The course intends to provide basic knowledge of the methods and working tools used by historians, knowledge that is essential for an awareness that every aspect of our society is the result of a historical process. The course aims help students develop the following skills:
- adopt a critical approach to examining texts and historical sources to determine their validity;
- situate historical processes within their contexts;
- acquire a familiarity with historical sources;
- orient themselves in the historical scholarship.
After illustrating the field’s sources and research methodologies, the course will go on to look at the topic of childhood in the XVI-XIX centuries. The concept of childhood will be examined as well as the role assigned to children within the family nucleus and society. The aim is to prepare students to adopt a critical approach to interpreting ideas about childhood in the awareness that this was a historical concept that changed over time and place and was subject to cultural conditioning. The teaching method will be mainly the traditional lecture interspersed with labs in which sources will be examined in detail, as well as opportunities for discussion and seminars.
Reference texts for students who attend:
-	G.P. Romagnani, La società di antico regime (XVI-XVIII secolo), Roma, Carocci, 2010
-	S. Luzzato (a cura di), Prima lezione di metodo storico, Roma – Bari, Laterza, 2010
-	the material provided during lessons.
Reference texts for students who not attend:
-	M.P. Paoli (a cura di), Nel laboratorio della storia. Una guida alle fonti dell’età moderna, Roma, Carocci, 2013.
One work chosen from among the following by students who are attending and by students not attending:
-	Becchi E., D. Julia (a cura di), Storia dell’infanzia. I. Dall’antichità al Seicento, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 1996.
-	Becchi E., D. Julia (a cura di), Storia dell’infanzia. II. Dal Settecento a oggi, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 1996.
-	Garbellotti M., Rossi M.C. (a cura di), Madri e padri sociali tra passato e presente. Per una storia dell’adozione, Roma, Viella, 2016.
-	Pancino C., La natura dei bambini. Cura del corpo, malattie e medicina della prima infanzia fra Cinquecento e Settecento, Bologna, Bononia University Press, 2015 (chapters 1, 2, 3, 6, 7)
-	Terpstra N., L’infanzia abbandonata nell’Italia del Rinascimento, Bologna Clueb, 2014.
Student will be evaluated in an oral interview on the topics covered during the lectures, on the material provided and examined in class, and on the books on the reading list. Students will have to demonstrate that:
-they are able to contextualize historical processes and interpret them critically;
Examinations methods will be the same for attending and non-attending students.