The School and Its Many Pasts

History is not memory; both, however, affect the way we perceive the past. In recent years, an increasing number of studies have focused on memory in order to critically analyze shared narratives of the past and their implications. Memory studies not only allow us to expand our knowledge about the past, but also help us to define the way in which today’s people, social groups and public bodies look at it and interpret or re-interpret it. In this sense, school memory is not only of interest as a gateway to the school’s past but also as a tool to understand what they know or believe they know about the school of the past and how much what they know corresponds to reality or is influenced by prejudices and stereotypes deeply rooted in common sense. These volumes aim to address these complex issues and broaden the perspective from which the schooling phenomenon is analyzed to better understand the school and its many pasts

“¡Pobres Negros!” The Social Representations and Commemorations of Blacks in the River Plate from the Mid-Nineteenth Century to the First Half of the Twentieth (and Beyond)

To counter regnant arguments in the historiography about the putative historical “forgetting” of Afro-Platines in their nations, “‘¡Pobres negros!’” explores the various social representations and commemorations devoted to blacks in the River Plate over the period from the mid-1800s to the 1930s. While never uniformly or consistently positive, over the nineteenth century these social remembrances nevertheless experienced a radical transformation. Early intellectual nation builders among the Generation of 1837 associated blacks with the forces of social, political, and cultural “barbarism.” These representations remained a part of the national memory until well into the late 1800s in liberal and progressive circles. For these thinkers, European immigration was the solution to all of Argentina’s ills. However, starting in the middle of the nineteenth century, blacks in Argentina and Uruguay became the objects of more favorable remembrances, especially among nationalists. Blacks were now often depicted and historically remembered (and reimagined) as Platine Creoles and national heroes. Their white compatriots remembered that Afro-Platines, for instance, fought for and died defending their nations, and often lamented the fate of the “Poor blacks!” By dying for the cause of national sovereignty, blacks were seen as having vanished from the national scene and became the convenient objects of Creole nostalgia. National leaders like Bartolomé Mitre, the founder of the modern Argentine state and its historiography, nostalgically recalled and reimagined them as loyal patriots and heroes. Especially in Argentina, in the late 1800s and early 1900s, this nostalgia was further encouraged by the social and political problems often blamed on foreigners, Jews, and radicals (i.e., non-Argentines). In this socio-political climate, therefore, Afro-Platines were fondly depicted in sites of social memory as loyal sons of the nation, as opposed to foreign anti-patriots and subversives. Even if incorporated as inferiors into the national imaginary, Afro-Platines were nonetheless variously commemorated by Creole elites at the turn of the nineteenth century (and, indeed, beyond)

A British Reflection: the Relationship between Dante’s Comedy and the Italian Fascist Movement and Regime during the 1920s and 1930s with references to the Risorgimento

This thesis considers the relationship that Dante’s Comedy had with Italian Fascism during the 1920s and 1930s via the mediation of Britain. Whilst previous studies have engaged in a debate that focuses mostly on a possible, or otherwise unlikely, use of Dante’s masterpiece during what came to be known as the Ventennio, the twenty years of fascist rule of Italy, in this dissertation, I argue that the appropriation that there was of the Comedy on behalf of the Fascist Movement and Regime happened, albeit not exclusively, thanks to a centuries-long British interest in Italian affairs. It was in London that the Comedy truly started its astonishing meteoritic ascension to notoriety outside the more restrictive academic circles, and it was in England that Dante began, and then continued, to influence Italian thought. In other words, the cognitive reshaping, or in some cases forming, of Italian identity owed the British a great deal more than currently accepted in present historiography. In short, it was, by and large, an English Dante he who was then translated into Fascism and absorbed into their ideological apparatus. Therefore, the interaction between the various systems at play is not framed exclusively within a narrative of endorsement that indicated the Fascist Regime (and Movement) as the sole beneficiary of such association, but extended to embrace collateral agents who might have had an overt or otherwise concealed interest in Dante’s masterpiece and its relationship with Fascism. Gellner (1983), Anderson (1983), and others helped to establish the theoretical framework for this study that thus benefitted from different methodological approaches drawn from various fields, in line with a long-standing intellectual history tradition as expressed as early as 1912 by J. H. Robinson. The results of this investigation have delivered a complex picture of dictatorship, financial interests, international powers, and secrecy that intersect along the trajectory of the Comedy, and the consequences of which should be further questioned and explored in future studies

Power and agency in portrayals of gendered relationships in Regina Di Luanto's Un Martirio (1894) and Memini's L'ultima Primavera (1894)

This thesis explores the representation of stereotypical gender roles in the portrayal of female protagonists in two novels of nineteenth-century Italian writers Memini and Regina di Luanto. The aim of the project was to identify whether these two authors – with seemingly widely differing perspectives regarding women’s standing in society- addressed in any measure the political and social issue of women’s emancipation through their female characters, and if so, whether they might have meant to engender some reflection in this regard. In order to do that, I focused on two main research strands: firstly, I looked at whether these authors’ narrative strategies had crafted developed characters, capable of inspiring empathy in their readership and potentially prompt further thought as concerned women’s reality in fin-de-siècle Italy. Secondly, I analysed their two female protagonists in more detail, in order to ascertain the degree of agency conferred to them, and in what measure their portrayal conformed or attempted to subvert gender norms of the time. In fact, by drawing parallels between women’s experiences and their female protagonists’ vicissitudes, Regina di Luanto and Memini have expanded our knowledge of the period and shone a light on the 'condizione femminile' in nineteenth-century Italy

Leibniz und die braunschweig-lüneburgische Hausgeschichte. Leibniz’ Suche nach den Vorfahren Azzos II. von Este zwischen 1685-1716 und sein Prioritätsstreit mit Lodovico Antonio Muratori

Leibniz’ genealogische Forschungen zu den Welfenvorfahren sind innerhalb des lange vernachlässigten Themas „Leibniz als Historiker“ bisher kaum näher untersucht worden, obwohl diese zum Kern von Leibniz’ geplanter Welfengeschichte gehörten, welche ihrerseits einen bedeutenden Teil seiner rund vierzigjährigen Tätigkeit für den hannoverschen Hof einnahm. Ausgangspunkt dieser Forschungen war im Jahr 1685 der Auftrag Herzog Ernst Augusts an Leibniz, die Ursprünge der Dynastie, genauer die gemeinsamen Agnaten des Hauses Braunschweig-Lüneburg (d.h. der heutigen Welfen) und der italienischen Este, über den zu Leibniz’ Zeit bekannten Stammvater Azzo II. von Este (gest. 1097) hinaus mit den sich ab dem 17. Jahrhundert herausbildenden Wissenschaftsmethoden zu ermitteln und durch Quellen kritisch zu begründen. Um die selbst nach über zwanzig Jahren noch nicht abgeschlossene Arbeit zu beschleunigen, kommt es v.a. ab 1711 bis 1716 zur intensiven brieflichen Kooperation Leibniz’ mit Lodovico Antonio Muratori, dem Historiographen der Herzöge von Modena aus dem Hause Este, die sich zu einem Konkurrenzkampf in der Identifizierung dieser Agnaten und schließlich 1715/1716 zu einem Streit um die Priorität wandelt. Muratori verdächtigt zudem Leibniz, um dessen Welfengeschichte endlich zu vollenden, des Plagiats, liegt letzterem doch ab August 1715 Muratoris vollständig ausgearbeitete Untersuchung zu den italienischen Vorfahren Azzos II., den heute so genannten Obertenghi/Otbertinern, vor. Diese kann der italienische Historiker schließlich 1717 unter dem Titel Antichità estensi als bis heute grundlegendes Werk zur Este-Forschung herausgeben, während Leibniz’ Arbeit – seine Annales imperii – bei seinem Tod 1716 unvollendet bleibt und erst Mitte des 19. Jahrhunderts veröffentlicht wird. Die Dissertation verfolgt den Zusammenhang von Leibniz’ eigener Erforschung dieser otbertinischen Agnaten des Hauses Braunschweig-Lüneburg und der Este mit dem späteren Prioritätsstreit mit Muratori. Einleitend wird Leibniz’ Rolle als Historiker mit der in seiner Zeit beginnenden Verwissenschaftlichung und der Entwicklung einer kritischen Methodik betrachtet, die mit einem Überblick zur Genese der modernen Geschichtsforschung aus der Methodenentwicklung der Barockhistorie dargelegt wird. Dazu wird parallel die Problematik von Leibniz’ Forschungsgegenstand, die Adelsgeschichte, in ihrem jeweiligen zeitabhängigen Selbstverständnis (frühmittelalterliche Einnamigkeit vs. Barocke Dynastisierung in der Leibniz’schen historiographischen Rekonstruktion) sowie die Forschung darüber mit ihrer Methodik erläutert. In 6 Kapiteln wird nachfolgend Leibniz’ Forschungschronologie nachgezeichnet, von der Einarbeitung in die Thematik 1685-1690 bis hin zur Phase der Zusammenarbeit mit Muratori 1711-1716. Als wichtigstes Ergebnis kann festgehalten werden, dass Leibniz bereits ab 1693 die welfisch-estischen Agnaten mittels seines wissenschaftlichen Instrumentariums, u.a. der bis heute praktizierten besitzgeschichtlich-genealogischen Methode, auf die Otbertiner zurückführt, wie dies später ebenso durch Muratori geschieht. Dabei führt Leibniz verschiedene Informationsströme zusammen: Lektüre zeitgenössischer Historiker, Hinweise aus seinen zahlreichen Briefwechseln und Ergebnisse seiner Archivreise von 1690 nach Modena, die in seine handschriftlichen Stammtafeln einfließen, deren Ergebnisse er aber nicht öffentlich macht und die die bisher unbekannte Grundlage für seine spätere Zusammenarbeit mit Muratori bilden. V.a. anhand der (Neu)Edition dieser bisher zum größten Teil unerforschten Handschriften lässt sich die bestehende Forschungsmeinung über Leibniz’ Abhängigkeit von seinen Korrespondenzpartnern bei der Ermittlung der Otbertiner korrigieren, da sie Leibniz’ selbstständige Forschungsdurchbrüche der 1690er Jahre kenntlich machen. Die Analyse der Handschriften erlaubt zudem die Identifizierung zweier sich nacheinander ablösender Abstammungstheorien, von denen Leibniz die erste von 1693 bis ca. 1697 und die zweite von ca. 1698 bis 1711 vertrat. Mit letzterer beginnt Leibniz die Zusammenarbeit mit Muratori, erkennt aber infolge der weitgehenden Übereinstimmung der ersteren mit einer ausführlichen Genealogie der Welfen-Este-Vorfahren in einem Brief Muratoris von Februar 1711, der so genannten Dissertazione prima, die die Grundlage für die späteren Antichità estensi bildet, dass die eigenen älteren Überlegungen zur Otbertiner-Abstammung von 1693 wohl zutreffend waren. Leibniz’ darauffolgender Rückgriff auf diese ältere Theorie, besonders in einem den Este gewidmeten Kapitel seiner Annales, welches ab Oktober 1715 Muratori vorliegt, erscheint deshalb von außen betrachtet wie eine Übernahme von Muratoris Forschungen, was in den Plagiatsvorwurf von 1715/1716 gipfelt. Leibniz’ so rekonstruierbare Genealogie der Welfen-Este-Vorfahren der Annales wird abschließend mit den Antichità estensi von Muratori verglichen. Dabei treten neben den jeweils eigenständigen Forschungsleistungen auch wechselseitige Abhängigkeiten in den Details der beiden Gelehrten zu Tage, ohne dass sie diese immer genau kenntlich machten.Leibniz’s genealogical research of the Guelph ancestors has hardly been examined in detail within the long- neglected topic of “Leibniz as historian”, although it was a central part of Leibniz’s planned history of the Guelphs, which in turn occupied a significant part of his approximately forty years of activity for the Hanoverian court. The starting point of this research was the commission of Duke Ernst August to Leibniz in 1685 to investigate the origins of the dynasty, more precisely the common agnates of the House of Brunswick-Lüneburg (i.e. today’s Guelphs) and the Italian Este, beyond the progenitor Azzo II of Este (d. 1097), using the scientific methods that began to emerge in the 17th century, and to substantiate his foundings critically through sources. In order to accelerate the work, which was not yet completed even after more than twenty years, Leibniz cooperated intensively by letter with Lodovico Antonio Muratori, the historiographer of the Dukes of Modena from the House of Este, especially from 1711 to 1716, which turned into a competition in the identification of these agnates and finally into a dispute over priority in 1715/1716. Muratori also suspected Leibniz of plagiarism in order to finally complete his history of the Guelphs, as the latter had Muratori’s fully elaborated study on the Italian ancestors of Azzo II, today known as the Obertenghi, at his disposal from August 1715 on. The Italian historian was finally able to publish it in 1717 under the title Antichità estensi, which is a fundamental work of research on the Este dynasty to this day, while Leibniz’s work - his Annales imperii - remained unfinished at his death in 1716 and was not published until the middle of the 19th century. The dissertation traces the connection of Leibniz’s own research on the Obertenghi ancestors of the House of Brunswick-Lüneburg and the Este with the later priority dispute with Muratori. Beginning with Leibniz’s role as a historian within the process of scientification in his time and the development of a critical methodology an overview of the genesis of modern historical research is presented from its methodological development of baroque history onwards. In parallel, the problematic of Leibniz’s object of research, the history of nobility, is explained in its respective time-dependent self-understanding (early medieval mononymy vs. baroque dynastization in Leibniz’s historiographical reconstruction) as well as the modern research on the topic with its methodology. In 6 chapters, Leibniz’s chronology of research is subsequently traced, from his familiarization with the topic in 1685- 1690 to the phase of collaboration with Muratori in 1711-1716. The most important result is that Leibniz traces the agnates of the Guelph-Este back to the Obertenghi as early as 1693 by means of his scientific instruments, among others the so called besitzgeschichtlich-genealogische Methode, which is still practiced today, as it is also done later by Muratori. In doing so, Leibniz brings together various streams of information: Readings of contemporary historians, hints from his numerous correspondences and results of his archival journey of 1690 to Modena, which flow into his handwritten genealogical tables, the results of which, however, he does not make public and which form the hitherto unknown basis for his later collaboration with Muratori. The (re)edition of these manuscripts, most of which have been unexplored so far, helps to correct the existing research opinion about Leibniz’s dependence on his correspondence partners in the determination of the Obertenghi, since they make Leibniz’s independent breakthroughs of the 1690s on this field recognizable. The analysis of these manuscripts also allows the identification of two successive genealogical theories, of which Leibniz held the first from 1693 to ca. 1697 and the second from ca. 1698 to 1711. With the latter, Leibniz begins his collaboration with Muratori, but as a result of the extensive agreement of the former theory with a detailed genealogy of the Guelph-Este ancestors in a letter by Muratori from February 1711, the so-called Dissertazione prima, which forms the basis for the later Antichità estensi, he recognises that his own older reflections on the Obertenghi descendance from 1693 were probably correct. Leibniz’s subsequent recourse to this older theory, especially in a chapter of his Annales devoted to the Este, which is available to Muratori from October 1715 on, therefore appears from the outside to be an adoption of Muratori’s research, culminating in the accusation of plagiarism of 1715/1716. Finally, Leibniz’s genealogy of the Guelph-Este ancestors within the Annales, which can thus be reconstructed, is compared with Muratori’s Antichità estensi. In addition to the respective independent research achievements, mutual dependencies in the details of the two scholars also come to light, without being always pointed out so accordingly

Welsh print culture in y Wladfa: The role of ethnic newspapers in Welsh Patagonia, 1868 -1933

This thesis explores the role played by Welsh-language newspapers in y Wladfa (the Welsh settlement in Argentine Patagonia) from its inception in 1865 until 1933. The newspapers are analysed to assess in which manner they contributed to creating and maintaining a particular kind of Welsh identity whose preservation was the founding principle of the Patagonian settlement, and how that particular sense of Welshness evolved through time. The various publications produced by the Welsh in Patagonia will also be used to identify whether there were any challenges from within the Welsh community to the values, culture and identity that the newspapers promoted. Of special interest is analysing the interaction of the Welsh settlers with the Argentine Central Government and its representatives in the Chubut Territory. The reactions of Welsh-Patagonian newspapers to the complexities of the socio-political and cultural changes that Argentina underwent towards the end of the nineteenth century until the 1930s will be identified in order to understand how the Welsh experience in Patagonia fits in with the designs of the Government to effectively incorporate the Patagonian region into the fold of the Republic, and how the nationalistic policies of the Argentine Government impacted on the Welsh community and its press. This thesis also looks at how the Welsh-Patagonian newspapers interacted with an international network of Welsh-language publications from a distant corner of Patagonia. This research thesis intends to be a contribution to the studies of the ethnic press, studies of the experiences of the Welsh overseas, and studies in the field of immigration and ethnic communities in Argentina –more specifically in the context of the Patagonian region

Venice and the Veneto during the Renaissance: the Legacy of Benjamin Kohl

Benjamin G. Kohl (1938-2010) taught at Vassar College from 1966 till his retirement as Andrew W. Mellon Professor of the Humanities in 2001. His doctoral research at The Johns Hopkins University was directed by Frederic C. Lane, and his principal historical interests focused on northern Italy during the Renaissance, especially on Padua and Venice. His scholarly production includes the volumes Padua under the Carrara, 1318-1405 (1998), and Culture and Politics in Early Renaissance Padua (2001), and the online database The Rulers of Venice, 1332-1524 (2009). The database is eloquent testimony of his priority attention to historical sources and to their accessibility, and also of his enthusiasm for collaboration and sharing among scholars

Angelo Mangini (1905-1988). Inventario analitico dell'Archivio.

Il volume contiene l'inventario analitico dell'Archivio del Prof. Angelo Mangini, Direttore incaricato dell'Istituto di Chimica industriale dell'Ateneo di Bologna dall'a.a. 1940-41 e Direttore (poi Preside) della Facoltà di Chimica Industriale dal 1945 al 1946 e dal 1948 al 1969. L'inventario è corredato da: scheda e storia archivistica, nota biografica ricostruita dalla documentazione dell'Archivio, bibliografia e indice analitico dei nomi