Gwybodaeth Modiwlau

The aim of this module is to offer students in Part Two an introduction to the dynamic forces that shaped Italy during the reconstruction years immediately following World War II and how these forces, sometimes fragmented and divisive, subsequently shaped contemporary Italy.


The module offers students opportunities to develop critical reading skills, and an overview of socio-political issues relevant to contemporary Italy. It also provides a framework for further study.

The module will cover the following areas:

Rethinking post-war Italy: Cold war and political stagnation; the Italian economic miracle (1950- 1963); the student protests’ (1968); the Years of Lead (1960s – late 1980s), the period of social and political turmoil marked by a wave of both far-right and far-left incidents of political terrorism.

Italy and migration: To investigate migration discourses in Italy, to explore how the rhetoric of the State and the media have portrayed the newcomers and to examine the construction of migrant’s narrative identity through the writings of some Italophone authors who started to discuss issues of representation in their works and to throw into question the very notion of Italian national identity.

The Womens Question in Italy: Students will have the opportunity to explore the main developments that led to the formation, growth and decline of the ‘new’ feminist movement in Italy from the 1970s; the revival of ‘cultural feminism’ (1982-84), and the emergence of a new space for women in political parties and institutions; the close association between feminism and the Left, and the interrelation of difference and equality.