La caratterizzazione dei popoli nei trattati antichi di fisiognomica
Claudia Moatti
The characterisation of peoples in ancient treatises of physiognomy
In ancient treatises of physiognomy, the characterisation
of peoples, mainly connected to spatial differentiation and a
hierarchical vision of humanity, is presented as a scientific
form of knowledge, based on natural and objective criteria.
The essay suggests a cognitive approach to this knowledge:
an analysis of how this characterisation was established, and
how philosophers in ancient times legitimated this knowledge
through the theory of signs. Subsequently the article
focuses on the social role played by physiognomy and its
use as an instrument to manage and control men. The characterisation
of people ever since antiquity has been a form of
knowledge that was in the hands of whoever wielded the
power, a store of opinions and experiences without any objective
validity, as the sceptics of the past have already
proven, by underlining the limitations of all the attempts to
represent the world or to achieve identification.
Stalin e la carestia dei primi anni trenta
Oleg Chlevnjuk
Stalin and the famine of the early thirties
The essay analyses the personal role played by Stalin in
the famine of 1932-33, which one may define as being «Stalinian
» seeing as the policy of the «great leap», which Stalin
was one of the main instigators, was the cause of it and because
Stalin himself had the power to take decisions that in
1932 and 1933 could have improved the situation or made it
worse. Having briefly discussed the causes of the phenomenon
and its connections with the policies introduced in
1929, the author moves on to analyse the behaviour of Stalin
during the actual famine period, and which he first learnt
about at the beginning of 1932. He then moves into the crucial, yet rarely studied area of the Stalin’s behaviour as an
«operating dictator», meaning a dictator who, unlike Hitler,
is actually engaged in the day to day, operative management
of the countries’ business. He initially dwells on Stalin’s
policies during the famine, and in particular on their repressive
elements, before moving on to discuss the reasons for
Stalin’s extremely heavy hand in his dealings with the
Ukraine and the northern Caucasus. The author then asks
himself how much Stalin actually knew about the famine,
and analyses to this purpose different types of documents
that reached the despot, with specific reference to the letters
of party and state representatives and the OGPU reports.
Having reached the conclusion that Stalin received accurate
information on the scale and spreading of the famine, the essay
attempts to reconstruct the mythical representation that
Stalin built up around it for himself and his followers, and
the decisions he took based on this reconstruction.
Italia anni settanta. Movimenti, violenza politica e lotta armata tra memoria e rappresentazione storiografica
Barbara Armani
Italy in the Seventies. Movements, political violence
and armed struggle between memory
and historiographical representation
The essay presents a critical appraisal of historiographical
representation during the Seventies and the «movement
period» in Italy, while attempting to pinpoint new investigative
trails and new methodological approaches that might
analyse the genesis and the transformation of the movements
and opposition cultures in depth from a cultural and
a social perspective, with particular emphasis being placed
on the issue of political violence.
Mitterrand e l'«Histoire»
Patrizia Dogliani
Mitterrand and l’Histoire
Ten years after the disappearance of the French President
François Mitterrand there is a number of publications and
image reproductions that pay tribute to his complex personality
both as a person and as a statistician. The essay focuses
mainly on the relationship that Mitterrand entertains with
history, in essentially two main areas. Firstly, how Mitterrand’s
life spanned and was influenced by as many as for different
political systems (three republics and the Vichy regime) to such an extent that his may be termed an «exemplary
life» given it’s political and personal contradictions; in
this respect, the only possible comparison is with Charles De
Gaulle. Secondly, the reader is asked to consider the use that
Mitterrand made of French history, achieved through the
careful selection of instances, places, personalities, emblems.
A conscientious manipulation that was developed to a much
greater extent than any of his predecessors of even his successor
Chirac ever managed. Not only did Mitterrand redesign a
part of Paris’s urban layout and redefine ceremonies and recurrences
in the national calendar, but during his last years of
sickness and in preparation for his two funerals, the state funeral
and the private ceremony, he reinstated the right of the
double body of the king, analysed by Ernst Kantorowicz
and more recently re-appraised by Jacques Juillard and other
historians: the natural and consequently mortal one, and the
one given over to political sacredness, no longer correspondent
to royal absolutism but to that of the Republic.
Uscire dal moderno. Storia dei concetti e mutamento epocale
Luca Scuccimarra
Going beyond modernism. History of concepts
and epochal change
In the debate in recent years it has often been suggested
that historic and social disciplines might free themselves
from the traditional modes of categorisation inherited from
the modern world, and learn to look at the problems of the
present in a new light. In view of its capacity to contextualize
epochs, the history of concepts may turn out to be an essential
aid in this attempt to address this self-induced issue
of categorisation. The essay questions the various methodological
models that have been brought into play up to now,
taking as its starting point the recent text Sui concetti
giuridici e politici della Costituzione dell’Europa (On the juridical
and political concepts of the European Constitution),
edited by S. Chignola and G. Duso.
Tra pubblico e privato. Carte personali, legami affettivi e impegno politico
Carlo De Maria
Between public and private. Personal writings, sentimental
attachments and political commitment
The article starts out by suggesting a historiographical review of the relationships between family affections, friend
and gender networks and political commitment in the
Twentieth century. Particular attention is dedicated to that
branch of studies that chooses the biographical approach
and stresses the importance of personal archives as a source
of documentation. In the second part, a new «case study» is
presented related to the life of Camillo Berneri and his family
during his French exile, that took place in the years between
the two wars.
Antigiudaismo - Caffiero legge Stefani
Marina Caffiero
Controriforma e disciplinamento nella Milano cinquecentesca - Giannini legge De Boer
Massimo Carlo Giannini