Phone: 0039 338 1389515 Address: Università degli Studi di Macerata - Dipartimento di Scienze della Formazione, dei Beni Culturali e del Turismo, Piazzale Bertelli 1 - Contrada Vallebona, 62100 Macerata (Italy)
Il presente volume mira a ricostruire la storia dell’ambizioso progetto editoriale dei «Monumenta... more Il presente volume mira a ricostruire la storia dell’ambizioso progetto editoriale dei «Monumenta Italiae Paedagogica» cui tra il 1886 e il 1956 si dedicarono – seppur con approcci estremamente differenti –pedagogisti del calibro di Luigi Credaro, Giuseppe Lombardo Radice e Giovanni Calò, intenzionati a definire il "canone pedagogico nazionale", ossia il complesso delle opere educative alle quali la comunità pedagogica italiana riconosceva un valore esemplare, ritenendole pertanto degne di essere trasmesse e conosciute. La definizione di questo canone, infatti, alla quale tra la fine dell’800 e la prima metà del ’900 si sarebbero dedicati anche altri intellettuali, era finalizzata a consolidare nel corpo magistrale la coscienza di una tradizione educativa squisitamente italiana e a contribuire – attraverso di essa – a quegli stessi processi di "nation building" che i futuri maestri avevano il compito di attuare all’interno della scuola italiana, trasmettendo alle nuove generazioni i valori fondanti della ritrovata coscienza nazionale. L’autore – sulla scorta di una ricca e variegata documentazione, in larga parte inedita – approfondisce i molteplici aspetti di questa complessa operazione culturale, che fu effettivamente avviata tra il 1940 e il 1950 da Giovanni Calò prima presso la Reale Accademia d’Italia e poi presso l’Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, pur non arrivando mai a vedere la luce.
IT: La riflessione storica degli ultimi trent’anni è stata dominata da un’interpretazione squisit... more IT: La riflessione storica degli ultimi trent’anni è stata dominata da un’interpretazione squisitamente politica dei processi di scolarizzazione di massa promossi in età contemporanea nelle società occidentali attraverso la creazione dei moderni sistemi scolastici nazionali, la quale ha evidenziato il ruolo della scuola come strumento di generazione delle identità nazionali. La subalternità alla prospettiva storiografica della 'Nation building' ha causato la marginalizzazione di paradigmi interpretativi alternativi, come quello relativo alla dimensione economica della scolarizzazione di massa, recuperato nel presente studio. Se infatti il ceto dirigente liberale perseguì la scolarizzazione di massa al fine di generare sentimenti identitari e consolidare il consenso politico alle proprie istituzioni, per raggiungere tale scopo non poté fare a meno di coinvolgere le imprese private, le quali erano in grado – tramite i loro impianti produttivi – di produrre su vasta scala i materiali necessari per porre le basi della «scuola di massa». Utilizzando gli annuari industriali, i bollettini delle organizzazioni di categoria, le inserzioni pubblicitarie pubblicate sulle riviste magistrali, i premi concessi nell’ambito delle esposizioni nazionali e universali, i brevetti e altre fonti inconsuete per questo ambito di studi, il volume mostra come i «mezzi di educazione di massa» serializzati e prodotti su scala industriale da quelle stesse imprese finirono con l’indurre una generalizzata omologazione dei metodi di insegnamento e dei processi di apprendimento e con lo standardizzare gli stessi contenuti educativi, dando forma a un modello scolastico capitalistico che stenta ancora a entrare definitivamente in crisi.
EN: The historiographical debate of the past thirty years has been dominated by an essentially political interpretation of the processes of mass schooling adopted in Western societies in the contemporary era through the creation of modern national education systems, and this has tended to highlight the role of the school as a tool for forging national identity. This subordination to the historical perspective of nation-building has led to the sidelining of alternative paradigms for interpretation such as the economic aspect of mass schooling – the aspect that this book sets out to explore. While the liberal ruling classes pursued the policy of mass schooling for the express purpose of forging patriotic sentiment and consolidating political consensus around their institutions, in order to achieve that purpose they had no option but to involve private businesses with their industrial ability to manufacture, on a vast scale, the materials required to lay the groundwork for “mass education”. Using industrial yearbooks, professional bulletins, advertisements published in education journals, prizes awarded in the context of national and world fairs, patents and other sources not usually used in this field of study, the book shows how serially produced “tools of mass education” manufactured on an industrial scale by those same industries ended up fostering the broad standardisation of teaching methods, of learning processes and of educational content, spawning a capitalistic educational model which has yet go into decline.
This book reveals how school memories offer not only a tool for accessing the school of the past,... more This book reveals how school memories offer not only a tool for accessing the school of the past, but also a key to understanding what people today know (or think they know) about the school of the past. It describes, in fact, how historians’ work does not purely and simply consist in exploring school as it really was, but also in the complex process of defining the memory of school as one developed and revisited over time at both the individual and collective level. Further, it investigates the extent to which what people “know” reflects the reality or is in fact a product of stereotypes that are deeply rooted in common perceptions and thus exceedingly difficult to do away with. The book includes fifteen peer-reviewed contributions that were presented and discussed during the International Symposium “School Memories. New Trends in Historical Research into Education: Heuristic Perspectives and Methodological Issues” (Seville, 22-23 September, 2015).
Este volumen - editado por Juri Meda y Ana Badanelli (UNED) - recoge las actas del I Workshop Ita... more Este volumen - editado por Juri Meda y Ana Badanelli (UNED) - recoge las actas del I Workshop Italo-Español de Historia de la Cultura Escolar, celebrado en Berlanga de Duero en la sede del Centro Internacional de la Cultura Escolar (CEINCE) entre el 14 y el 16 de noviembre de 2011. La primera edición del Workshop se dedicó a hacer una balance de la investigación histórico-educativa italiana y española desde el inicio del siglo XXI hasta hoy y a definir las qué podrían ser las perspectivas de futuro para el desarollo de esta historia de la cultura escolar en campos como la historia de los manuales escolares, las publicaciónes escolares, la historia de las escrituras escolares, la cultura material de la escuela y la preservación del patrimonio histórico-educativo.
"This edited volume stems from the necessity of reconstructing the history of the children’s soci... more "This edited volume stems from the necessity of reconstructing the history of the children’s socialist and communist periodical press of the late 19th and the early 20th century in Italy; in fact, this topic has thus far been investigated with some continuity only by a few scholars, and their analysis has been limited to the children’s communist periodicals published after World War II, completely ignoring the many previous socialist magazines. The present work attempts to fill this gap, providing an exhaustive description of that period, from the first gift-books of the late 19th century (Figli del Popolo and Strenna Minima Socialista), the one-off publications of the early 20th century (I Maggio dei Fanciulli and Alba di Maggio) and the illustrated magazines of the pre-fascist (Il Germoglio, Cuore and Il Fanciullo Proletario), to the better-known comic magazine edited by the Italian Pioneers Association (Il Pioniere), hugely popular among its readers, who still remember it with nostalgia.
This volume draws on the rich and largely unique archival heritage
preserved in the institutes and documentation centers specialized in the history and memory of the Italian workers’ movement. It is also an important contribution to the wider international debate on the emergence of “politicized childhood” during the 20th century, which is becoming more and more intense."
These two volumes contain the official proceedings of the international symposium «School Exercis... more These two volumes contain the official proceedings of the international symposium «School Exercise Books: a Complex Source for a History of the Approach to Schooling and Education in the 19th and 20th Centuries» (Macerata, September 26-29, 2007).
The school exercise book in the contemporary age can be seen both an essential teaching aid and as a formidable tool for communication, thus as a unique source for exploring school culture and the approach to education in a given historical context. From cover to content, and including the codification process in its capacity as a material object, the school exercise book can tell us a great deal about the history of schools and education, about teaching methods and language, and about the educational projects and policies that the various nation states sought to implement in the 19th and 20th centuries. Within that framework, the history of education and literacy goes hand in hand with the history of educational ideas and of concrete educational practice, offering hitherto unexplored scenarios for research. These proceedings – which include papers submitted by scholars from all over the world (Europe, America and the Far East) – offer a broad panorama of the potential (and the limits) of such a complex source with its wealth of implications. They represent a corpus of study and enquiry based on a truly exhaustive and complete range of methods and tools of investigation. The exercise book seen as a vessel for writing, as a testimonial of educational practice as implemented by teachers, and as an essential part of the political and cultural socialisation pursued in schools, helps us to focus the historical and educational dynamic on the relationships that impart concrete substance to the rapport between educational theory, teachers, institutes of education and education policy on the one hand, and the real-life players – the men, women and children – who experienced those relationships in the first person.
Published in: Inclusione e promozione sociale nel sistema formativo italiano dall’Unità ad oggi, edited by Anna Ascenzi & Roberto Sani, FrancoAngeli, Milano 2020, pp. 87-101, 2020
Nel secondo dopoguerra il sistema scolastico della neonata repubblica italiana sorta dalle ceneri... more Nel secondo dopoguerra il sistema scolastico della neonata repubblica italiana sorta dalle ceneri del fascismo era ancora rigidamente elitario e classista, caratterizzato da percorsi paralleli e distinti, espressione di modelli educativi fortemente eterogenei per impostazione, durata e contenuti: da un lato, quello rivolto alle élites borghesi – articolato sui tre ordini dal primario al secondario di secondo grado e terminante nella formazione universitaria – volto a garantire alla futura classe dirigente del Paese un solido bagaglio culturale; dall’altro, quello riservato alle classi popolari – consistente praticamente nel solo ordine primario – di durata assai più circoscritta e limitantesi a fornire i primi rudimenti della scrittura, della lettura e del calcolo. La nuova Costituzione repubblicana emanata nel 1948 aveva stabilito all’articolo 34 di estendere l’obbligo scolastico fino al quattordicesimo anno di età, ma tale principio non sarebbe stato effettivamente attuato che nel 1962 con l’istituzione di una scuola media di completamento dell’obbligo per il triennio compreso tra gli undici e i quattordici anni di età . Su questa scuola – caratterizzata da una rigida selettività e dalla persistenza di una pedagogia conservatrice – continuavano ancora a gravare tassi di abbandono e di evasione scolastica elevatissimi, soprattutto a carico dei giovani appartenenti alle classi popolari . Fu in questo contesto, tuttavia, che furono tentati due esperimenti educativi puntanti a fare della scuola un luogo di inclusione oltre che uno spazio di crescita civile e democratica: furono quelli promossi da don Lorenzo Milani, prima a San Donato a Calenzano e poi nella canonica di Barbiana in Mugello, e dal maestro Mario Lodi, prima nella piccola scuola elementare di San Giovanni in Croce e poi in quella del Vho di Piadena in Pianura Padana negli anni Cinquanta e Sessanta. Il presente contributo cerca di offrirne una sintesi in grado di mettere in luce una tappa senz’altro fondamentale dell’evoluzione del sistema educativo nazionale in relazione ai due fattori dell’inclusione e della promozione sociale.
Published in: «Histoire de l’éducation», n. 150, 2018, pp. 125-150, 2018
FR : L’histoire de l’éducation italienne – à partir des années quatre-vingts dix – a progressivem... more FR : L’histoire de l’éducation italienne – à partir des années quatre-vingts dix – a progressivement dépassé l’histoire des théories pédagogiques et des institutions éducatives pour se dédier à l’étude de l’évolution des techniques d’enseignement et des processus d’apprentissage, des pratiques éducatives et, plus en général, de la culture scolaire. Ces études se sont concentré surtout sur les enseignants, en particulier des écoles primaires, plutôt que sur les élèves, sur leur subjectivité, sur leur expérience et sur les espaces d’autonomie qui leur étaient reconnus dans le cadre du projet pédagogique établi par les adultes. Les études sur ces protagonistes des processus d’apprentissage se ont concentré, jusqu’à présent, sur des sujets et des cas spécifiques (comme l’histoire de la vie matérielle dans les établissements scolaires, l’histoire de la discipline scolaire et l’étude des produits graphiques enfantins, c’est-à-dire les écritures et les dessins) souvent d’une perspective quantitative ou micro-historique, alors qu’il manque toujours une histoire des élèves capable de renverser la perspective à partir de laquelle ces processus ont été étudiés, allant des écoles maternelles aux lycées.
EN : The history of education in Italy – since the Nineties – has progressively passed the history of pedagogical theories and educational institutions to devote itself to the study of the evolution of teaching methods and learning processes, of educational practices and more generally of school culture. These studies, however, have focused more on teachers, especially those of primary schools, than on students, on their subjectivity, their experience and the possible autonomous spaces allowed to them in the context of the pedagogical project developed by adults. Studies on these protagonists of learning processes have hitherto focused on specific topics and cases (such as the history of material life in educational institutions, of the school discipline and the study of children’s graphic products, such as writings and drawings) often from a quantitative or micro-historical perspective, while still is missing a history of students able to overturn the perspective from which the learning processes were studied, ranging from kindergarten to high schools.
Madrid, ciudad educadora. Memoria de la Escuela Pública (1898/1938). Ensayos en torno a una exposición, editado por María del Mar del Pozo Andrés, Ayuntamiento de Madrid. Oficina de Derechos Humanos y Memoria, Madrid 2019, pp. 59-72, 2019
IT: En los últimos años las “escuelas históricas” han comenzado a aparecer en el debate público y... more IT: En los últimos años las “escuelas históricas” han comenzado a aparecer en el debate público y en la literatura científica de una manera cada vez más evidente. Pero ¿qué significa exactamente este término? ¿Cuándo se puede considerar que una escuela es “histórica” en todos los aspectos y qué requisitos particulares debe cumplir para hacerse con dicho título? Es posible decir, sin lugar a dudas, que hoy en día no existe una definición común, especialmente si revisamos las realidades nacionales que en los últimos años se han destacado en la valoración de esta particular categoría de escuelas.
EN: In recent years, “historic schools” have been cropping up in public debate and in scientific literature ever more regularly. But what exactly does this term mean? Just when should a school be considered “historic” in all of its aspects, and what particular requisites must it fulfil in order to receive this name? We can affirm beyond all doubt that today no common definition exists, especially if we take into account the different national scenarios in which this category of school has become more prominent.
La pratica educativa: storia, memoria e patrimonio. Atti del 1° Congresso nazionale della Società Italiana per lo studio del Patrimonio Storico-Educativo (Palma de Mallorca, 20-23 novembre 2018), a cura di Anna Ascenzi, Carmela Covato e Juri Meda, EUM, Macerata 2020, pp. 301-322, 2020
IT: Il presente contributo – partendo dalle categorie di «lieux de mémoire» e «place memory» elab... more IT: Il presente contributo – partendo dalle categorie di «lieux de mémoire» e «place memory» elaborati rispettivamente da Pierre Nora e Paul Connerton – intende determinare in cosa consistano i «luoghi della memoria scolastica» e quali siano le dinamiche che li governano. Sono state individuate cinque varietà di «luoghi della memoria scolastica», ovvero, nell’ordine: i musei della scuola; le scuole-museo e aule-museo; le scuole storiche; le «scuole dimenticate», ovvero le scuole cadute in rovina; quelli che abbiamo preliminarmente definito i «sancta sanctorum della scuola», ovvero quei luoghi (in genere per l’appunto scuole) che hanno costituito gli incubatori spaziali di esperienze educative tanto innovative da potersi considerare uniche ed essere annoverate come tali negli annali della pubblica istruzione nazionale. Il contributo presenta le principali caratteristiche di queste diverse tipologie, evidenziandone linearità e asimmetrie, e traccia un quadro interpretativo che – seppur con alcuni distinguo – documenta la dimensione eminentemente localistica della memoria scolastica.
EN: This paper, starting from the categories of lieux de mémoire and place memory developed respectively by Pierre Nora and Paul Connerton, is aimed at determining what constitute «sites of school memory» and the dynamics that govern them. Five kinds of «sites of school memory» have been identified, namely, in order: school museums; schoolhouse museums and schoolroom museums; historic schools; «forgotten schools», i.e. schools which have fallen into ruin; those that we have previously defined as «sacred places of education», namely those places (usually schools) that constitute the spatial incubators of innovative educational experiences so as to be considered unique and be counted as such in the annals of the national education system. This paper presents the main characteristics of these different types, highlighting linearities and asymmetries, and tracks an interpretive framework that documents the highly localistic character of school memory, albeit with some distinctions.
A&B la parola ai bambini. Storia e attualità di un giornale-progetto educativo ideato da Mario Lodi, a cura di Marianna Bufano, Tullia Colombo, Cosetta Lodi, Aldo Pallotti ed Enrico Platè, Casa delle Arti e del Gioco – Mario Lodi, Drizzona 2019, pp. 28-33, 2019
Contributo al volume «A&B. La parola ai bambini», edito dalla Casa delle Arti e del Gioco - Mario... more Contributo al volume «A&B. La parola ai bambini», edito dalla Casa delle Arti e del Gioco - Mario Lodi, sul «giornale dei bambini per i bambini» creato nel 1983 da Mario Lodi in collaborazione con altri insegnanti come inserto mensile del periodico cremonese «Mondo Padano», e proseguito fino al 1988. «A&B» era espressione dell'impegno costante di Lodi per uno sviluppo pieno e completo della personalità umana e dell’individuo già a partire dall’infanzia attraverso la stimolazione della spontaneità e dell’autenticità dei bambini, in quanto un bambino che si sa esprimere, che riesce a comunicare quello che ha dentro di sé, che cresce correttamente anche da un punto di vista psicologico ed emotivo non potrà che essere protagonista attivo della società in cui vive.
They Did Not Stop at Eboli: UNESCO and the Campaign against Illiteracy in a Reportage by David “Chim” Seymour and Texts by Carlo Levi (1950), edited by Giovanna Hendel, Carole Naggar & Karin Priem, UNESCO/De Gruyter Oldenbourg, Paris-Berlin, 2019, pp. 198-220, 2019
The dissemination of a particular public image of rural schools – always the poorest and most dis... more The dissemination of a particular public image of rural schools – always the poorest and most disadvantaged schools – has frequently been used by the ruling classes or political parties to document the state of modernity or backwardness of the national school system, depending on their propaganda needs. Taking as its starting point the photo-reportages undertaken by Italian photojournalists and published in Italian magazines of different political orientations in the 1940s and 1950s, this essay provides an in-depth analysis of how the public image of these particular schools was manipulated, and used for propaganda purposes, through the circulation of photographs in newspapers and magazines.
«History of Education & Children’s Literature», 2019
The purpose of this contribution is to examine «school memory» in depth as a specific object of r... more The purpose of this contribution is to examine «school memory» in depth as a specific object of research and a new line of investigation for historians of education. The starting point is the new historical-cultural approach and the related key-concepts of cultural memory, collective memory and public memory, which have provided historians of education with new methodological tools to explore the school past, places and heritage. A more specific focus then follows on the methods by which the memory of schools and education has been developed and transmitted by the institutions through official commemorations and public celebrations, and on the basis of a precise «politics of memory» and «public use of memory» designed to build consensus and to strengthen feelings of belonging to a particular community. The authors also analyse the social-cultural dynamics underlying both the commemoration of innovative educationalists and educators, and the celebration of those places where the memory of schools and education has become part of community memory and identity. This paper constitutes the presentation of the special issue «Memories and Public Celebrations of Education in Contemporary Times» (HECL, n. 1, 2019), edited by Juri Meda, Marta Brunelli and Luigiaurelio Pomante.
«History of Education & Children’s Literature», 2019
This paper, starting from the categories of lieux de mémoire and place
memory developed respectiv... more This paper, starting from the categories of lieux de mémoire and place memory developed respectively by Pierre Nora and Paul Connerton, is aimed at determining what constitute «sites of school memory» and the dynamics that govern them. Five kinds of «sites of school memory» have been identified, namely, in order: school museums; schoolhouse museums and schoolroom museums; historic schools; «forgotten schools», i.e. schools which have fallen into ruin; those that we have previously defined as «sacred places of education», namely those places (usually schools) that constitute the spatial incubators of innovative educational experiences so as to be considered unique and be counted as such in the annals of the national education system. This paper presents the main characteristics of these different types, highlighting linearities and asymmetries, and tracks an interpretive framework that documents the highly localistic character of school memory, albeit with some distinctions. This paper has been published in the special issue «Memories and Public Celebrations of Education in Contemporary Times» (HECL, n. 1, 2019) edited by Juri Meda, Luigiaurelio Pomante, Marta Brunelli.
EN: The dissemination of a particular public image of rural schools —ever since the poorest and m... more EN: The dissemination of a particular public image of rural schools —ever since the poorest and most disadvantaged schools— has frequently been used by the ruling classes and / or political parties to document the rate of modernity and/or backwardness of the national school system, depending on the respective propaganda needs. Moving from the first photographic surveys conducted in Southern Italy in 1920s by the associations engaged in the socio-economic integration of the South into the Unitary State to get to the photo reportages published in some magazines in the 1950s, the article analyses in depth the manipulation of the public image of these particular schools as it emerges by the circulation of such photographs on daily newspapers and magazines, which reveals its propagandistic use over time.
ES: La difusión de una determinada imagen pública de las escuelas rurales —desde siempre las escuelas más pobres y desfavorecidas— ha sido utilizada frecuentemente por las clases dirigentes y/o los partidos políticos de la oposición para documentar la tasa de modernización y/o de atraso del sistema educativo nacional, de acuerdo con las respectivas necesidades propagandísticas. El artículo —moviéndose entre las primeras encuestas fotográficas realizadas en las regiones del Sur de Italia por asociaciones meridionalistas en los años 20 y los reportajes fotoperiodísticos publicados en algunas revistas en los años 50, pasando por la cesura fascista— pretende estudiar las alteraciones de la imagen pública de este tipo particular de escuelas comprobables en Italia en el período de tiempo indicado a través del análisis de fotografías escolares publicadas en periódicos diarios y revistas, centrándose en el uso propagandístico que de las mismas se hizo a lo largo de treinta años.
IT: La diffusione d’una determinata immagine pubblica delle scuole rurali – da sempre le scuole più povere e disagiate – è stata frequentemente utilizzata dai ceti dirigenti e/o dai partiti politici per documentare il tasso di modernità e/o di arretratezza del sistema scolastico nazionale, a seconda delle esigenze propagandistiche espresse dagli uni piuttosto che dagli altri. L’articolo – muovendosi tra le prime inchieste fotografiche condotte nelle regioni del Mezzogiorno italiano dalle associazioni meridionaliste negli anni ’20 e i reportage foto-giornalistici pubblicati su alcune riviste negli anni ’50, passando attraverso la lunga cesura fascista – si propone di studiare le alterazioni dell’immagine pubblica di questo particolare tipo di scuola registrabili in Italia nel lasso di tempo indicato attraverso l’analisi delle fotografie pubblicate su quotidiani e riviste, evidenziando l’uso propagandistico che di essa è stato fatto nel corso del tempo.
History of Education & Children’s Literature, 2018
The article aims to develop a cultural history of the ancient punishment of the cappello d’asino ... more The article aims to develop a cultural history of the ancient punishment of the cappello d’asino (literaly «ass cap») in Italian schools (but historically used in European schools from the 16th to the 20th Century), which will be analysed from an iconogenetic viewpoint in an attempt to highlight its symbolic roots. This, because an exploration of the practice reveals a fairly complex iconogenesis. On the one hand, the dunce’s cap stems from the late medieval custom of stigmatising the madness of fools and jesters with a hat characterised by animal attributes such as donkeys’ or other animals’ ears. On the other hand, the practice reveals strong links with the ancient practice of marking heretics and infidels with a pointed hat, from the pileus cornutus used to distinguish Jews, to the capirote imposed on people sentenced for religious motives by the Spanish Inquisition. The obligation to publicly wear such headgear was designed to impart public visibility to the wearers’ intellectual or spiritual deviance and to expose them to public contempt in order to oust them from the community of the faithful. In the following centuries, on the contrary, the symbolic significance of the pointed hat became so deeply rooted in people’s culture that it pervaded the school environment too. Thus the obligation for dumb pupils to wear the school version of this headgear (ass cap) began to mark their ousting from the micro-community of the classroom and to stigmatise their refusal (or inability) to learn: a refusal that was considered akin to down-right apostasy, equating the renunciation of reason (by fools) with the abandonment of faith (by heretics). Drawing on Foucault’s and Bourdieu’s research on the hegemonic nature of the modern educational system, it is also interesting to notice how this and other school punishments did not stem from an educational matrix only but, rather, descended from public systems for the control and repression of social and religious deviance (in this regard, a similar parallel will be established with the masks of shame) – although transferred to a symbolic level and adapted to the “condemned”, to their age and their physical and mental ability to endure punishment.
Abstract of the paper presented at the XIX Coloquio de Historia de la Educación «Imágenes, discur... more Abstract of the paper presented at the XIX Coloquio de Historia de la Educación «Imágenes, discursos y textos en Historia de la Educación. Retos metodológicos actuales» (El Escorial / Madrid, 19-22 September 2017), organized by the Complutense University of Madrid (UCM), the University of Alcalá (UAH) and the National Distance Education University (UNED). The abstract has been published in: A. Badanelli, C. Colmenar, G. Ossenbach, M. del Pozo Andrés, T. Rabazas, S. Ramos (eds.), Libro de Resúmenes del XIX Coloquio de Historia de la Educación: Imágenes, discursos y textos en Historia de la Educación. Retos metodológicos actuales (El Escorial / Madrid, 19 al 22 de septiembre de 2017), Fundación General de la Universidad de Alcalá, Alcalá 2017, pp. 424-427
Published in: “Rivista di Storia dell’Educazione”, n. 2, 2017, pp. 87-101, 2017
IT: Il presente articolo si propone di descrivere i processi di scolarizzazione di massa in atto ... more IT: Il presente articolo si propone di descrivere i processi di scolarizzazione di massa in atto nella società ita-liana tra la seconda metà del XIX secolo e la prima metà del XX secolo, riferibili al solo grado primario e con velocità mutevoli in base ai contesti territoriali di riferimento, analizzando l'evoluzione dei modelli pedagogici, delle pratiche didattiche e dei bisogni materiali da essi determinati, con la proliferazione dei sussidi didattici e degli oggetti concernenti il corredo dello scolaro e l'avvio della loro produzione su scala industriale.
EN: The purpose of this article is to describe the process of mass schooling in Italy between the second half of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century, referring only to the primary schools and with changing speeds according to local contexts, by analysing the evolution of pedagogical models, educational practices and the material needs determined by them, with the proliferation of teaching aids and items that went to make up a student's equipment and the start of their manufacture on an industrial scale.
Il presente volume mira a ricostruire la storia dell’ambizioso progetto editoriale dei «Monumenta... more Il presente volume mira a ricostruire la storia dell’ambizioso progetto editoriale dei «Monumenta Italiae Paedagogica» cui tra il 1886 e il 1956 si dedicarono – seppur con approcci estremamente differenti –pedagogisti del calibro di Luigi Credaro, Giuseppe Lombardo Radice e Giovanni Calò, intenzionati a definire il "canone pedagogico nazionale", ossia il complesso delle opere educative alle quali la comunità pedagogica italiana riconosceva un valore esemplare, ritenendole pertanto degne di essere trasmesse e conosciute. La definizione di questo canone, infatti, alla quale tra la fine dell’800 e la prima metà del ’900 si sarebbero dedicati anche altri intellettuali, era finalizzata a consolidare nel corpo magistrale la coscienza di una tradizione educativa squisitamente italiana e a contribuire – attraverso di essa – a quegli stessi processi di "nation building" che i futuri maestri avevano il compito di attuare all’interno della scuola italiana, trasmettendo alle nuove generazioni i valori fondanti della ritrovata coscienza nazionale. L’autore – sulla scorta di una ricca e variegata documentazione, in larga parte inedita – approfondisce i molteplici aspetti di questa complessa operazione culturale, che fu effettivamente avviata tra il 1940 e il 1950 da Giovanni Calò prima presso la Reale Accademia d’Italia e poi presso l’Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, pur non arrivando mai a vedere la luce.
IT: La riflessione storica degli ultimi trent’anni è stata dominata da un’interpretazione squisit... more IT: La riflessione storica degli ultimi trent’anni è stata dominata da un’interpretazione squisitamente politica dei processi di scolarizzazione di massa promossi in età contemporanea nelle società occidentali attraverso la creazione dei moderni sistemi scolastici nazionali, la quale ha evidenziato il ruolo della scuola come strumento di generazione delle identità nazionali. La subalternità alla prospettiva storiografica della 'Nation building' ha causato la marginalizzazione di paradigmi interpretativi alternativi, come quello relativo alla dimensione economica della scolarizzazione di massa, recuperato nel presente studio. Se infatti il ceto dirigente liberale perseguì la scolarizzazione di massa al fine di generare sentimenti identitari e consolidare il consenso politico alle proprie istituzioni, per raggiungere tale scopo non poté fare a meno di coinvolgere le imprese private, le quali erano in grado – tramite i loro impianti produttivi – di produrre su vasta scala i materiali necessari per porre le basi della «scuola di massa». Utilizzando gli annuari industriali, i bollettini delle organizzazioni di categoria, le inserzioni pubblicitarie pubblicate sulle riviste magistrali, i premi concessi nell’ambito delle esposizioni nazionali e universali, i brevetti e altre fonti inconsuete per questo ambito di studi, il volume mostra come i «mezzi di educazione di massa» serializzati e prodotti su scala industriale da quelle stesse imprese finirono con l’indurre una generalizzata omologazione dei metodi di insegnamento e dei processi di apprendimento e con lo standardizzare gli stessi contenuti educativi, dando forma a un modello scolastico capitalistico che stenta ancora a entrare definitivamente in crisi.
EN: The historiographical debate of the past thirty years has been dominated by an essentially political interpretation of the processes of mass schooling adopted in Western societies in the contemporary era through the creation of modern national education systems, and this has tended to highlight the role of the school as a tool for forging national identity. This subordination to the historical perspective of nation-building has led to the sidelining of alternative paradigms for interpretation such as the economic aspect of mass schooling – the aspect that this book sets out to explore. While the liberal ruling classes pursued the policy of mass schooling for the express purpose of forging patriotic sentiment and consolidating political consensus around their institutions, in order to achieve that purpose they had no option but to involve private businesses with their industrial ability to manufacture, on a vast scale, the materials required to lay the groundwork for “mass education”. Using industrial yearbooks, professional bulletins, advertisements published in education journals, prizes awarded in the context of national and world fairs, patents and other sources not usually used in this field of study, the book shows how serially produced “tools of mass education” manufactured on an industrial scale by those same industries ended up fostering the broad standardisation of teaching methods, of learning processes and of educational content, spawning a capitalistic educational model which has yet go into decline.
This book reveals how school memories offer not only a tool for accessing the school of the past,... more This book reveals how school memories offer not only a tool for accessing the school of the past, but also a key to understanding what people today know (or think they know) about the school of the past. It describes, in fact, how historians’ work does not purely and simply consist in exploring school as it really was, but also in the complex process of defining the memory of school as one developed and revisited over time at both the individual and collective level. Further, it investigates the extent to which what people “know” reflects the reality or is in fact a product of stereotypes that are deeply rooted in common perceptions and thus exceedingly difficult to do away with. The book includes fifteen peer-reviewed contributions that were presented and discussed during the International Symposium “School Memories. New Trends in Historical Research into Education: Heuristic Perspectives and Methodological Issues” (Seville, 22-23 September, 2015).
Este volumen - editado por Juri Meda y Ana Badanelli (UNED) - recoge las actas del I Workshop Ita... more Este volumen - editado por Juri Meda y Ana Badanelli (UNED) - recoge las actas del I Workshop Italo-Español de Historia de la Cultura Escolar, celebrado en Berlanga de Duero en la sede del Centro Internacional de la Cultura Escolar (CEINCE) entre el 14 y el 16 de noviembre de 2011. La primera edición del Workshop se dedicó a hacer una balance de la investigación histórico-educativa italiana y española desde el inicio del siglo XXI hasta hoy y a definir las qué podrían ser las perspectivas de futuro para el desarollo de esta historia de la cultura escolar en campos como la historia de los manuales escolares, las publicaciónes escolares, la historia de las escrituras escolares, la cultura material de la escuela y la preservación del patrimonio histórico-educativo.
"This edited volume stems from the necessity of reconstructing the history of the children’s soci... more "This edited volume stems from the necessity of reconstructing the history of the children’s socialist and communist periodical press of the late 19th and the early 20th century in Italy; in fact, this topic has thus far been investigated with some continuity only by a few scholars, and their analysis has been limited to the children’s communist periodicals published after World War II, completely ignoring the many previous socialist magazines. The present work attempts to fill this gap, providing an exhaustive description of that period, from the first gift-books of the late 19th century (Figli del Popolo and Strenna Minima Socialista), the one-off publications of the early 20th century (I Maggio dei Fanciulli and Alba di Maggio) and the illustrated magazines of the pre-fascist (Il Germoglio, Cuore and Il Fanciullo Proletario), to the better-known comic magazine edited by the Italian Pioneers Association (Il Pioniere), hugely popular among its readers, who still remember it with nostalgia.
This volume draws on the rich and largely unique archival heritage
preserved in the institutes and documentation centers specialized in the history and memory of the Italian workers’ movement. It is also an important contribution to the wider international debate on the emergence of “politicized childhood” during the 20th century, which is becoming more and more intense."
These two volumes contain the official proceedings of the international symposium «School Exercis... more These two volumes contain the official proceedings of the international symposium «School Exercise Books: a Complex Source for a History of the Approach to Schooling and Education in the 19th and 20th Centuries» (Macerata, September 26-29, 2007).
The school exercise book in the contemporary age can be seen both an essential teaching aid and as a formidable tool for communication, thus as a unique source for exploring school culture and the approach to education in a given historical context. From cover to content, and including the codification process in its capacity as a material object, the school exercise book can tell us a great deal about the history of schools and education, about teaching methods and language, and about the educational projects and policies that the various nation states sought to implement in the 19th and 20th centuries. Within that framework, the history of education and literacy goes hand in hand with the history of educational ideas and of concrete educational practice, offering hitherto unexplored scenarios for research. These proceedings – which include papers submitted by scholars from all over the world (Europe, America and the Far East) – offer a broad panorama of the potential (and the limits) of such a complex source with its wealth of implications. They represent a corpus of study and enquiry based on a truly exhaustive and complete range of methods and tools of investigation. The exercise book seen as a vessel for writing, as a testimonial of educational practice as implemented by teachers, and as an essential part of the political and cultural socialisation pursued in schools, helps us to focus the historical and educational dynamic on the relationships that impart concrete substance to the rapport between educational theory, teachers, institutes of education and education policy on the one hand, and the real-life players – the men, women and children – who experienced those relationships in the first person.
Published in: Inclusione e promozione sociale nel sistema formativo italiano dall’Unità ad oggi, edited by Anna Ascenzi & Roberto Sani, FrancoAngeli, Milano 2020, pp. 87-101, 2020
Nel secondo dopoguerra il sistema scolastico della neonata repubblica italiana sorta dalle ceneri... more Nel secondo dopoguerra il sistema scolastico della neonata repubblica italiana sorta dalle ceneri del fascismo era ancora rigidamente elitario e classista, caratterizzato da percorsi paralleli e distinti, espressione di modelli educativi fortemente eterogenei per impostazione, durata e contenuti: da un lato, quello rivolto alle élites borghesi – articolato sui tre ordini dal primario al secondario di secondo grado e terminante nella formazione universitaria – volto a garantire alla futura classe dirigente del Paese un solido bagaglio culturale; dall’altro, quello riservato alle classi popolari – consistente praticamente nel solo ordine primario – di durata assai più circoscritta e limitantesi a fornire i primi rudimenti della scrittura, della lettura e del calcolo. La nuova Costituzione repubblicana emanata nel 1948 aveva stabilito all’articolo 34 di estendere l’obbligo scolastico fino al quattordicesimo anno di età, ma tale principio non sarebbe stato effettivamente attuato che nel 1962 con l’istituzione di una scuola media di completamento dell’obbligo per il triennio compreso tra gli undici e i quattordici anni di età . Su questa scuola – caratterizzata da una rigida selettività e dalla persistenza di una pedagogia conservatrice – continuavano ancora a gravare tassi di abbandono e di evasione scolastica elevatissimi, soprattutto a carico dei giovani appartenenti alle classi popolari . Fu in questo contesto, tuttavia, che furono tentati due esperimenti educativi puntanti a fare della scuola un luogo di inclusione oltre che uno spazio di crescita civile e democratica: furono quelli promossi da don Lorenzo Milani, prima a San Donato a Calenzano e poi nella canonica di Barbiana in Mugello, e dal maestro Mario Lodi, prima nella piccola scuola elementare di San Giovanni in Croce e poi in quella del Vho di Piadena in Pianura Padana negli anni Cinquanta e Sessanta. Il presente contributo cerca di offrirne una sintesi in grado di mettere in luce una tappa senz’altro fondamentale dell’evoluzione del sistema educativo nazionale in relazione ai due fattori dell’inclusione e della promozione sociale.
Published in: «Histoire de l’éducation», n. 150, 2018, pp. 125-150, 2018
FR : L’histoire de l’éducation italienne – à partir des années quatre-vingts dix – a progressivem... more FR : L’histoire de l’éducation italienne – à partir des années quatre-vingts dix – a progressivement dépassé l’histoire des théories pédagogiques et des institutions éducatives pour se dédier à l’étude de l’évolution des techniques d’enseignement et des processus d’apprentissage, des pratiques éducatives et, plus en général, de la culture scolaire. Ces études se sont concentré surtout sur les enseignants, en particulier des écoles primaires, plutôt que sur les élèves, sur leur subjectivité, sur leur expérience et sur les espaces d’autonomie qui leur étaient reconnus dans le cadre du projet pédagogique établi par les adultes. Les études sur ces protagonistes des processus d’apprentissage se ont concentré, jusqu’à présent, sur des sujets et des cas spécifiques (comme l’histoire de la vie matérielle dans les établissements scolaires, l’histoire de la discipline scolaire et l’étude des produits graphiques enfantins, c’est-à-dire les écritures et les dessins) souvent d’une perspective quantitative ou micro-historique, alors qu’il manque toujours une histoire des élèves capable de renverser la perspective à partir de laquelle ces processus ont été étudiés, allant des écoles maternelles aux lycées.
EN : The history of education in Italy – since the Nineties – has progressively passed the history of pedagogical theories and educational institutions to devote itself to the study of the evolution of teaching methods and learning processes, of educational practices and more generally of school culture. These studies, however, have focused more on teachers, especially those of primary schools, than on students, on their subjectivity, their experience and the possible autonomous spaces allowed to them in the context of the pedagogical project developed by adults. Studies on these protagonists of learning processes have hitherto focused on specific topics and cases (such as the history of material life in educational institutions, of the school discipline and the study of children’s graphic products, such as writings and drawings) often from a quantitative or micro-historical perspective, while still is missing a history of students able to overturn the perspective from which the learning processes were studied, ranging from kindergarten to high schools.
Madrid, ciudad educadora. Memoria de la Escuela Pública (1898/1938). Ensayos en torno a una exposición, editado por María del Mar del Pozo Andrés, Ayuntamiento de Madrid. Oficina de Derechos Humanos y Memoria, Madrid 2019, pp. 59-72, 2019
IT: En los últimos años las “escuelas históricas” han comenzado a aparecer en el debate público y... more IT: En los últimos años las “escuelas históricas” han comenzado a aparecer en el debate público y en la literatura científica de una manera cada vez más evidente. Pero ¿qué significa exactamente este término? ¿Cuándo se puede considerar que una escuela es “histórica” en todos los aspectos y qué requisitos particulares debe cumplir para hacerse con dicho título? Es posible decir, sin lugar a dudas, que hoy en día no existe una definición común, especialmente si revisamos las realidades nacionales que en los últimos años se han destacado en la valoración de esta particular categoría de escuelas.
EN: In recent years, “historic schools” have been cropping up in public debate and in scientific literature ever more regularly. But what exactly does this term mean? Just when should a school be considered “historic” in all of its aspects, and what particular requisites must it fulfil in order to receive this name? We can affirm beyond all doubt that today no common definition exists, especially if we take into account the different national scenarios in which this category of school has become more prominent.
La pratica educativa: storia, memoria e patrimonio. Atti del 1° Congresso nazionale della Società Italiana per lo studio del Patrimonio Storico-Educativo (Palma de Mallorca, 20-23 novembre 2018), a cura di Anna Ascenzi, Carmela Covato e Juri Meda, EUM, Macerata 2020, pp. 301-322, 2020
IT: Il presente contributo – partendo dalle categorie di «lieux de mémoire» e «place memory» elab... more IT: Il presente contributo – partendo dalle categorie di «lieux de mémoire» e «place memory» elaborati rispettivamente da Pierre Nora e Paul Connerton – intende determinare in cosa consistano i «luoghi della memoria scolastica» e quali siano le dinamiche che li governano. Sono state individuate cinque varietà di «luoghi della memoria scolastica», ovvero, nell’ordine: i musei della scuola; le scuole-museo e aule-museo; le scuole storiche; le «scuole dimenticate», ovvero le scuole cadute in rovina; quelli che abbiamo preliminarmente definito i «sancta sanctorum della scuola», ovvero quei luoghi (in genere per l’appunto scuole) che hanno costituito gli incubatori spaziali di esperienze educative tanto innovative da potersi considerare uniche ed essere annoverate come tali negli annali della pubblica istruzione nazionale. Il contributo presenta le principali caratteristiche di queste diverse tipologie, evidenziandone linearità e asimmetrie, e traccia un quadro interpretativo che – seppur con alcuni distinguo – documenta la dimensione eminentemente localistica della memoria scolastica.
EN: This paper, starting from the categories of lieux de mémoire and place memory developed respectively by Pierre Nora and Paul Connerton, is aimed at determining what constitute «sites of school memory» and the dynamics that govern them. Five kinds of «sites of school memory» have been identified, namely, in order: school museums; schoolhouse museums and schoolroom museums; historic schools; «forgotten schools», i.e. schools which have fallen into ruin; those that we have previously defined as «sacred places of education», namely those places (usually schools) that constitute the spatial incubators of innovative educational experiences so as to be considered unique and be counted as such in the annals of the national education system. This paper presents the main characteristics of these different types, highlighting linearities and asymmetries, and tracks an interpretive framework that documents the highly localistic character of school memory, albeit with some distinctions.
A&B la parola ai bambini. Storia e attualità di un giornale-progetto educativo ideato da Mario Lodi, a cura di Marianna Bufano, Tullia Colombo, Cosetta Lodi, Aldo Pallotti ed Enrico Platè, Casa delle Arti e del Gioco – Mario Lodi, Drizzona 2019, pp. 28-33, 2019
Contributo al volume «A&B. La parola ai bambini», edito dalla Casa delle Arti e del Gioco - Mario... more Contributo al volume «A&B. La parola ai bambini», edito dalla Casa delle Arti e del Gioco - Mario Lodi, sul «giornale dei bambini per i bambini» creato nel 1983 da Mario Lodi in collaborazione con altri insegnanti come inserto mensile del periodico cremonese «Mondo Padano», e proseguito fino al 1988. «A&B» era espressione dell'impegno costante di Lodi per uno sviluppo pieno e completo della personalità umana e dell’individuo già a partire dall’infanzia attraverso la stimolazione della spontaneità e dell’autenticità dei bambini, in quanto un bambino che si sa esprimere, che riesce a comunicare quello che ha dentro di sé, che cresce correttamente anche da un punto di vista psicologico ed emotivo non potrà che essere protagonista attivo della società in cui vive.
They Did Not Stop at Eboli: UNESCO and the Campaign against Illiteracy in a Reportage by David “Chim” Seymour and Texts by Carlo Levi (1950), edited by Giovanna Hendel, Carole Naggar & Karin Priem, UNESCO/De Gruyter Oldenbourg, Paris-Berlin, 2019, pp. 198-220, 2019
The dissemination of a particular public image of rural schools – always the poorest and most dis... more The dissemination of a particular public image of rural schools – always the poorest and most disadvantaged schools – has frequently been used by the ruling classes or political parties to document the state of modernity or backwardness of the national school system, depending on their propaganda needs. Taking as its starting point the photo-reportages undertaken by Italian photojournalists and published in Italian magazines of different political orientations in the 1940s and 1950s, this essay provides an in-depth analysis of how the public image of these particular schools was manipulated, and used for propaganda purposes, through the circulation of photographs in newspapers and magazines.
«History of Education & Children’s Literature», 2019
The purpose of this contribution is to examine «school memory» in depth as a specific object of r... more The purpose of this contribution is to examine «school memory» in depth as a specific object of research and a new line of investigation for historians of education. The starting point is the new historical-cultural approach and the related key-concepts of cultural memory, collective memory and public memory, which have provided historians of education with new methodological tools to explore the school past, places and heritage. A more specific focus then follows on the methods by which the memory of schools and education has been developed and transmitted by the institutions through official commemorations and public celebrations, and on the basis of a precise «politics of memory» and «public use of memory» designed to build consensus and to strengthen feelings of belonging to a particular community. The authors also analyse the social-cultural dynamics underlying both the commemoration of innovative educationalists and educators, and the celebration of those places where the memory of schools and education has become part of community memory and identity. This paper constitutes the presentation of the special issue «Memories and Public Celebrations of Education in Contemporary Times» (HECL, n. 1, 2019), edited by Juri Meda, Marta Brunelli and Luigiaurelio Pomante.
«History of Education & Children’s Literature», 2019
This paper, starting from the categories of lieux de mémoire and place
memory developed respectiv... more This paper, starting from the categories of lieux de mémoire and place memory developed respectively by Pierre Nora and Paul Connerton, is aimed at determining what constitute «sites of school memory» and the dynamics that govern them. Five kinds of «sites of school memory» have been identified, namely, in order: school museums; schoolhouse museums and schoolroom museums; historic schools; «forgotten schools», i.e. schools which have fallen into ruin; those that we have previously defined as «sacred places of education», namely those places (usually schools) that constitute the spatial incubators of innovative educational experiences so as to be considered unique and be counted as such in the annals of the national education system. This paper presents the main characteristics of these different types, highlighting linearities and asymmetries, and tracks an interpretive framework that documents the highly localistic character of school memory, albeit with some distinctions. This paper has been published in the special issue «Memories and Public Celebrations of Education in Contemporary Times» (HECL, n. 1, 2019) edited by Juri Meda, Luigiaurelio Pomante, Marta Brunelli.
EN: The dissemination of a particular public image of rural schools —ever since the poorest and m... more EN: The dissemination of a particular public image of rural schools —ever since the poorest and most disadvantaged schools— has frequently been used by the ruling classes and / or political parties to document the rate of modernity and/or backwardness of the national school system, depending on the respective propaganda needs. Moving from the first photographic surveys conducted in Southern Italy in 1920s by the associations engaged in the socio-economic integration of the South into the Unitary State to get to the photo reportages published in some magazines in the 1950s, the article analyses in depth the manipulation of the public image of these particular schools as it emerges by the circulation of such photographs on daily newspapers and magazines, which reveals its propagandistic use over time.
ES: La difusión de una determinada imagen pública de las escuelas rurales —desde siempre las escuelas más pobres y desfavorecidas— ha sido utilizada frecuentemente por las clases dirigentes y/o los partidos políticos de la oposición para documentar la tasa de modernización y/o de atraso del sistema educativo nacional, de acuerdo con las respectivas necesidades propagandísticas. El artículo —moviéndose entre las primeras encuestas fotográficas realizadas en las regiones del Sur de Italia por asociaciones meridionalistas en los años 20 y los reportajes fotoperiodísticos publicados en algunas revistas en los años 50, pasando por la cesura fascista— pretende estudiar las alteraciones de la imagen pública de este tipo particular de escuelas comprobables en Italia en el período de tiempo indicado a través del análisis de fotografías escolares publicadas en periódicos diarios y revistas, centrándose en el uso propagandístico que de las mismas se hizo a lo largo de treinta años.
IT: La diffusione d’una determinata immagine pubblica delle scuole rurali – da sempre le scuole più povere e disagiate – è stata frequentemente utilizzata dai ceti dirigenti e/o dai partiti politici per documentare il tasso di modernità e/o di arretratezza del sistema scolastico nazionale, a seconda delle esigenze propagandistiche espresse dagli uni piuttosto che dagli altri. L’articolo – muovendosi tra le prime inchieste fotografiche condotte nelle regioni del Mezzogiorno italiano dalle associazioni meridionaliste negli anni ’20 e i reportage foto-giornalistici pubblicati su alcune riviste negli anni ’50, passando attraverso la lunga cesura fascista – si propone di studiare le alterazioni dell’immagine pubblica di questo particolare tipo di scuola registrabili in Italia nel lasso di tempo indicato attraverso l’analisi delle fotografie pubblicate su quotidiani e riviste, evidenziando l’uso propagandistico che di essa è stato fatto nel corso del tempo.
History of Education & Children’s Literature, 2018
The article aims to develop a cultural history of the ancient punishment of the cappello d’asino ... more The article aims to develop a cultural history of the ancient punishment of the cappello d’asino (literaly «ass cap») in Italian schools (but historically used in European schools from the 16th to the 20th Century), which will be analysed from an iconogenetic viewpoint in an attempt to highlight its symbolic roots. This, because an exploration of the practice reveals a fairly complex iconogenesis. On the one hand, the dunce’s cap stems from the late medieval custom of stigmatising the madness of fools and jesters with a hat characterised by animal attributes such as donkeys’ or other animals’ ears. On the other hand, the practice reveals strong links with the ancient practice of marking heretics and infidels with a pointed hat, from the pileus cornutus used to distinguish Jews, to the capirote imposed on people sentenced for religious motives by the Spanish Inquisition. The obligation to publicly wear such headgear was designed to impart public visibility to the wearers’ intellectual or spiritual deviance and to expose them to public contempt in order to oust them from the community of the faithful. In the following centuries, on the contrary, the symbolic significance of the pointed hat became so deeply rooted in people’s culture that it pervaded the school environment too. Thus the obligation for dumb pupils to wear the school version of this headgear (ass cap) began to mark their ousting from the micro-community of the classroom and to stigmatise their refusal (or inability) to learn: a refusal that was considered akin to down-right apostasy, equating the renunciation of reason (by fools) with the abandonment of faith (by heretics). Drawing on Foucault’s and Bourdieu’s research on the hegemonic nature of the modern educational system, it is also interesting to notice how this and other school punishments did not stem from an educational matrix only but, rather, descended from public systems for the control and repression of social and religious deviance (in this regard, a similar parallel will be established with the masks of shame) – although transferred to a symbolic level and adapted to the “condemned”, to their age and their physical and mental ability to endure punishment.
Abstract of the paper presented at the XIX Coloquio de Historia de la Educación «Imágenes, discur... more Abstract of the paper presented at the XIX Coloquio de Historia de la Educación «Imágenes, discursos y textos en Historia de la Educación. Retos metodológicos actuales» (El Escorial / Madrid, 19-22 September 2017), organized by the Complutense University of Madrid (UCM), the University of Alcalá (UAH) and the National Distance Education University (UNED). The abstract has been published in: A. Badanelli, C. Colmenar, G. Ossenbach, M. del Pozo Andrés, T. Rabazas, S. Ramos (eds.), Libro de Resúmenes del XIX Coloquio de Historia de la Educación: Imágenes, discursos y textos en Historia de la Educación. Retos metodológicos actuales (El Escorial / Madrid, 19 al 22 de septiembre de 2017), Fundación General de la Universidad de Alcalá, Alcalá 2017, pp. 424-427
Published in: “Rivista di Storia dell’Educazione”, n. 2, 2017, pp. 87-101, 2017
IT: Il presente articolo si propone di descrivere i processi di scolarizzazione di massa in atto ... more IT: Il presente articolo si propone di descrivere i processi di scolarizzazione di massa in atto nella società ita-liana tra la seconda metà del XIX secolo e la prima metà del XX secolo, riferibili al solo grado primario e con velocità mutevoli in base ai contesti territoriali di riferimento, analizzando l'evoluzione dei modelli pedagogici, delle pratiche didattiche e dei bisogni materiali da essi determinati, con la proliferazione dei sussidi didattici e degli oggetti concernenti il corredo dello scolaro e l'avvio della loro produzione su scala industriale.
EN: The purpose of this article is to describe the process of mass schooling in Italy between the second half of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century, referring only to the primary schools and with changing speeds according to local contexts, by analysing the evolution of pedagogical models, educational practices and the material needs determined by them, with the proliferation of teaching aids and items that went to make up a student's equipment and the start of their manufacture on an industrial scale.
Published in: “History of Education Review”, vol. 46, no. 2, 2017, pp. 178-193, 2017
The purpose of this paper is to explore the evolution and use of the school desk in unified Italy... more The purpose of this paper is to explore the evolution and use of the school desk in unified Italy as a multifunctional and highly efficient tool, which was required not only to efficiently support in-class activities, to facilitate the classroom management and finally to maintain a correct body posture in order to preserve pupils’ health, but also to accomplish the additional task of working as real “gymnastic equipment”, i.e. suitable for performing various gymnastic exercises inside the classroom. The assumption upon which this paper rests is that school desks have always been signifiers charged with multiple meanings related to the evolution of curriculum, pedagogic ideas and daily school practices, which have often been forgotten, abandoned or, for some reasons, underrepresented in the official history of education as well as in the collective memory of school. In order to rebuild this forgotten history, and retrace the possible theoretical-pedagogical basis underlying such practice, the authors have systematically reviewed the Italian manuals on gymnastics between desks from the 1870s to the 1970s, retraced sources documenting this practice in the daily school life (government rules, school programmes, school hygiene prescriptions, iconographic sources, teachers and school managers’ testimonies) and finally, compared with other foreign practices (such as “calisthenics”). The convergence between many differentiated sources has demonstrated the longevity of this school practice, which was not only the fruit of educational theories of gymnastic teachers but was also determined by the backwardness and logistic inadequacies of many Italian schools. The paper reveals how this gymnastic practice, after establishing itself in the post-Unification Italian schools, continued almost uninterrupted until the Second World War and even until the 1970s, evidencing how gymnastic teachers, hygienists, educationalists and lawmakers continued, over almost a century, to scientifically legitimise ( from the top downwards) an educational practice that was actually driven from the bottom upwards, i.e. determined by an endemic lack of adequate spaces and tools for physical education in Italian schools.
Published in: Educar en temps de guerra, Diputació de València – Institució Alfons el Magnànim, València 2016, pp. 293-304, Nov 9, 2016
IT: Il contributo si propone di indagare l’uso da parte del regime fascista della propaganda del ... more IT: Il contributo si propone di indagare l’uso da parte del regime fascista della propaganda del risparmio come fattore di nazionalizzazione dell’infanzia nella scuola elementare. La strumentalizzazione ideologica della propaganda del risparmio inizio durante la Guerra d’Etiopia, quando il regime avvertì per la prima volta la necessità di organizzare massicciamente il fronte interno, giungendo al proprio apice con la Seconda guerra mondiale. Gli istituti di credito, infatti, sotto la pressione dell’apparato propagandistico del regime, iniziarono a produrre manifesti, opuscoli, quaderni scolastici e periodici per l’infanzia, incentrati sulla partecipazione delle giovani generazioni allo sforzo bellico nazionale per mezzo del risparmio, giungendo a distribuire il cosiddetto “salvadanaio di guerra”. La “battaglia del risparmio”, come fu ribattezzata, fu tuttavia una battaglia incruenta: il tributo che la nazione chiedeva ai propri bambini in tempo di guerra non era un tributo di sangue (per quanto rientrante tra i doveri previsti dal giuramento ufficiale dei membri dell’Opera nazionale balilla), quanto di fede e di obbedienza.
ES: La contribución presentará los resultados de una investigación en curso sobre el uso por el régimen fascista de la propaganda del ahorro como factor de nacionalización de la infancia en la escuela primaria. La declinación ideológica de la propaganda del ahorro empezó durante la Segunda Guerra Ítalo-Etíope, cuando el régimen sintió por la primera vez la necesidad de organizar de forma masiva el frente interno, pero llegó al pico con la Segunda Guerra Mundial. Los institutos de crédito, de hecho, bajo la presión del aparato propagandístico del régimen, empezaron a producir carteles, folletos, cuadernos escolares y periodicos para niños, centrados en la participación de las jóvenes generaciones al esfuerzo bélico nacional a través del ahorro, incluso a distribuir el “salvadanaio di guerra” (caja de dinero). La “batalla del ahorro” fue, sin embargo, una batalla incruenta: el tributo que la nación iba pidiendo a sus niños en tiempos de guerra no era un tributo de sangre (no obstante eso se contaba entre los deberes incluidos en el juramento oficial de los miembros de la organización juvenil fascista), sino un homenaje de fe y obediencia.
EN: The contribution will present the results of an ongoing investigation into Fascist propaganda’s use of money-saving as a ploy for the nationalisation of children in primary school. The ideological exploitation of money-saving propaganda began during the Second Italo-Ethiopian War, when the Fascist Regime felt the need for the first time to organise the domestic front on a massive scale, but it reached a peak with World War II. Under pressure from the Fascist propaganda apparatus, the banks began to produce posters, flyers, school notebooks and newspapers for children focusing on the younger generations’ participation in the nation’s war effort through money-saving, and to hand out “war money boxes”. The “battle of savings” was, however, a bloodless battle: the tribute that the nation was asking of its children in wartime was not a blood tribute (although it was listed as one of the duties required of Fascist youth organization members), but a tribute of faith and obedience.
Published in: Cristina Yanes-Cabrera, Juri Meda & Antonio Viñao (edited by), School Memories. New Trends in the History of Education, Cham (Switzerland): Springer, 2017, pp. 1-9., Sep 16, 2016
Educational historians developed an interest in “school memory” as a historical object in the ear... more Educational historians developed an interest in “school memory” as a historical object in the early years of the 21st century thanks to a deep renewal of the epistemological fundaments and heuristic objectives in this field of study, accompanied by the growing attention afforded by generalist historians to the politics of memory and the public use of history. But what exactly do we mean by “school memory”? This paper aims to provide an initial and of necessity fairly broad overview of individual, collective and/or public practices involved in the commemoration of the school past. The spread of the heuristic spectrum of the “school memory”, seen as a historical process rather than merely as a historical source, has changed our perspective significantly because it is no longer just a testimony of the school past, it is a new object of study for the historian, who sees it not simply “from within” (i.e. what school was like, or at least how it portrayed itself), but also “from without” (i.e. how it was perceived by the elite and the people). Thus “school memory” can be used to explore a potential new focus for historical research in education, namely the social perception of education, schooling and teaching. In fact, studying the ways in which these phenomena are recalled and portrayed will not only reveal to us the effective social and cultural dimension of them, it will also help us to define the reasons behind some of the clichés that still beset the school archetype.
Published in: Nicola Spagnolli, Claudio Gallo e Giuseppe Bonomi (eds.), Il fumetto: fonte e interprete della storia, Accademia roveretana degli Agiati – Betelgeuse Editore, Verona 2016, pp. 53-62, Jun 1, 2016
Nel presente contributo si cerca di dimostrare come a partire dagli anni ’70 nella storiografia i... more Nel presente contributo si cerca di dimostrare come a partire dagli anni ’70 nella storiografia italiana si sia erroneamente teso a sovrapporre la "storia del fumetto" a quella della "stampa periodica per l’infanzia e la gioventù". La stampa a fumetti italiana, infatti, storicamente, ha costituito un settore della più ampia produzione pubblicistica rivolta all’infanzia e all’adolescenza e – a partire dagli anni ’60 – si è progressivamente evoluta verso il formato editoriale dell’albo illustrato, rivolgendosi ad un pubblico più adulto, che costituisce oggi percentualmente il principale destinatario della produzione fumettistica nazionale. La storia della stampa periodica per l’infanzia e la gioventù, tuttavia, non può essere fatta coincidere con quella della stampa a fumetti, sia perché ha inizio mezzo secolo prima sia perché segue un preciso sviluppo in termini formali e materiali, nel quale la comparsa del fumetto costituisce una tappa imprescindibile, pur essendo preceduta da non meno imprescindibili forme testuali e illustrative. Nonostante ciò, la comunità scientifica italiana ha confuso e in alcuni casi continua a confondere “la parte con il tutto”, sdegnando la storia della stampa periodica per l’infanzia e la gioventù per un ancora radicato pregiudizio nei confronti del fumetto, a lungo considerato un sottoprodotto culturale della società di massa. Queste dinamiche hanno contribuito nel corso degli anni a determinare una grave lacuna storiografica, alla quale solo gli storici del fumetto (in buona parte storici non professionisti) hanno cercato di porre rimedio, mostrando la fecondità d’un ambito di studi ancora incolto, pur rivelando alcune criticità a livello interpretativo e metodologico e concentrandosi sugli autori, i personaggi e le serie fumettistiche più che sui periodici su cui erano pubblicate e sulle loro caratteristiche. Alla luce anche della riflessione promossa in Italia nell’ultimo decennio sulla storia della stampa periodica per l’infanzia e la gioventù, riteniamo sia giunto il momento di dimostrare l’inconsistenza dell’equivoco di fondo che ha generato questo fenomeno storiografico e avviare così una nuova stagione di studi, che la straordinaria ricchezza e varietà della produzione pubblicistica per l’infanzia edita in Italia tra la fine Ottocento e la seconda metà del Novecento è in grado di alimentare a lungo.
CoDiSV in classe. Proposte metodologiche e didattiche di ricerca applicata, a cura di Gianmario Raimondi e Hélène Champvillair, Aracne, Roma 2015, pp. 25-41, Dec 31, 2015
Il presente studio punta a delineare il profilo euristico d’una categoria storiografica estremame... more Il presente studio punta a delineare il profilo euristico d’una categoria storiografica estremamente complessa, come quella delle scritture scolastiche, abitualmente suddivise dagli storici italiani che le hanno prese in esame nel corso dell’ultimo decennio tra “scritture spontanee” e “scritture disciplinate”. Lo studio pone in evidenza inizialmente l’evoluzione della scrittura scolastica da “scrittura pratica” a “espressiva” nell’ambito del processo di alfabetizzazione di massa in corso in Italia tra la fine del XIX e l’inizio del XX secolo e dimostra come – in tale contesto – emergano le non secondarie qualità euristiche delle scritture disciplinate, la cui retorica, ripetitività e stereotipia devono essere interpretate non come elementi di per se stessi negativi, ma come veri e propri indicatori della diffusione di determinate pratiche didattiche. In tal senso, si dimostra come – diversamente da quanto avvenuto nel recente passato – le scritture scolastiche possano essere utilizzate non solo in quanto testimonianze scritte involontarie dei mutamenti sociali e politici, filtrati attraverso gli occhi dei loro piccoli autori (fonti narrative), ma anche in quanto indizi indiretti delle pratiche didattiche e delle tecniche di insegnamento della scrittura adottate a scuola e degli obiettivi che esse si proponevano concretamente di raggiungere (fonti didattiche).
Published in: “Boletín de Historia de la Educación”, n. 49, diciembre 2015, pp. 35-40 , Dec 31, 2015
Report del Simposio Internacional «La memoria escolar. Nuevas tendencias en la investigación hist... more Report del Simposio Internacional «La memoria escolar. Nuevas tendencias en la investigación histórico-educativa: perspectivas heurísticas y cuestiones» (Sevilla, 22-23 de septiembre de 2015).
Published in: Enlarging One's Vision. Introduzione alla ricerca educativa in ambito internazionale, edited by Simonetta Polenghi and Gianfranco Bandini, EDUCatt, Milano 2015, pp. 67-82 , May 8, 2015
This paper intends to test the rate of use of academic social network, in particular by the commu... more This paper intends to test the rate of use of academic social network, in particular by the community of historians of education in Italy, and consequently its possible impact on citation indices of scholars and researchers working in Italian universities. The aim is to offer some first reflections about how a small scientific community copes with the issue of bibliometric analysis of scientific production and its evaluation, on the one hand. On the other, we tried to understand whether the academic networking could constitute an effective resource for the dissemination of research results also in the humanities and to what extent it could affects positively the citation indices. In order to achieve these results, we availed ourselves of methods proper of quantitative research, and represented the statistical results through pie charts in the effort to make our analysis as clear as possible.
This call for papers is part of the research activities envisaged for the project of significant ... more This call for papers is part of the research activities envisaged for the project of significant national interest entitled School Memories between Social Perception and Collective Representation (Italy, 1861-2001). The intention is to continue the line of research inaugurated by the international symposium on School Memories. New Trends in Historical Research into Education: Heuristic Perspectives and Methodological Issues, which took place in Seville in 2015. The research project focuses on forms of school memory, understood as the individual, collective and public practice of remembering a common school past (Yanes-Cabrera et al., 2017). Individual school memory consists of self-representation supplied by former teachers, members of the school administration, and pupils through oral and written testimonies (e.g., diaries, autobiographies and memoirs in general). Ego-documents have also been widely used as historical sources in the field of historical-educational research (Viñao Frago, 2005) to reconstruct the history of schooling using the lived experiences of its protagonists rather than legislative and institutional sources, in an attempt to open what has been defined as the “black box of schooling” (Julia, 1995). Collective school memory, on the other hand, is composed of the many ways in which the culture industry (literature, cinema, music, etc.) and the world of information represent school time, teachers and pupils, and it is subject to appreciable transformations. These representations of school past become layered from generation to generation, partly superimposing themselves on personal memories, corrupting factual reality and consolidating themselves into stereotyped narrations. They may also alter our awareness of the past, which is thus transformed into a real space in our imagination that cannot be separated from scientifically-based historical reconstructions (Alfieri, 2019). Finally, public school memory consists of how schools and teachers are represented in official contexts and public commemorations promoted by local and national institutions based on a precise policy of memory, or public use of the past aimed at gaining consensus and reinforcing the feeling of belonging to a specific community (Yanes-Cabrera et al., 2017). Unlike individual school memory, collective memory and public memory have barely been touched on in historical-education research as they have not been considered a subject of historiographic importance for some time. In recent years, however, school memory – in its various meanings – has been included in international historiographic thought and has become the subject of studies of notable interest in the field of the history of education both in Latin-American countries and in the Anglo-Saxon world. The study of memory allows us to define how the present looks at the past and interprets or reinterprets it. In this sense, school memory does not interest us merely as a channel to access the schools of the past, but as a key to understanding what we know today or believe we know about schools of the past and how far what we know corresponds to reality, or whether our understanding is merely the result of prejudices and stereotypes that have become ingrained in the common sentiment, and difficult to uproot. The subject of this historical research therefore, does not consist simply of exploring school environments as they once were but consists instead of exploring the complex process of defining the sentiment that has developed over time regarding schools at an individual and collective level, based initially on lived school experiences, followed by other social and cultural agents which have contributed in part to redetermine it. This new research perspective allows us to address an aspect whose historical dimension has up to now escaped the attention of experts in the field: the evolution of the perceived social status of the various professional profiles involved in the processes of schooling and the public status of education within a community, as well as the public image of schools and the national school system. Studying the methods of collective symbolic representation of schools and teaching over time will help to define the origin of certain burdens that continue to weigh on the public image of schools, as well as making us aware of the overall cultural dimension of these historical phenomena. In addition, studies will restore awareness to all actors in public education of themselves and their roles. There is no unique, unequivocal school past. There are many of them, which often coexist and alternate with one another. They may conform more or less to historical reality, but they are nevertheless real and influence the views individuals or communities have of that past. This international conference aims to discover these school pasts.
CALL FOR PAPERS – SPECIAL ISSUE OF «HISTORY OF EDUCATION & CHILDREN’S LITERATURE», n. 1, 2019.
B... more CALL FOR PAPERS – SPECIAL ISSUE OF «HISTORY OF EDUCATION & CHILDREN’S LITERATURE», n. 1, 2019.
By 30th September 2017, each author must submit a draft of an article in English, using the attached submission form. This form must be sent to the email address: roberto.sani@unimc.it. By 30th November 2017, each author will be notified the outcome concerning the preliminary assessment and whether the submitted articles have been accepted or rejected. The subsequent deadline for submitting the final papers, written in English according to the editorial standards of the journal and not longer than 7,000 words (including footnotes, references, tables and captions), is scheduled for 30th September 2018. Both the drafts and the final articles will be subjected to anonymous peer review, according to the journal’s standards; the Editor will appoint a specific peer-review committee consisting of nationally and internationally renowned scholars with proven expertise in the various thematic areas of this call for papers. By 30th November 2018, the editors of the issue will notify the authors of any amendments to be made to their contributions, which must be returned by 31st January 2019.
This is the program of the International Symposium «School Memories. New Trends in Historical Res... more This is the program of the International Symposium «School Memories. New Trends in Historical Research into Education: Heuristic Perspectives and Methodological Issues» (Seville, 22-23 September, 2015), which will be attended by 95 participants from 54 universities and research centres of 21 countries.
The organizing board of the symposium received an amount of 186 proposals from around the worlds, but only 71 have been accepted: 31 proposals for the session «Individual Memory», 32 for the session «Collective Memory» and 8 only for the session «Politics and Places of Memory». Such a high percentage of rejection (62%) was necessary to make the Symposium the most adhere as much as possible to the scientific programme declared in the call for papers, in order not to weaken the epistemological foundations of the reflection that we want to undertake with the help of all the participants.
This first international review has highlighted different methodological approaches to a theme – the memory of the school – on which the historical reflection has been focusing for some years now, especially in the Iberian and Latin American area alike.
This confirmed how even more necessary it was to organize an international meeting able to put a solid scientific basis to the development of a fertile research field.
La necesidad de organizar este simposio internacional fue motivada por la observación de la creci... more La necesidad de organizar este simposio internacional fue motivada por la observación de la creciente atención en la última década otorgada por los historiadores de la educación –en particular en ámbito ibérico y latinoamericano– al tema de la memoria escolar. El extraordinario desarrollo de estos estudios ha contribuido, por una parte a definir nuevas interesantes perspectivas heurísticas y por la otra a generar algunas complejas cuestiones metodológicas, todavía no resueltas completamente. La ampliación natural del espectro historiografíco a disposición de los historiadores de la educación en esa dirección –determinado por la búsqueda de fuentes subjetivas capaces de reconstruir varios aspectos de la vida escolar del pasado y la las prácticas educativas realmente llevadas a cabo en la aula– hoy nos obliga a definir coordenadas teóricas generales y criterios metodológicos compartidos a nivel internacional para una exégesis adecuada de las fuentes, como han hecho con eficacia los historiadores generalistas desde el principio de los años ochenta.
Las preguntas a las que pretendemos responder son básicas. ¿Qué queremos decir exactamente con memoria escolar? ¿Puede esa misma ser objeto de investigación histórica? Podemos decir que la memoria escolar constituye una práctica de evocación y recreación individual, colectiva y/o pública de un pasado escolar común y –como tal– puede ser utilizada para estudiar el pasado, así como para definir la forma en que el presente mira al pasado y lo interpreta o reinterpreta. En este sentido –desde un punto de vista histórico-educativo– la memoria escolar no interesa el historiador de la educación sólo como un medio para acceder al pasado escolar, sino también como llave para entender lo que la sociedad actual sabe, o cree saber de la escuela del pasado y cómo eso corresponde con la realidad o es el resultado de los prejuicios y estereotipos ya arraigados en el sentido común. El objeto de estudio del historiador, por lo tanto, no consiste simplemente en considerar la escuela como lo que realmente era, sino en el complejo proceso de definición del sentimiento que de esa escuela ha sido desarrollado a través del tiempo a nivel individual y colectivo, inicialmente sobre la base de una experiencia escolar real y entonces sobre la base de otros agentes sociales y culturales que han contribuido en parte a determinarlo.
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Books by Juri Meda
EN: The historiographical debate of the past thirty years has been dominated by an essentially political interpretation of the processes of mass schooling adopted in Western societies in the contemporary era through the creation of modern national education systems, and this has tended to highlight the role of the school as a tool for forging national identity. This subordination to the historical perspective of nation-building has led to the sidelining of alternative paradigms for interpretation such as the economic aspect of mass schooling – the aspect that this book sets out to explore. While the liberal ruling classes pursued the policy of mass schooling for the express purpose of forging patriotic sentiment and consolidating political consensus around their institutions, in order to achieve that purpose they had no option but to involve private businesses with their industrial ability to manufacture, on a vast scale, the materials required to lay the groundwork for “mass education”. Using industrial yearbooks, professional bulletins, advertisements published in education journals, prizes awarded in the context of national and world fairs, patents and other sources not usually used in this field of study, the book shows how serially produced “tools of mass education” manufactured on an industrial scale by those same industries ended up fostering the broad standardisation of teaching methods, of learning processes and of educational content, spawning a capitalistic educational model which has yet go into decline.
This volume draws on the rich and largely unique archival heritage
preserved in the institutes and documentation centers specialized in the history and memory of the Italian workers’ movement. It is also an important contribution to the wider international debate on the emergence of “politicized childhood” during the 20th century, which is becoming more and more intense."
The school exercise book in the contemporary age can be seen both an essential teaching aid and as a formidable tool for communication, thus as a unique source for exploring school culture and the approach to education in a given historical context. From cover to content, and including the codification process in its capacity as a material object, the school exercise book can tell us a great deal about the history of schools and education, about teaching methods and language, and about the educational projects and policies that the various nation states sought to implement in the 19th and 20th centuries. Within that framework, the history of education and literacy goes hand in hand with the history of educational ideas and of concrete educational practice, offering hitherto unexplored scenarios for research. These proceedings – which include papers submitted by scholars from all over the world (Europe, America and the Far East) – offer a broad panorama of the potential (and the limits) of such a complex source with its wealth of implications. They represent a corpus of study and enquiry based on a truly exhaustive and complete range of methods and tools of investigation. The exercise book seen as a vessel for writing, as a testimonial of educational practice as implemented by teachers, and as an essential part of the political and cultural socialisation pursued in schools, helps us to focus the historical and educational dynamic on the relationships that impart concrete substance to the rapport between educational theory, teachers, institutes of education and education policy on the one hand, and the real-life players – the men, women and children – who experienced those relationships in the first person.
Papers by Juri Meda
EN : The history of education in Italy – since the Nineties – has progressively passed the history of pedagogical theories and educational institutions to devote itself to the study of the evolution of teaching methods and learning processes, of educational practices and more generally of school culture. These studies, however, have focused more on teachers, especially those of primary schools, than on students, on their subjectivity, their experience and the possible autonomous spaces allowed to them in the context of the pedagogical project developed by adults. Studies on these protagonists of learning processes have hitherto focused on specific topics and cases (such as the history of material life in educational institutions, of the school discipline and the study of children’s graphic products, such as writings and drawings) often from a quantitative or micro-historical perspective, while still is missing a history of students able to overturn the perspective from which the learning processes were studied, ranging from kindergarten to high schools.
EN: In recent years, “historic schools” have been cropping up in public debate and in scientific literature ever more regularly. But what exactly does this term mean? Just when should a school be considered “historic” in all of its aspects, and what particular requisites must it fulfil in order to receive this name? We can affirm beyond all doubt that today no common definition exists, especially if we take into account the different national scenarios in which this category of school has become more prominent.
EN: This paper, starting from the categories of lieux de mémoire and place memory developed respectively by Pierre Nora and Paul Connerton, is aimed at determining what constitute «sites of school memory» and the dynamics that govern them. Five kinds of «sites of school memory» have been identified, namely, in order: school museums; schoolhouse museums and schoolroom museums; historic schools; «forgotten schools», i.e. schools which have fallen into ruin; those that we have previously defined as «sacred places of education», namely those places (usually schools) that constitute the spatial incubators of innovative educational experiences so as to be considered unique and be counted as such in the annals of the national education system. This paper presents the main characteristics of these different types, highlighting linearities and asymmetries, and tracks an interpretive framework that documents the highly localistic character of school memory, albeit with some distinctions.
also analyse the social-cultural dynamics underlying both the commemoration of innovative educationalists and educators, and the celebration of those places where the memory of schools and education has become part of community memory and identity. This paper constitutes the presentation of the special issue «Memories and Public Celebrations of Education in Contemporary Times» (HECL, n. 1, 2019), edited by Juri Meda, Marta Brunelli and Luigiaurelio Pomante.
memory developed respectively by Pierre Nora and Paul Connerton, is aimed at determining what constitute «sites of school memory» and the dynamics that govern them. Five kinds of «sites of school memory» have been identified, namely, in order: school museums; schoolhouse museums and schoolroom museums; historic schools; «forgotten schools», i.e. schools which have fallen into ruin; those that we have previously defined as «sacred places of education», namely those places (usually schools) that constitute the spatial incubators of innovative educational experiences so as to be considered unique and be counted as such in the annals of the national education system. This paper presents the main characteristics of these different types, highlighting linearities and asymmetries, and tracks an interpretive framework that documents the highly localistic character of school memory, albeit with
some distinctions. This paper has been published in the special issue «Memories and Public Celebrations of Education in Contemporary Times» (HECL, n. 1, 2019) edited by Juri Meda, Luigiaurelio Pomante, Marta Brunelli.
ES: La difusión de una determinada imagen pública de las escuelas rurales —desde siempre las escuelas más pobres y desfavorecidas— ha sido utilizada frecuentemente por las clases dirigentes y/o los partidos políticos de la oposición para documentar la tasa de modernización y/o de atraso del sistema educativo nacional, de acuerdo con las respectivas necesidades propagandísticas. El artículo —moviéndose entre las primeras encuestas fotográficas realizadas en las regiones del Sur de Italia por asociaciones meridionalistas en los años 20 y los reportajes fotoperiodísticos publicados en algunas revistas en los años 50, pasando por la cesura fascista— pretende estudiar las alteraciones de la imagen pública de este tipo particular de escuelas comprobables en Italia en el período de tiempo indicado a través del análisis de fotografías escolares publicadas en periódicos diarios y revistas, centrándose en el uso propagandístico que de las mismas se hizo a lo largo de treinta años.
IT: La diffusione d’una determinata immagine pubblica delle scuole rurali – da sempre le scuole più povere e disagiate – è stata frequentemente utilizzata dai ceti dirigenti e/o dai partiti politici per documentare il tasso di modernità e/o di arretratezza del sistema scolastico nazionale, a seconda delle esigenze propagandistiche espresse dagli uni piuttosto che dagli altri. L’articolo – muovendosi tra le prime inchieste fotografiche condotte nelle regioni del Mezzogiorno italiano dalle associazioni meridionaliste negli anni ’20 e i reportage foto-giornalistici pubblicati su alcune riviste negli anni ’50, passando attraverso la lunga cesura fascista – si propone di studiare le alterazioni dell’immagine pubblica di questo particolare tipo di scuola registrabili in Italia nel lasso di tempo indicato attraverso l’analisi delle fotografie pubblicate su quotidiani e riviste, evidenziando l’uso propagandistico che di essa è stato fatto nel corso del tempo.
EN: The purpose of this article is to describe the process of mass schooling in Italy between the second half of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century, referring only to the primary schools and with changing speeds according to local contexts, by analysing the evolution of pedagogical models, educational practices and the material needs determined by them, with the proliferation of teaching aids and items that went to make up a student's equipment and the start of their manufacture on an industrial scale.
EN: The historiographical debate of the past thirty years has been dominated by an essentially political interpretation of the processes of mass schooling adopted in Western societies in the contemporary era through the creation of modern national education systems, and this has tended to highlight the role of the school as a tool for forging national identity. This subordination to the historical perspective of nation-building has led to the sidelining of alternative paradigms for interpretation such as the economic aspect of mass schooling – the aspect that this book sets out to explore. While the liberal ruling classes pursued the policy of mass schooling for the express purpose of forging patriotic sentiment and consolidating political consensus around their institutions, in order to achieve that purpose they had no option but to involve private businesses with their industrial ability to manufacture, on a vast scale, the materials required to lay the groundwork for “mass education”. Using industrial yearbooks, professional bulletins, advertisements published in education journals, prizes awarded in the context of national and world fairs, patents and other sources not usually used in this field of study, the book shows how serially produced “tools of mass education” manufactured on an industrial scale by those same industries ended up fostering the broad standardisation of teaching methods, of learning processes and of educational content, spawning a capitalistic educational model which has yet go into decline.
This volume draws on the rich and largely unique archival heritage
preserved in the institutes and documentation centers specialized in the history and memory of the Italian workers’ movement. It is also an important contribution to the wider international debate on the emergence of “politicized childhood” during the 20th century, which is becoming more and more intense."
The school exercise book in the contemporary age can be seen both an essential teaching aid and as a formidable tool for communication, thus as a unique source for exploring school culture and the approach to education in a given historical context. From cover to content, and including the codification process in its capacity as a material object, the school exercise book can tell us a great deal about the history of schools and education, about teaching methods and language, and about the educational projects and policies that the various nation states sought to implement in the 19th and 20th centuries. Within that framework, the history of education and literacy goes hand in hand with the history of educational ideas and of concrete educational practice, offering hitherto unexplored scenarios for research. These proceedings – which include papers submitted by scholars from all over the world (Europe, America and the Far East) – offer a broad panorama of the potential (and the limits) of such a complex source with its wealth of implications. They represent a corpus of study and enquiry based on a truly exhaustive and complete range of methods and tools of investigation. The exercise book seen as a vessel for writing, as a testimonial of educational practice as implemented by teachers, and as an essential part of the political and cultural socialisation pursued in schools, helps us to focus the historical and educational dynamic on the relationships that impart concrete substance to the rapport between educational theory, teachers, institutes of education and education policy on the one hand, and the real-life players – the men, women and children – who experienced those relationships in the first person.
EN : The history of education in Italy – since the Nineties – has progressively passed the history of pedagogical theories and educational institutions to devote itself to the study of the evolution of teaching methods and learning processes, of educational practices and more generally of school culture. These studies, however, have focused more on teachers, especially those of primary schools, than on students, on their subjectivity, their experience and the possible autonomous spaces allowed to them in the context of the pedagogical project developed by adults. Studies on these protagonists of learning processes have hitherto focused on specific topics and cases (such as the history of material life in educational institutions, of the school discipline and the study of children’s graphic products, such as writings and drawings) often from a quantitative or micro-historical perspective, while still is missing a history of students able to overturn the perspective from which the learning processes were studied, ranging from kindergarten to high schools.
EN: In recent years, “historic schools” have been cropping up in public debate and in scientific literature ever more regularly. But what exactly does this term mean? Just when should a school be considered “historic” in all of its aspects, and what particular requisites must it fulfil in order to receive this name? We can affirm beyond all doubt that today no common definition exists, especially if we take into account the different national scenarios in which this category of school has become more prominent.
EN: This paper, starting from the categories of lieux de mémoire and place memory developed respectively by Pierre Nora and Paul Connerton, is aimed at determining what constitute «sites of school memory» and the dynamics that govern them. Five kinds of «sites of school memory» have been identified, namely, in order: school museums; schoolhouse museums and schoolroom museums; historic schools; «forgotten schools», i.e. schools which have fallen into ruin; those that we have previously defined as «sacred places of education», namely those places (usually schools) that constitute the spatial incubators of innovative educational experiences so as to be considered unique and be counted as such in the annals of the national education system. This paper presents the main characteristics of these different types, highlighting linearities and asymmetries, and tracks an interpretive framework that documents the highly localistic character of school memory, albeit with some distinctions.
also analyse the social-cultural dynamics underlying both the commemoration of innovative educationalists and educators, and the celebration of those places where the memory of schools and education has become part of community memory and identity. This paper constitutes the presentation of the special issue «Memories and Public Celebrations of Education in Contemporary Times» (HECL, n. 1, 2019), edited by Juri Meda, Marta Brunelli and Luigiaurelio Pomante.
memory developed respectively by Pierre Nora and Paul Connerton, is aimed at determining what constitute «sites of school memory» and the dynamics that govern them. Five kinds of «sites of school memory» have been identified, namely, in order: school museums; schoolhouse museums and schoolroom museums; historic schools; «forgotten schools», i.e. schools which have fallen into ruin; those that we have previously defined as «sacred places of education», namely those places (usually schools) that constitute the spatial incubators of innovative educational experiences so as to be considered unique and be counted as such in the annals of the national education system. This paper presents the main characteristics of these different types, highlighting linearities and asymmetries, and tracks an interpretive framework that documents the highly localistic character of school memory, albeit with
some distinctions. This paper has been published in the special issue «Memories and Public Celebrations of Education in Contemporary Times» (HECL, n. 1, 2019) edited by Juri Meda, Luigiaurelio Pomante, Marta Brunelli.
ES: La difusión de una determinada imagen pública de las escuelas rurales —desde siempre las escuelas más pobres y desfavorecidas— ha sido utilizada frecuentemente por las clases dirigentes y/o los partidos políticos de la oposición para documentar la tasa de modernización y/o de atraso del sistema educativo nacional, de acuerdo con las respectivas necesidades propagandísticas. El artículo —moviéndose entre las primeras encuestas fotográficas realizadas en las regiones del Sur de Italia por asociaciones meridionalistas en los años 20 y los reportajes fotoperiodísticos publicados en algunas revistas en los años 50, pasando por la cesura fascista— pretende estudiar las alteraciones de la imagen pública de este tipo particular de escuelas comprobables en Italia en el período de tiempo indicado a través del análisis de fotografías escolares publicadas en periódicos diarios y revistas, centrándose en el uso propagandístico que de las mismas se hizo a lo largo de treinta años.
IT: La diffusione d’una determinata immagine pubblica delle scuole rurali – da sempre le scuole più povere e disagiate – è stata frequentemente utilizzata dai ceti dirigenti e/o dai partiti politici per documentare il tasso di modernità e/o di arretratezza del sistema scolastico nazionale, a seconda delle esigenze propagandistiche espresse dagli uni piuttosto che dagli altri. L’articolo – muovendosi tra le prime inchieste fotografiche condotte nelle regioni del Mezzogiorno italiano dalle associazioni meridionaliste negli anni ’20 e i reportage foto-giornalistici pubblicati su alcune riviste negli anni ’50, passando attraverso la lunga cesura fascista – si propone di studiare le alterazioni dell’immagine pubblica di questo particolare tipo di scuola registrabili in Italia nel lasso di tempo indicato attraverso l’analisi delle fotografie pubblicate su quotidiani e riviste, evidenziando l’uso propagandistico che di essa è stato fatto nel corso del tempo.
EN: The purpose of this article is to describe the process of mass schooling in Italy between the second half of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century, referring only to the primary schools and with changing speeds according to local contexts, by analysing the evolution of pedagogical models, educational practices and the material needs determined by them, with the proliferation of teaching aids and items that went to make up a student's equipment and the start of their manufacture on an industrial scale.
The assumption upon which this paper rests is that school desks have
always been signifiers charged with multiple meanings related to the evolution of curriculum, pedagogic ideas and daily school practices, which have often been forgotten, abandoned or, for some reasons, underrepresented in the official history of education as well as in the collective memory of school. In order to rebuild this forgotten history, and retrace the possible theoretical-pedagogical basis underlying such practice, the authors have systematically reviewed the Italian manuals on gymnastics between desks from the 1870s to the 1970s, retraced sources documenting this practice in the daily school life (government rules, school programmes, school hygiene prescriptions, iconographic sources, teachers and school managers’ testimonies) and finally, compared with other foreign practices (such as “calisthenics”).
The convergence between many differentiated sources has demonstrated the longevity of this school practice, which was not only the fruit of educational theories of gymnastic teachers but was also determined by the backwardness and logistic inadequacies of many Italian schools. The paper reveals how this gymnastic practice, after establishing itself in the post-Unification Italian schools, continued almost uninterrupted until the Second World War and even until the 1970s, evidencing how gymnastic teachers, hygienists, educationalists and lawmakers continued, over almost a century, to scientifically legitimise ( from the top downwards) an educational practice that was actually driven from the bottom upwards, i.e. determined by an endemic lack of adequate spaces and tools for physical education in Italian schools.
ES: La contribución presentará los resultados de una investigación en curso sobre el uso por el régimen fascista de la propaganda del ahorro como factor de nacionalización de la infancia en la escuela primaria. La declinación ideológica de la propaganda del ahorro empezó durante la Segunda Guerra Ítalo-Etíope, cuando el régimen sintió por la primera vez la necesidad de organizar de forma masiva el frente interno, pero llegó al pico con la Segunda Guerra Mundial. Los institutos de crédito, de hecho, bajo la presión del aparato propagandístico del régimen, empezaron a producir carteles, folletos, cuadernos escolares y periodicos para niños, centrados en la participación de las jóvenes generaciones al esfuerzo bélico nacional a través del ahorro, incluso a distribuir el “salvadanaio di guerra” (caja de dinero). La “batalla del ahorro” fue, sin embargo, una batalla incruenta: el tributo que la nación iba pidiendo a sus niños en tiempos de guerra no era un tributo de sangre (no obstante eso se contaba entre los deberes incluidos en el juramento oficial de los miembros de la organización juvenil fascista), sino un homenaje de fe y obediencia.
EN: The contribution will present the results of an ongoing investigation into Fascist propaganda’s use of money-saving as a ploy for the nationalisation of children in primary school. The ideological exploitation of money-saving propaganda began during the Second Italo-Ethiopian War, when the Fascist Regime felt the need for the first time to organise the domestic front on a massive scale, but it reached a peak with World War II. Under pressure from the Fascist propaganda apparatus, the banks began to produce posters, flyers, school notebooks and newspapers for children focusing on the younger generations’ participation in the nation’s war effort through money-saving, and to hand out “war money boxes”. The “battle of savings” was, however, a bloodless battle: the tribute that the nation was asking of its children in wartime was not a blood tribute (although it was listed as one of the duties required of Fascist youth organization members), but a tribute of faith and obedience.
The research project focuses on forms of school memory, understood as the individual, collective and public practice of remembering a common school past (Yanes-Cabrera et al., 2017). Individual school memory consists of self-representation supplied by former teachers, members of the school administration, and pupils through oral and written testimonies (e.g., diaries, autobiographies and memoirs in general). Ego-documents have also been widely used as historical sources in the field of historical-educational research (Viñao Frago, 2005) to reconstruct the history of schooling using the lived experiences of its protagonists rather than legislative and institutional sources, in an attempt to open what has been defined as the “black box of schooling” (Julia, 1995).
Collective school memory, on the other hand, is composed of the many ways in which the culture industry (literature, cinema, music, etc.) and the world of information represent school time, teachers and pupils, and it is subject to appreciable transformations. These representations of school past become layered from generation to generation, partly superimposing themselves on personal memories, corrupting factual reality and consolidating themselves into stereotyped narrations. They may also alter our awareness of the past, which is thus transformed into a real space in our imagination that cannot be separated from scientifically-based historical reconstructions (Alfieri, 2019).
Finally, public school memory consists of how schools and teachers are represented in official contexts and public commemorations promoted by local and national institutions based on a precise policy of memory, or public use of the past aimed at gaining consensus and reinforcing the feeling of belonging to a specific community (Yanes-Cabrera et al., 2017). Unlike individual school memory, collective memory and public memory have barely been touched on in historical-education research as they have not been considered a subject of historiographic importance for some time.
In recent years, however, school memory – in its various meanings – has been included in international historiographic thought and has become the subject of studies of notable interest in the field of the history of education both in Latin-American countries and in the Anglo-Saxon world. The study of memory allows us to define how the present looks at the past and interprets or reinterprets it. In this sense, school memory does not interest us merely as a channel to access the schools of the past, but as a key to understanding what we know today or believe we know about schools of the past and how far what we know corresponds to reality, or whether our understanding is merely the result of prejudices and stereotypes that have become ingrained in the common sentiment, and difficult to uproot. The subject of this historical research therefore, does not consist simply of exploring school environments as they once were but consists instead of exploring the complex process of defining the sentiment that has developed over time regarding schools at an individual and collective level, based initially on lived school experiences, followed by other social and cultural agents which have contributed in part to redetermine it.
This new research perspective allows us to address an aspect whose historical dimension has up to now escaped the attention of experts in the field: the evolution of the perceived social status of the various professional profiles involved in the processes of schooling and the public status of education within a community, as well as the public image of schools and the national school system. Studying the methods of collective symbolic representation of schools and teaching over time will help to define the origin of certain burdens that continue to weigh on the public image of schools, as well as making us aware of the overall cultural dimension of these historical phenomena. In addition, studies will restore awareness to all actors in public education of themselves and their roles.
There is no unique, unequivocal school past. There are many of them, which often coexist and alternate with one another. They may conform more or less to historical reality, but they are nevertheless real and influence the views individuals or communities have of that past. This international conference aims to discover these school pasts.
By 30th September 2017, each author must submit a draft of an article in English, using the attached submission form. This form must be sent to the email address: roberto.sani@unimc.it.
By 30th November 2017, each author will be notified the outcome concerning the preliminary assessment and whether the submitted articles have been accepted or rejected.
The subsequent deadline for submitting the final papers, written in English according to the editorial standards of the journal and not longer than 7,000 words (including footnotes, references, tables and captions), is scheduled for 30th September 2018.
Both the drafts and the final articles will be subjected to anonymous peer review, according to the journal’s standards; the Editor will appoint a specific peer-review committee consisting of nationally and internationally renowned scholars with proven expertise in the various thematic areas of this call for papers.
By 30th November 2018, the editors of the issue will notify the authors of any amendments to be made to their contributions, which must be returned by 31st January 2019.
The organizing board of the symposium received an amount of 186 proposals from around the worlds, but only 71 have been accepted: 31 proposals for the session «Individual Memory», 32 for the session «Collective Memory» and 8 only for the session «Politics and Places of Memory». Such a high percentage of rejection (62%) was necessary to make the Symposium the most adhere as much as possible to the scientific programme declared in the call for papers, in order not to weaken the epistemological foundations of the reflection that we want to undertake with the help of all the participants.
This first international review has highlighted different methodological approaches to a theme – the memory of the school – on which the historical reflection has been focusing for some years now, especially in the Iberian and Latin American area alike.
This confirmed how even more necessary it was to organize an international meeting able to put a solid scientific basis to the development of a fertile research field.
Las preguntas a las que pretendemos responder son básicas. ¿Qué queremos decir exactamente con memoria escolar? ¿Puede esa misma ser objeto de investigación histórica? Podemos decir que la memoria escolar constituye una práctica de evocación y recreación individual, colectiva y/o pública de un pasado escolar común y –como tal– puede ser utilizada para estudiar el pasado, así como para definir la forma en que el presente mira al pasado y lo interpreta o reinterpreta. En este sentido –desde un punto de vista histórico-educativo– la memoria escolar no interesa el historiador de la educación sólo como un medio para acceder al pasado escolar, sino también como llave para entender lo que la sociedad actual sabe, o cree saber de la escuela del pasado y cómo eso corresponde con la realidad o es el resultado de los prejuicios y estereotipos ya arraigados en el sentido común. El objeto de estudio del historiador, por lo tanto, no consiste simplemente en considerar la escuela como lo que realmente era, sino en el complejo proceso de definición del sentimiento que de esa escuela ha sido desarrollado a través del tiempo a nivel individual y colectivo, inicialmente sobre la base de una experiencia escolar real y entonces sobre la base de otros agentes sociales y culturales que han contribuido en parte a determinarlo.