L’histoire du temps présent en Italie

Abstract

Contemporary History in Italy The present article analyzes the development and modalities of construction of a disciplinary field in Italy shortly after the Second World War: the history of the present. This rapid reconstruction of that history focuses on four indicators: ) the activity of historical and cultural institutes not related to universities (the historical institutes of the Resistance and the Gramsci, Feltrinelli and Einaudi Institutes, among others); ) the creation of university chairs in contemporary history; 3) the activity of the corsi di laurea in contemporary history ; and 4) the contributions of reviews. In order to resume the characteristics of contemporary history in Italy, one must bring to the forefront the considerable politicization – considered as a particular trait of Italian historiography – after the experience of fascism. The various historical institutes spread throughout the country, which were created in order to conserve the documentary heritage of an individual or of a political culture, fulfilled for a very long time the role of deputy for the dissemination of recent sources, and for specializations and more innovative subjects of research (social history, oral history, gender studies and the history of the workers’ movement). Moreover, contemporary historians operated outside the university framework: as regards chairs of contemporary history, the first was established in 1961, and until 1970 Italy had only four. But to this number must be added a considerable yet difficult-to-quantify number of young researchers, recipients of grants offered by institutes and private foundations, a few researchers from the CNR (Consiglio Nazionale delle ricerche) and finally non-academic researchers working for archives, libraries or in local or national cultural institutes. Research in contemporary history developed for a long period outside the scientific research scene; consequently, it suffered from insufficient academic visibility and meager resources. Finally, one must consider the abundance of reviews, often linked to historical institutes, which welcomed the anticipations of research still underway and the publication of completed research. La revue d’histoire contemporaine was, moreover, a venue for collecting considerable methodological thought advocated by postwar historiography.