Conference Agenda

Even though societies have always been diverse, and modern educational institutions have been organized differently according to the standards of these different societies, there are also commonalities between them. One such example where diverse societies come together is in the telling of stories of heroes and their foes. The theme of historic stories’ good hero versus an evil foe, such as the trope of the Bible’s David versus Goliath, made its way into modern national curricula and historiography in similar ways across state borders: for centuries, nations have been inspiring their folk with tales of singular, renowned heroes who saved their nation against some outside foe. What we are going to do in this paper is present how three seemingly diverse nations – the Swiss, the Danish, and the Scottish – actually followed the same historic story-telling tactics to bring their nation together against a common foe.

William Tell, Niels Ebbesen, and William Wallace were three mythological heroes whose stories were based on actual historical figures (Ebbesen and Wallace) or folk tales (Tell). They were all regional “freedom fighters” who stood up against a larger outside force that wanted control of their “homeland.” But they were not unsung heroes. On the contrary, national Swiss, Danish, and Scottish historiographies have written their heroic, mythical stories for centuries, no matter whether those stories were actually true or not, and melding them into the historical consciousness of their societies. Songs, art, and children’s stories have been made about them, and their feats have been written into the curricula with textbooks turning them into national heroes whom students should revere (and emulate). They were the Davids versus their respective Goliaths. And just as David, they became renowned as fighters for the “right cause” who bravely faced the odds at any cost.

In our paper, we will discuss not just the “heroes” but also, especially, the “foes.” While children have been socialized around their national “David,” how were they learning to discern and depict their “Goliath?” When William Tell resisted Austrian Habsburg rule, Niels Ebbesen stood up to the intrusive Germans, and William Wallace stood up to the English throne seekers, they were fighting with principle against some “evil,” outside enemy force that caused suffering and pain. Drawing upon Ernest Renan’s remark that “suffering” unites as much as “joy,” we argue that “arch foes” are important in two respects: they give the “heroes” a “foe” to rise against while at the same time the suffering they caused united the people behind those “heroes.” The “Goliaths” were thus just as necessary to the stories as the “Davids.”

The contribution intends to present the italian Project of Relevant National Interest "Education and Economic Development in Southern Italy from the Unification to the Giolitti Era" (1861-1914), which is part of the research inspired by the contribution of Carlo Maria Cipolla entitled Literacy and Development in the West. The project, funded by the Ministry of Research, aims to reconstruct the policies implemented in the post-unification period aimed at creating the conditions for the economic and social development of southern Italy by leveraging on the channel of a school public and widespread.

The project focuses on the complex relationship between literacy and development as examined through a quantitative collection of analytical data relating to schooling processes particularly in most of the southern Italian regions (Sardinia, Campania, Basilicata, Calabria and Sicily).

The contribution focuses on the activities carried out by the researchers of the University of Messina and on the potential of quantitative investigations to understand the dynamics of local, regional, national and global geographies.

It is based, in particular, on a survey relating to a vast area of Campania, the "Principato citeriore", better known as the Province of Salerno.

Carloforte is a city located on the island of San Pietro, in the extreme south-western part of Sardinia, in Italy. The island of San Pietro remained uninhabited until 1738, when a group of Genoese settlers who lived in the city of Tabarka in Libya inhabited it with the approval of the Savoys. Since then begins the story of a new city that is characterized by a culture and a language that is profoundly different from that of the main island. Between Carloforte and the territory of Sulcis there is therefore a deeper border than the sea that separates them.
Carloforte, although it rises on a small island of only 51 km2, exceeded 8,000 inhabitants in the first decade of the twentieth century. It is an economically rich and productive centre, particularly in the fishing and processing of tuna, of coral and maritime transport. In this it differs from the rest of Sardinia, still mostly dedicated to sheep farming and poorly industrialised.
Studies on teacher mobility in Sardinia show that there is a tendency for teachers to work in their countries of origin, particularly at the beginning of the twentieth century. This trait is found marked early in Carloforte, a sign of a clear desire to pass on a cultural imprinting.