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Centre for
Modern Italian History
The University of Reading is the United Kingdom’s leading
centre for the study of modern Italian history. It is the only university in the
United Kingdom to have a designated post for an historian of modern Italy. Its
library holdings on Italy are unique, and comprise more than 20,000 volumes,
over 130 periodical titles, and important archive and newspaper collections. The
Centre for Modern Italian History (CMIH) has been set up to utilise these
holdings to the full, promote postgraduate study of modern Italian history in
Britain, and foster links with scholars in Italy and other overseas countries.
The CMIH is located jointly within the departments of
History and Italian Studies, and replaces the earlier Centre for the Advanced
Study of Italian Society. It has an Executive Committee consisting of a
Director, a Deputy Director and two additional members. There is also an
Advisory Committee: this brings together the many scholars in the University of
Reading – in such departments as Italian, History, Politics, Sociology,
Economics, Art History, Classics, and Archaeology – working on aspects of modern
Italy. It also draws on expertise in other universities, both in Britain and
abroad.
The CMIH aims to foster interest and research in modern
Italian history through its postgraduate programme, and through seminars,
conferences, and lectures. It also seeks to encourage joint research and
teaching initiatives with other universities in Britain and abroad.
POSTGRADUATE PROGRAMMES
The research environment
The CMIH benefits from a lively and multidisciplinary
research environment. In recent years the departments of Italian and History
have between them had more than twenty doctoral students at any one time, and a
large body of MA and MPhil students. The Department of Italian Studies (awarded
a 5* in the 2001 Research Assessment Exercise) participates in a unique Joint
Programme of research training with University College London and Royal
Holloway, London. This constitutes the largest postgraduate forum for Italian
Studies in Britain, and offers students the chance to present research findings
to, and learn from, peers and established scholars alike. It also allows them to
meet other students working on Italian history and related areas of Italian
studies.
The University of Reading provides a full research training
programme, access to computer facilities, and use of the Library’s extensive
resources. The University of Reading is located close to the libraries of Oxford
and London, and the Public Record Office at Kew.
Research degrees
MPhil/PhD
The CMIH offers supervision for MPhils by research (2 years
full-time) and doctorates (3 years full-time). For the full range of expertise
available, see below. Dissertations may be written in either Italian or English.
Funding is available through the research councils or the University of
Reading’s Research Studentship schemes. The departments of Italian and History
have some limited funds available for help with research costs.
MA in Modern Italian History
Full-time: 12 months
Part-time: 24 months
This is designed both as a free-standing degree for those
wishing to extend their knowledge of modern Italian history and also as a
preparation for research. Students can, as part of the MA, take a course in
Italian (or other foreign) language, or, in the case of overseas students, a
course in advanced English language.
The MA consists of a core module (historical skills and
language option; key themes in Italian history and historiography) and a
compulsory module on either 19th or 20th century Italian
history. There is also a dissertation and one additional module chosen from a
broad range of MA courses offered within the University of Reading in subjects
related to modern Italy.
Entry requirements
For both research degrees and the MA, the entry requirement
is a first or good upper-second class degree or its equivalent. A reading
knowledge of Italian is desirable but not mandatory. Overseas students wishing
to do the MA should have a good reading and writing skills in English. In the
case of research degrees, however, a more limited knowledge of English is
acceptable, as dissertations may be submitted in Italian.
Areas of expertise in Italian history:
Prof. John Cantwell: history of large Italian firms;
Italian regionalism
Dr Marina Della-Giusta: issues of gender in Italy;
macro-economic policy and social development
Prof Christopher Duggan: 19th and 20th
century Italian political history; history of Sicily; the Sicilian mafia
Prof Roberto Franzosi: the sociology of fascism
Dr David Laven: the Risorgimento; the Habsburg
administration; history of Venice
Dr Jeremy Lester: Italian politics; comparative European
politics
Dr Athena Leoussi: art and national identity
Prof Giulio Lepschy: history of the Italian language
Dr Francesca Medioli: Italian women’s history; 17th
and 18th century Italian social history
Dr Anna Gruetzner-Robins: modernism in European art
Dr Shirley Vinall: Franco-Italian relations in the late 19th
and early 20th centuries; Futurism
Chris Wagstaff: history of the Italian cinema; Futurism
Dr Maria Wyke: the reception of ancient Rome in popular
culture
CONTACT DETAILS
For all information relating to the Centre for Modern
Italian History, please contact:
Department of Italian Studies
University of Reading
Whiteknights
Reading RG6 6AA
e-mail: c.j.h.duggan@reading.ac.uk
Tel: (0044)-(0)118-9318403/9318400
Fax: (0044)-(0)118-9316797
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Page last updated
February 25, 2008
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