Departmental Profile and Research Themes
The History of Europe, from the Medieval and Early Modern Period to the Present
The Department of History and Civilization focuses primarily on the history of Europe, from the medieval and early modern period to the present. It aims to capture the range of contradictions, specificities, continuities and breaches that characterise both Europe’s past and the study of that past, so as to face the most challenging questions of its present. In terms of interdisciplinarity the Department encourages cooperation with the social sciences, and in terms of research agenda, places a strong emphasis on the development of comparative history and transnational history. Naturally, with so many researchers and professors coming from all the various European academic traditions, the Department celebrates Europe’s diversity.
Integrating National Historiographies into Distinctly European Perspectives
At the same time the History Department is strongly committed to common aims and objectives in an attempt to move beyond national perspectives on history and to integrate national historiographies into distinctly European perspectives, putting them into broader methodological and thematic contexts, and to relate historical research to the concerns of contemporary Europeans.
First research focus: the construction of empires, nations and regions, and the interrelationships among the different social groups within them
Rethinking space as an analytical tool of historical research implies reconsidering the variety and variations of the geopolitical, cultural and social constellations – and conflicts – that make up Europe. Here new research questions emerge. Focusing on empires, the Department of History and Civilization asks whether the construction of Europe should be conceived of differently – perhaps as one example amongst many – as the construction of an empire. In studying the nation states and regions of Europe the Department’s research projects examine issues of borders and frontiers, processes of cultural and intellectual exchange, and the conflicts and the forms of violence that shape Europe’s spaces, including war, expulsion, persecution and displacement. The reality and problems deriving from European integration in the long run and in its most contemporary developments are also a concern of the Department. Thus, representations of what shaped Europe and the interlinking among different societies both within it and between Europe and other Civilisations lie at the heart of its work agenda
Second research focus: the study of ideas, discourse and memory
The History Department is a European microcosm of the debates on the relationship between social, economic and cultural history, of the study of memory, and of Europe’s cultural and intellectual traditions. The Department’s aim is to be at the vanguard of epistemological and methodological innovation, cultivating a rich and distinctly European plurality of perspectives for the study of different problems and periods.
Plurality, diversity and dialogue
Plurality, diversity and dialogue are key words within the Department of History and Civilization. Specialists in social history examine social actors, social practices, social contexts, networks and clusters, with special attention to cross-border relationships. Others are students of cultural and intellectual history and analyse cultural practices and actions, the history of science, the transfer of concepts among social groups and political spaces, and the shifts and changes in the languages of politics and science. Those interested in economic history examine the history of economic structures and development, with an eye to the importance of the economic aspects of globalisation and the interconnections among economic areas. In political history, the Department contributes to the study of government, governance, and political movements in a European and global perspective.
The main research interests of professors are as follows:
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The social and cultural history of Italy and Western Europe in the early modern period. Family and gender relations in a comparative perspective in Europe and beyond.
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Women rulers and the gendered practices of political power in the courts of early modern Europe.
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"Ego documents", letter writing and the construction of gendered identities.
Prof. Calvi was professor of Early Modern History at the University of Siena.
Prof. Cassis was professor at the University of Geneva.
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Economic growth in the long run. Main issues of previous research: Economic history of silk industry, the commercialization of agriculture, trade policy in Italy, and comparative history of world agriculture.
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Ongoing research: market integration (theory and measurement), Italian national accounting, foreign trade and economic development, political economy of trade policy in Europe.
Prof. Federico was formerly professor of Economic History at the University of Pisa.
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His research focuses on the history of the Portuguese empire during the early modern period.
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He is particularly interested in the interaction between the Portuguese society and extra- European cultures, as well as in the formation of cross-cultural images and representations.
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His main field of expertise is the European expansion in Asia 1500-1800 (especially South Asia).
Prof. Flores was professor at Brown University.
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The history of political violence 19th and 20th century
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Historiography and methodology of European and comparative history
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History of European nationalism
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New political history.
Prof. Haupt was professor at the University of Bielefeld.
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Central and East European History since the 18th century: Habsburg Monarchy, Bohemian Lands/Czechoslovakia, Austria, Poland, Germany.
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The history of science and universities in Central Europe. The history of state socialism in Central, Eastern and South-Eastern Europe, especially everyday life and cultural history.
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Historiography, remembrance, theory of historical writing, narration.
Prof. Kolář was professor at the Zentrum fuer Zeithistorische Forschung Potsdam.
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His research interests focus on the history of the Italian Renaissance, on the economic and social history of Europe in the early modern period - particularly trading communities and commerce, artisans and industrial production, and the culture of technological change – and on the first age of globalisation.
Prof. Molà was professor at the University of Warwick.
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Global, transnational, international, and colonial history
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Genocide and ethnic cleansing
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Memory studies
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Intellectual history
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Modern Germany
Prof. Moses was professor at the University of Sydney.
Kiran Patel
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History of the European Integration Process
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History of the United States in a transnational perspective
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Contemporary German History.
Prof. Patel was Professor at Humboldt University Berlin.
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Early Modern History of European science with a special interest in “science and religion” and “science and empire”
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Social history of early modern culture, with a special interest in history of education and universities
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Historiography and historiography of science.
Antonella Romano was professor at the Centre Alexandre Koyré, CNRS/EHESS, Paris.
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20th century international and transnational history
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European integration
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Cold War
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Trans-Atlantic relations
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US history
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Migrations
Federico Romero was professor at the University of Florence.
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The history of modern Russia and China
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Comparative history of Communist societies
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The intersection of politics and culture
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Comparative labour history
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Comparative revolutions
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Social identities
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Social theory and history
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Supernatural and popular culture.
Prof. Smith was professor of history at the University of Essex.
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European intellectual history, including the history of political thought (in particular republican traditions and natural law theories)
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Historical and philosophical issues of religious toleration and historiography, including the development of historical studies during the early modern period.
Martin van Gelderen was Chair of Intellectual History at the University of Sussex, UK.
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Institutional, social and economic history and particularly aristocratic networks in Southern Europe in the early modern period.
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The history of the Spanish Empire (1492-1824). He is interested in the processes of cultural transference, the history of sociability and the history of consumption, as well as in an interdisciplinary and comparative approach to the history of the different European regions.
He was full-time professor of Early Modern History in the Universidad Pablo de Olavide of Seville.