The real Italians' : the politics of national character in the 1940s

The paper examines the reconfiguration of the discourse of national character in the momentous 1940s by looking at a number of texts of different political orientation that purported to provide a comprehensive representation of the Italian character, in particular of its (political) vices and virtues

Une émotion patriotique : la honte et le Risorgimento

Les références à la honte abondent dans les écrits politiques de patriotes du Risorgimento, quelle que soit leur sensibilité politique. Comprise comme le symétrique de l’honneur, la honte est généralement perçue en termes sexués, signifiant l’impuissance de l’homme à protéger (et contrôler) « ses » femmes face aux prédations extérieures. Bien que cette connotation sexuelle soit importante, la figure de la honte ne se réduit pas à la question du contrôle de la sexualité des femmes. En s’appuyant sur des constructions théoriques qui font de la honte une émotion relationnelle ou interactionnelle, cet article montre comment des écrits patriotiques (tant publics que privés, fictionnels que non fictionnels) révèlent une sensibilité aiguë au regard et à l’opinion des étrangers, et le désir de renverser une condition humiliante de sujétion politique. Dans le contexte d’une sensibilité romantique, le sentiment de honte joua un rôle fondamental dans l’incitation à l’action politique des jeunes. Ces émotions ont été consciemment stimulées par des patriotes romantiques tels que Mazzini, qui réfléchirent aux motivations conduisant les individus à embrasser la cause nationale, et éveillèrent les passions nécessaires à leurs fins. Dans le contexte du nationalisme agressif de la fin du XIXe et du début du XXe siècle, la honte fut cependant mobilisée à des fins autrement discutables.References to shame abound in the political writings of Risorgimento patriots, on all sides of the political spectrum. Understood as the opposite of honor, shame is usually seen in sexual-gendered terms as denoting the inability of a man to protect (and control) his women from the threats of foreigners. Although the sexual meaning of shame (and honor) is certainly important, there is more to shame than the control over women’s sexuality. By relying on theories of shame as a relational or interaction-based emotion, this essay shows how patriotic writings (both public and private, fictional and non-fictional) revealed a keen sensitivity to the opinions and the gaze of others, i.e. foreigners, and a desire to overcome a profoundly embarrassing condition of political subjection. In the context of Romantic culture, feelings of shame had an important role in motivating young men (and also women) to political action. These feelings were also stirred very consciously by Romantic patriots such as Mazzini who reflected on what led people to embrace the cause of the nation, and recruited the passions in the attempt to achieve their goals. In the context of the aggressive nationalism of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, however, the passion of shame would be mobilized for altogether questionable enterprises.Es finden sich zahlreiche Bezugnahmen auf Scham in den politischen Schriften der Patrioten des Risorgimento, egal welchem politischen Spektrum sie angehörten. Scham stand dem Ehrbegriff diametral gegenüber und wurde im Allgemeinen in sexualisierten Begriffen definiert, die die Ohnmacht der Männer, ihre Frauen vor Übergriffen von außen zu schützen (und sie zu kontrollieren) beinhaltete. Obwohl diese sexuelle Konnotation wichtig ist, lässt sich die Figur der Scham nicht auf die Kontrolle der Sexualität der Frauen reduzieren. Basierend auf theoretischen Konstruktionen, die aus der Scham ein relationales oder auf Interaktion basierendes Gefühl machten, zeigt dieser Artikel, wie die patriotischen Schriften (ob öffentlich oder privat, fiktional oder nicht fiktional) eine akute Empfindlichkeit gegenüber dem Blick und der Meinung Fremder zeigten, wie auch den Wunsch, die Erniedrigung der politischen Unterdrückung abzuwälzen. Im Zusammenhang mit einer romantischen Sensibilität spielte das Schamgefühl eine fundamentale Rolle bei der Förderung des politischen Handelns der Jugend. Diese Gefühle wurden bewusst von romantischen Patrioten wie Mazzini geschürt, die darüber nachdachten, was den Einzelnen dazu veranlasste, die nationale Sache zu unterstützen und die versuchten, die notwendige Leidenschaft dafür zu entfachen. Im Zusammenhang mit dem aggressiven Nationalismus am Ende des 19. und zu Beginn des 20. Jahrhunderts wurde die Scham jedoch insgesamt zu fragwürdigen Zwecken mobilisiert

'Brown babies' in postwar Europe : the Italian case

An earlier version of this paper was given as a Max Weber Lecture at the European University Institute on 18 November 2015.The paper addresses the issue of the persistence of the idea of race in its close intersection with ideas of national identities in post-1945 Europe, by looking at the racialization of the children of European women and non-white Allied soldiers born on the continent during and right after the war. The case of Italy is closely examined through a variety of sources, some of which have only recently become available. Similarly to what happened in Great Britain and Germany, in Italy these children were considered a "problem" in spite of their small numbers. Because of their origin, but especially because of the color of their skin, they were often portrayed as alien to the (white) nation. Fantasies concerning their disappearance paralleled the elaboration of plans for their transfer to non-European countries. Italy, however, had its own specificity, namely the extensive role of the Catholic Church and more generally of the Catholic world in the "managing" of these children, as well as in shaping the self-representation of post-fascist Italy as a non-racist country. In fact Catholic racial paternalism was pervasive and underwrote the support that prominent Catholic figures gave to Italy's attempt to hold on to the old colonies in the aftermath of the war

Cities, capitals and statistical description in nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Italy

Silvana Patriarca, Cities, capitals and statistical description in nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Italy, p. 733-745. This essay focusses on the changing descriptive conventions and on the objects which characterized statistical descriptions of cities and capitals in nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Italy. It examines this "literature of fact" with the aim, on the one hand, of identifying whether there was a specificity in the description of capital cities, and, on the other, of locating the emergence of the big city as an autonomous object of investigation. The essay argues that in the tradition of statistical description which existed in the peninsula before unification, capitals were not a very distinctive object of observation and analysis. Rome and Milan (as respectively the legal and the self-defined "moral" capitals of the new kingdom) became more relevant after 1870, but then in connection with various trends (increasing role of city governments, budget crises of several large cities) the Central statistical directorate and increasingly the municipal administrations themselves also began collecting and publishing data on big cities. In these works, the representation of big cities escaped the boundaries of the locality. This change preceded, and may have helped, the emergence of the more quantitative statistical studies of the early twentieth century in which demographie behavior became an exclusive concern.Patriarca Silvana. Cities, capitals and statistical description in nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Italy. In: Mélanges de l'École française de Rome. Italie et Méditerranée, tome 111, n°2. 1999. pp. 733-745

A round table discussion of the risorgimento revisited : nationalism and culture in nineteenth century Italy

Based on the round table discussion held at the Remarque Institute, New York University, in November 2012, this paper consists of comments on the volume of essays

Management of schizophrenia: Current research and development of new strategies

Schizofrenia is a complex psychiatric disorder associated with disruption in cognition, emotion, psychosocial and occupational functioning. the course of the illness can be chronic or recurrent and often characterized by residual symptoms and incomplete social recovery. To improve schizophrenia outcome, integrated and personalized treatment programs are increasingly regarded as the most promising approach to the treatment of persons with schizophrenia. evidence from studies evaluating the effcacy of frst- and second-generation antipsychotic drugs indicates that an early pharmacological intervention yields a more favorable treatment response and greater improvement of patients global functioning. adherence remains an important issue and studies using second generation long-acting injections are needed to clarify possible advantages of this treatment strategy. Pharmacological treatments so far proved to be ineffective for primary and persistent negative symptoms and cognitive impairment. To address these important unmet needs, several psychosocial interventions have been developed. To date, increasing evidence shows that psychosocial interventions for people with schizophrenia can improve cognition, treatment adherence and social functioning and reduce psychotic symptoms and relapse. Howewer, several aspects of these programs, such as methods to individualize treatment and guarantee duration and generalization of eventual improvements, remain controversial