed into novel form the topoi of the intransigent Catholic discourse on Jews and its variations. Between the 1920s and 1930s, in an effort to react against the biological and potentially anti-Christian antisemitism professed by the neo-pagan currents of the right-wing movements, Mioni recovered a more strictly religious dimension of his hostility towards Jews. Nevertheless, he did not question his assessment as to the nefarious role played by Jews in modern society. Hence Mioni's literary work appears to be one of the fundamental carriers of the of hatred against Jews among the Italian population before the racial laws of 1938.
The resistance and hesitancy towards vaccination guidelines - suggested, or sometimes imposed, by state health systems - is not a widespread phenomenon that began in the Internet age. Instead, this outlook was already present in the complex history of the previous centuries of medical institutions and state, political and health decisions, official communications and popular beliefs. This article helps to frame and discuss some of the elements underlying the "bottom-up" processing of biomedicine rejection: social and individualistic drives, information and science sharing issues.
Leopardi and the Italian language between tradition and modernity. The essay aims to illustrate the Leopardi's ideas on the crisis of the Italian language and culture of the early nineteenth century, marked by an intellectual provincialism that did not allow it to participate adequately in the development of the sciences and philosophy that characterized Europe 18th century. The lucid and disenchanted criticism of the problems affecting Italy of the Restoration is reconstructed: the gap between spoken and written language, between literature and science and between high culture and popular culture, the lack of civic sense and social cohesion, the scarce development of public opinion, cultural backwardness, lack of modernization of the language. Leopardi's critical position also has political and social significance and presents elements of evident relevance which are still of great interest to the readers of the 21st century.
Applying a Marxist methodology, the Historians' Group has been able to combine the search for a popular revolutionary tradition (source of inspiration also for political militants) with the analysis and explanation of the historical phases that stimulated the birth and development of industrial capitalism in Britain, from an economic, social, and cultural point of view. At the same time, this group of historians combined the rigorous scientific method of Marxist political economy and historical and dialectical materialism (history as science) with a strong anti-mechanistic spirit, that led to study the ""human factor"(history as poetry) and to keep it always in great regard. Keywords: Marxism; People's History; Englishness; Economy; Culture.
The present paper offers an insight into the behaviour of people who took part in booth reactionary and land protests which took place in Northern Apulia since August 1860. Such a comparative analysis allows us to observe the difference between the objectives and the dynamics of those two forms of collective action. While the people who was demanding the access to agricultural resources did not show any kind of legitimistic politicization, the reactionary riots were characterised by standard repertoires of contention caused by the diffusion of a legitimistic political culture among the populace. Many peasants considered king Francis II as the legitimate head of a traditional political and economic order based on justice and religion, subverted first by the liberal transformation of the Kingdom of Two-Sicilies in June 1860, then by its annexation to the Kingdom of Italy. The performances of reactionary riots can be interpreted not as a form of class struggle against landlords, but as rites of passage aimed at restoring that order. The existence of this legitimistic ideology among the lower classes leads to reconsider the problem of the spontaneity of the popular reactionary commitment, which, despite the organizational involvement of the élite in the revolts, can hardly be denied.
The present paper offers an insight into the behaviour of people who took part in booth reactionary and land protests which took place in Northern Apulia since August 1860. Such a comparative analysis allows us to observe the difference between the objectives and the dynamics of those two forms of collective action. While the people who was demanding the access to agricultural resources did not show any kind of legitimistic politicization, the reactionary riots were characterised by standard repertoires of contention caused by the diffusion of a legitimistic political culture among the populace. Many peasants considered king Francis II as the legitimate head of a traditional political and economic order based on justice and religion, subverted first by the liberal transformation of the Kingdom of Two-Sicilies in June 1860, then by its annexation to the Kingdom of Italy. The performances of reactionary riots can be interpreted not as a form of class struggle against landlords, but as rites of passage aimed at restoring that order. The existence of this legitimistic ideology among the lower classes leads to reconsider the problem of the spontaneity of the popular reactionary commitment, which, despite the organizational involvement of the élite in the revolts, can hardly be denied.
Working from administrative and military archival sources, the article investigates the dynamics of cooperation and conflict between the prefects and the army involved in the struggle against the counter-revolutionary brigandage in the Province of Foggia (Capitanata) after the Italian unification. Prefects and military leaders played a crucial role in elaborating a counter-insurgency strategy based on the combination of police measures, military operations and popular mobilization. The balance of power between the two authorities proved to be an essential issue in local politics, deeply influenced by the contrast between liberals and democrats on a nationwide scale. Claiming for a leading role of civil authorities in maintaining public order, the prefects, far from being the passive agents of the central government, acted as the representatives of their province's interests and tried to limit the military power within the new state.
Working from administrative and military archival sources, the article investigates the dynamics of cooperation and conflict between the prefects and the army involved in the struggle against the counter-revolutionary brigandage in the Province of Foggia (Capitanata) after the Italian unification. Prefects and military leaders played a crucial role in elaborating a counter-insurgency strategy based on the combination of police measures, military operations and popular mobilization. The balance of power between the two authorities proved to be an essential issue in local politics, deeply influenced by the contrast between liberals and democrats on a nationwide scale. Claiming for a leading role of civil authorities in maintaining public order, the prefects, far from being the passive agents of the central government, acted as the representatives of their province's interests and tried to limit the military power within the new state.
It was late April 2011 when "the Crazy Project - Canal Istanbul" was proposed by the Prime Minister of Turkey, during his election campaign. Although the idea of an artificial canal is not new, since it is initiated without any consensus between the people and institutions in Istanbul, the project immediately set a large number of debates. These vary from the legitimacy of decentralization of governance, to potential impacts of the canal on international politics, economy, environment and urban life. Regarding past infrastructure projects in Istanbul, such large scale investments have caused extensive acceleration in construction sector in one hand and social and economic shifts on the other. In this paper, the Canal Istanbul Project is evaluated according to basic motivations and claims of the PM, multi-perspective view through challenges and limitation that the project is likely to face with and speculations on implementation approach. The final discussion on the project is based on benefits/losses of Istanbul once the project will be implemented. ; It was late April 2011 when "the Crazy Project - Canal Istanbul" was proposed by the Prime Minister of Turkey, during his election campaign. The proposed project consisted of construction of an entirely new city, an airport, a seaport and recreational areas. But the most important and striking element was a new maritime transportation canal which is to be constructed as an alternative to the Bosphorus Strait. Although the idea of an artificial canal is not new, since it has been initiated without any consensus between the people and institutions in Istanbul, and no scientific or technical study about the feasibility and environmental impacts of such a project has been presented, the "crazy" project immediately set a large number of debates among scholars and professionals. These vary from the legitimacy of decentralization of governance, to technological and legal possibilities for construction, feasibility of the canal in operational terms, potential impacts of the canal on international politics, economy, environment, international relations and urban life. Since the only information about the project was a digital animation, presented in the election speech of the Prime Minister, there is little information about the scope of the project. Such large scale investments in Istanbul have caused extensive acceleration in construction sector on one hand and social and economic shifts on the other. The "crazy" project initiated by the ruling party which is known to be ambitious in real estate projects has therefore raised hot debates across scholars and professionals. A variety of articles were produced in response, discussing the scope of the project and its potential impacts on the environment, the city of Istanbul, Turkey's international relations and the economy of Turkey. However, these articles often focused only on the fictional "Canal", and neglected the full scope of the project. Since the project is ambitious, large, but little is known about its exact location and land use pattern, it deserves an evaluation with a wider perspective than current articles that may be found in popular science magazines or daily newspapers. In this paper, the Canal Istanbul Project is evaluated mostly according to the speech of the PM, which provides basic motivations and claims for the project. The second group of sources is the past ideas and projects of an artificial canal initiated almost 500 years ago. The third group of sources consists of scientific and journal articles published in the Turkish media after the speech. We try to describe challenges and limitations which the project is likely to face by implying a multi-perspective view. Then we speculate on the implementation approach, basing on the current planning experience and the recently approved Master Plan of Istanbul. The final discussion on the project is based on benefits/losses of Istanbul once the project will be implemented.
It was late April 2011 when "the Crazy Project - Canal Istanbul" was proposed by the Prime Minister of Turkey, during his election campaign. Although the idea of an artificial canal is not new, since it is initiated without any consensus between the people and institutions in Istanbul, the project immediately set a large number of debates. These vary from the legitimacy of decentralization of governance, to potential impacts of the canal on international politics, economy, environment and urban life. Regarding past infrastructure projects in Istanbul, such large scale investments have caused extensive acceleration in construction sector in one hand and social and economic shifts on the other. In this paper, the Canal Istanbul Project is evaluated according to basic motivations and claims of the PM, multi-perspective view through challenges and limitation that the project is likely to face with and speculations on implementation approach. The final discussion on the project is based on benefits/losses of Istanbul once the project will be implemented. ; It was late April 2011 when "the Crazy Project - Canal Istanbul" was proposed by the Prime Minister of Turkey, during his election campaign. The proposed project consisted of construction of an entirely new city, an airport, a seaport and recreational areas. But the most important and striking element was a new maritime transportation canal which is to be constructed as an alternative to the Bosphorus Strait. Although the idea of an artificial canal is not new, since it has been initiated without any consensus between the people and institutions in Istanbul, and no scientific or technical study about the feasibility and environmental impacts of such a project has been presented, the "crazy" project immediately set a large number of debates among scholars and professionals. These vary from the legitimacy of decentralization of governance, to technological and legal possibilities for construction, feasibility of the canal in operational terms, potential impacts of the canal on international politics, economy, environment, international relations and urban life. Since the only information about the project was a digital animation, presented in the election speech of the Prime Minister, there is little information about the scope of the project. Such large scale investments in Istanbul have caused extensive acceleration in construction sector on one hand and social and economic shifts on the other. The "crazy" project initiated by the ruling party which is known to be ambitious in real estate projects has therefore raised hot debates across scholars and professionals. A variety of articles were produced in response, discussing the scope of the project and its potential impacts on the environment, the city of Istanbul, Turkey's international relations and the economy of Turkey. However, these articles often focused only on the fictional "Canal", and neglected the full scope of the project. Since the project is ambitious, large, but little is known about its exact location and land use pattern, it deserves an evaluation with a wider perspective than current articles that may be found in popular science magazines or daily newspapers. In this paper, the Canal Istanbul Project is evaluated mostly according to the speech of the PM, which provides basic motivations and claims for the project. The second group of sources is the past ideas and projects of an artificial canal initiated almost 500 years ago. The third group of sources consists of scientific and journal articles published in the Turkish media after the speech. We try to describe challenges and limitations which the project is likely to face by implying a multi-perspective view. Then we speculate on the implementation approach, basing on the current planning experience and the recently approved Master Plan of Istanbul. The final discussion on the project is based on benefits/losses of Istanbul once the project will be implemented.
«Italians know how to die»: a Historical Book Series for the wars of Fascism The article focuses on The Iron Centuria, a historical book series published by Oberdan Zucchi in Milan between 1935 and 1942. Through text-book cases of the culture militarization in the Thirties, the series aspired to be an quick and easy historical reference that contributes to the legitimization of Italy's Fascist wars. A hundred short biographies, each chosen for its voice and ideological content, were grouped together in ten "squadrons" in order to demonstrate that Fascism was the culmination of a secular development and the affirmation of Italian patriotism. From the Risorgimento to the Great War, these one hundred "precursors" were introduced in terms of military virtue, sense of the State, heroism, vocation to the martyrdom, and ingeniousness in the field of the science, art and literature. Inserted in the context of the various expressions of culture and popular propaganda, The Iron Centuria became a precious reference for the exploration of lexical codes, themes and ways of communications of the relationship with the past and of the historical "common sense" during a crucial phase of the fascist regime.
The center of attention of this thesis is the ideas of Guglielmo Giannini and the qualunquista movement, their conception of what was wrong, the changes they sought and the techniques they thought desirable. The movement was born in 1945 and grew popular during postwar years, although it quickly disappeared after 1948. This work of mine is divided in two parts. The first one reflects on the genesis of what we may call Qualunquismo storico (historical qualunquismo), a political movement which claimed to represent the middle class and a large penumbra of apolitical citizens not sufficiently dissatisfied to protest their conditions. Most of all, this is a study of political thinking and political moods, the kind of thinking that impinged most directly upon the ordinary citizen, the common man as it was defined by Guglielmo Giannini, father of Qualunquismo. In this part we consider the legacy of the Second World War and the sense of disillusion and disenchantment that it fostered, especially in right-wing thought and opinion.! The analysis revolves around the figure of Guglielmo Giannini and his thought as it was expressed through the newspaper L'Uomo Qualunque, which boasted a circulation of 800.000 and became a source of guidance and opinion for a certain kind of popular opinion. L'Uomo Qualunque claimed to represent the resentment and dreams of the meek little men in the middle, the figure for whom Giannini was particularly solicitous. These pages aim to study this particular movement as the harbinger of a rather broader frame of mind, therefore it considers right wing thought and opinion in postwar Italy and qualunquismo long-lasting legacy. The second part focuses on qualunquismo as a political party, studying it with a political science kind of approach. In this part I analyse the political party which was born from the newspaper L'Uomo Qualunque, named Fronte Liberale Democratico dell'Uomo Qualunque, using the Richard Katz and Peter Mair organisational tripartition: party in central office, party in public office and party on the ground. This part aims to provide a thorough analysis of the party form membership to leadership, paying particular attention to the qualunquisti member of parliament and their biographies.
