0000807 - NORTH AMERICAN HISTORY

courses

ID:

0000807

Duration (hours):

54

CFU:

SSD:

History and Institutions of the Americas

Located in:

UNIVERSITÀ DEGLI STUDI DI NAPOLI "L'ORIENTALE"

Url:

Course Details:

Comparative Languages and Cultures/Percorso comune Year: 1

Year:

2025

Date/time interval

Secondo Semestre (23/02/2026 - 29/05/2026)

Course Objectives

Expected Learning Outcomes

General Objective:

The main goal of the course is to provide students with the necessary tools to interpret the history and culture of the United States from the colonial era to the present day. The aim is to foster the acquisition of knowledge and information that will support a deeper understanding of the main historical and conceptual turning points in U.S. history—knowledge that will also be useful for evaluating current events in North America.

Specific Objectives:

1) Ability to apply knowledge and understanding

Students will be expected to demonstrate a critical understanding and re-elaboration of key cultural and social processes in U.S. history.
They will acquire methodological tools to analyze texts of varying nature, complexity, and type, thus appreciating the complexity of the United States.
Students will develop the ability to apply their knowledge and critical thinking skills to gather, assess, and interpret data and information from various sources and to organize, manage, and communicate them effectively.

2) Independent judgment

Students will learn to engage with texts in English, interpreting their content in order to formulate independent judgments and provide critical responses to major historiographical debates in American history.
They will develop the ability to identify historical connections and causality in order to construct critical reflections.
This will enable them to work independently using sources and bibliographic tools for future research activities.

3) Communication skills

Students will be able to express ideas, concepts, and critical evaluations concerning the nature and construction of historical texts and documents, including those in English.
They will develop the ability to communicate complex historiographical issues clearly and effectively.

4) Learning skills

Students will demonstrate awareness of their own learning processes and knowledge-building strategies, as well as the ability to self-learn.
These skills will support the development of strong, independent study habits and the acquisition of new knowledge.

Course Prerequisites

A basic knowledge of contemporary history is relevant.

Teaching Methods

The course consists of 27 lectures supported by PowerPoint slides and audiovisual materials (including film clips and documentaries). Some in-class discussions are also planned, and students are encouraged to actively participate. Only those who attend at least 19 out of 27 lectures will be considered attending students. No exceptions will be made.

Assessment Methods

The exam consists of an oral test that will assess the knowledge and presentation of the topics, as well as the correct and accurate use of terminology, names, and dates.

Texts

Required texts for attending students (9 credits):

Lecture notes.
S. Luconi, La nazione ‘indispensabile’, Le Monnier 2020 (second edition).
Two books of your choice from the following:

C. Bernardi, Una storia di confine, Carocci 2008
T. Bonazzi, La rivoluzione americana, Il Mulino 2018
G. Borgognone, America bianca. La destra reazionaria dal Ku Klux Klan a Trump, Carocci 2022
L. Ducci, S. Luconi, M. Pretelli, Le relazioni fra Italia e Stati Uniti. Dal Risorgimento alle conseguenze dell’11 settembre, Carocci 2012
S. Luconi – M. Pretelli, L’immigrazione negli Stati Uniti, Il Mulino 2008.
M. Pretelli, L’emigrazione italiana negli Stati Uniti, Il Mulino 2012.
A. Testi, I fastidi della storia. Quale America raccontato i monumenti, Il Mulino 2023.
S. Luconi, M. Pretelli, “Nazione di immigrati” o “fortezza America”? Gli Stati Uniti e le minoranze etniche nel XXI secolo, Mondadori, 2024.
E. Vezzosi, Mosaico americano, Carocci 2005

Attending students taking the course for 6 credits have the same workload as above but may choose just one book (instead than two) among those listed at #3 (they will study lecture notes, "La nazione indispensabile" and one chosen book from list).

Non-attending students (for 6 or 9 credits) have the same program of attending students as above. To mandatory books listed above, they will add another chosen book from list below (thus, non-attending students will study 3 books for 6 credits, or 4 books for 9 credits):

T. Bonazzi, Abraham Lincoln. Un dramma americano, Il Mulino 2016
B. Cartosio, I lunghi anni Sessanta. Movimenti sociali e cultura politica negli Stati Uniti, Feltrinelli 2012
B. Cartosio, Verso ovest. Storia e mitologia del Far West, Feltrinelli 2018.
V. De Grazia, L’impero irresistibile. La società dei consumi americani alla conquista del mondo, Einaudi 2006
S. Luconi, L’anima nera degli Stati Uniti. Quattrocento anni di presenza afroamericana, Cleup 2020.
A. Mattioli, Mondi perduti. Una storia dei nativi nordamericani, Einaudi 2019
M. Young, Le guerre del Vietnam, 1945-1990, Mondadori 2017.

Erasmus students wishing to take the oral exam in English should study two books:

1) Philip Jenkins, A History of the United States, MacMillan, 1997.

2) A chosen on among (all books are held in the library of Palazzo Giusso):

- D. Kyvig, Daily life in the United States, 1920-1940, Ivan Publisher 2004;

- E. Hinton, America on Fire: The Untold History of Police Violence and Black Rebellion since the 1960s, Collins 2021

- E. Lee, America for Americans: A History of Xenophobia in the United States, Basic Books 2019.

The Birth of the United States
The Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the U.S. Institutional System
Native Americans and the Myth of the West
The Slavery System
Civil War, Reconstruction, and the "Jim Crow System"
U.S. Foreign Policy and 19th-Century Wars
The Gilded Age and the Progressive Era
Immigration and Nativism
U.S. Society and Foreign Policy from the First to the Second World War
U.S. Society and Foreign Policy During the Cold War
Social Protest and the Civil Rights Movement
The Vietnam Wars
Watergate, Neoliberalism, and the End of the Cold War
The 1990s and the September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attacks
From Barack Obama to Donald Trump’s Second Term