The Italian contemporary history: a snapshot

• Published in: Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte 2015-07, Vol.63 (3), p.351-378
• Main Author: Dipper, Christof
• Format: Article
• Language: ger
• Subjects: Candidates; Contemporary history; Cultural anthropology; Education; Evaluation; Italy; Minorities
• ISSN: 0042-5702
• DOI: 10.1515/vfzg-2015-0021

Since 2012 anyone who wishes to apply for an Italian professorship must first receive the proof of his or her scientific suitability (Abilitazione Nazionale Scientifica). The commissions assigned this task thus receive a very clear insight regarding the applicants in their respective subjects. Over the past two years, 631 candidates in total have applied for Storia contemporanea; it is their output which will be presented and assessed here. As two thirds had to be considered as unsuitable, the overall assessment can only be negative, even if many applicants undoubtedly reach an international level of accomplishment. The reasons, first of all, are to be found in the collapsing university system, which in its current configuration would not be helped at all by the influx of additional money. From the perspective of cultural anthropology one could say, that a notable part of Italian faculties have decoupled themselves from international standards against a background of policies marked by a remarkable degree of ignorance regarding the consequences of strategies hostile to education - such an assessment would, however, be a slap in the face for the excellent minority. The benchmark must be derived from the international consensus regarding best practice. //ABSTRACT IN GERMAN: Die Aussichten sind trübe, polemische Insider sprechen sogar von einem Selbstmord' der italienischen Universitäten und meinen damit auch die Zeitgeschichte südlich der Alpen. Christof Dipper, hochgeschätzter Veteran der deutschen Italienforschung, konnte sich als Mitglied einer Art Evaluierungskommission selbst ein Bild von der Lage der italienischen Zeitgeschichte machen. Es gibt, so betont er in seiner luziden Analyse, kaum Anlass zu Optimismus: Selbstreferenzialität, Provinzialität und methodischer Traditionalismus wohin man schaut, und nur wenige helle Tupfer, die von Wagemut und Innovationskraft zeugen.