Violence and Memory in Contemporary Italy

(4 Credits)

Acts of public violence, against individuals or groups of people, have been recurrent in the history of modern Italy. They include large-scale killings of civilians in its colonies in the 1920s and 1930s, massacres and sexual violence on Italian soil during World War Two, acts of terrorism peaking in the years 1969-1982, and a wave of mafia killings in the 1990s. This course asks why acts of public violence happen, why they recur, and how they have been remembered in different ways or forgotten. Historians have spoken, in relation to this, about Italy's "divided memory". Drawing widely on visual evidence, including photographs, posters and film, the course examines four cases where violence has given rise to intense controversy and debate over historical memory.