aCademiC Catalog 2013-2014 - Lorenzo de Medici

FLORENCE
School of Arts & Sciences
best summed up by the credo “Man – the measure of all things”.
The focus of this course is therefore upon great personalities
of the Italian Renaissance mainly in the fields of the visual arts,
literature and philosophy, but also drawn from those of politics
and civic life. These include key figures of the most prominent
Italian families: the Medici, the Sforza, the Della Rovere; artists
and architects: Brunelleschi, Leon Battista Alberti, Leonardo
da Vinci, Michelangelo; writers, poets and philosophers: Dante,
Petrarca, Boccaccio, Pico della Mirandola, Machiavelli, as well as
merchants and bankers. All these individuals left their mark in
Italy between the early 1400s and the late 1500s.
Prerequisites: HIS 130 Western Civilization, or equivalent
The Role of Magic in Renaissance Thought
HIS 318 F; Dual listed: PHR 318 F
Cr: 3; Contact hrs: 45
During the Italian Renaissance an extraordinarily talented
collection of writers and thinkers embarked on a voyage of
rediscovery, uncovering the rich body of knowledge left by
ancient civilizations and creating a new and exciting synthesis
from what they found. In this synthesis magical thought
exerted a central and prestigious influence. Regarded as the
key to understanding the nature of reality, magic occupied
much the same place held by natural science in today’s society.
This course explores the spiritual and magical world conjured in
the thought of important Renaissance thinkers such as Marsilio
Ficino, Pico della Mirandola and Giordano Bruno, examining their
texts and visiting sites in Florence which made this city one of
the great centers of Renaissance magic. By reinterpreting the
Renaissance in the light of magic and imagination, the course
offers a fresh perspective on the origins of the modern world.
Prerequisites: PHR 130 Western Philosophy, or HIS 130 Western
Civilization, or equivalents
Muslims, Jews and Witches: Outsiders in
Medieval and Renaissance Europe
HIS 320 F
Cr: 3; Contact hrs: 45
In the Medieval and Renaissance period Christianity provided
Europeans with a strong cultural identity that determined both
the perception of otherness and the mechanisms of social
exclusion. This course analyzes European attitudes toward
“outsiders” and examines the different patterns of relationship,
discrimination, and persecution that emerged. The “others” lived
far from Europe. The relationship with Muslims will be analyzed
through the concept of holy war (in both versions, Jihad and
Crusade) while Columbus will guide us to the encounter with
the Native Americans. The “others” lived in Europe. Because of
their religious diversity Jews were often perceived as potentially
dangerous, suffering discrimination and persecution. Likewise
for heretics, whose doctrinal and theological errors were not
tolerated, or witches, who were believed to be inspired by the
devil, and thus blamed for crimes that ultimately originated in
collective fears, Europe’s inner demons.
Prerequisites: HIS 130 Western Civilization, or equivalent
Archaeology Field School: Petra and
Shawbak (Jordan)
HIS 323-324 F; Dual listed: CLA 323-324 F
Cr: 6; Contact hrs: 148
The Archaeological Field School of Petra and Shawbak
(Jordan) is a four-week intensive course in medieval Near
Easter Archaeology. Participants in the field school will
learn basic archaeological techniques in the ongoing Light
Archaeology research on Crusader-Ayyubid and Mamluk
medieval settlement in south Jordan, including excavation,
artifact analyses, stratigraphic building archaeology, landscape
and architectural survey, restoration, tourist master planning
and 2D/3D virtual modeling. The course will be conducted by
an expert team of English speaking archaeologists, restorers,
architectural historians, territorial and static engineers,
computer scientists and geologists. It will combine on-site
fieldwork mainly in Shawbak (once “Mont Real”, the Crusader
capital castle of Transjordan) and Petra (Crusader castles of
Al-Habis and Al-Wu’aira) and a number of on-site lectures.
Through this course students will explore material culture
and architectural production on the historic Frontier between
Mediterranean and Arabia as well as settlement dynamics
that brought to life, during the Middle Ages, the geo-political
settings of Middle East as we know it today. The Medieval Petra
Project has been carried out by the University of Florence since
1986, in collaboration with the Department of Antiquities of
Jordan, the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the European
Union.
Rise and Fall of the Medici
HIS 340 F
Cr: 3; Contact hrs: 45
The course deals with the full story of this extraordinary family,
whose fortunes are traced over three hundred years (from the
late 14th century up to the early 18th century), from the rise
of the bank under Cosimo the Elder to the final collapse of
the house of Medici with the death of the last Medici in 1737.
Since the power of the Medici family enabled its members
to rule Florence, control the papacy, act as the “needle of
the Italian compass,” and sometimes influence the policies
of an entire continent, the course will provide students with
an understanding of the history, politics and civic life of this
period. The Medici were statesmen, scholars, patrons of art,
collectors, entrepreneurs and impresarios. Some of them were
poets, others were popes. The course introduces students to
philosophy and artistic movements by discussing the most
important achievements and the people who worked for the
Medici, like Michelangelo, Poliziano, Donatello, Botticelli, and
several musicians who worked at the Medici court in the 16th
and 17th centuries. Visits to churches, museums, palaces and
galleries, which are a significant part of the study of the Medici
family, will supplement classes.
Prerequisites: HIS 130 Western Civilization, or equivalent
Political Terrorism
HIS 380 F
Cr: 3; Contact hrs: 45
Terrorism means the calculated use of violence (or threat
of violence) against civilians in order to attain goals that
are political or religious or ideological in nature; this is done
through intimidation, coercion, instilling fear and, in the worst
case, violent attacks on people. This word “terrorism” comes
from “Terror,” a term that was first used during the French
Revolution to describe the political use of strength to suffocate
(or destroy) the opponents of the Republic. The 20th century
shows how this form of violence still remains, used by totalitarian
regimes. However, nowadays terrorism means violent actions,
in most cases illegal and clandestine, carried out in order to
overthrow order and the legal government. Starting from this
distinction, this course examines the main geopolitical areas
that faced terrorism in the past and still do. Every terrorist
phenomenon is individual, but by examining the socio-political
and cultural environment we can understand common reasons
and similar consequences. In the first part we will deal with the
“terror regimes of 1900s’”(Fascism, Nazism, Stalinism and the
Latin American dictatorships); in the second we will study the
different forms of “anti-government” terrorism grouped by their
goals: anticolonialistic groups (Algeria, India), independence
movements (ETA, IRA), communist and antidemocratic groups
(Brigate Rosse, RAF), independence and religion (Palestinian
terrorism), up to the current global threat of Al-Qaeda.
Prerequisites: HIS 130 Western Civilization, or equivalent
The Second World War
HIS 390 F
Cr: 3; Contact hrs: 45
The Second World War caused the death of about 50 million
people and enormous destruction all over the world. The
course examines the causes of the war, focusing upon the
rise of Nazism in Germany. It then focuses on the course of
the war from a political, social and military point of view,
taking into account the political strategies of the main powers,
the most important war campaigns and the suffering of the
civilian populations. A special session will be devoted to the
great tragedy of the Holocaust. The course will conclude by
examining the political consequences of the conflict: the new
balance of power that was to last for almost 50 years, until the
collapse of the Soviet Union.
Prerequisites: HIS 130 Western Civilization, or equivalent
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LdM Academic Catalog 2013-2014