Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gxg78 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-21T11:32:35.429Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Democracy and the rights of women in the thinking of Giuseppe Mazzini1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 February 2016

Federica Falchi
Federica Falchi*
Affiliation:
Facoltà di Scienze Politiche — Dipartimento Storico politico internazionale, University of Cagliari, Italy
*
∗Email: [email protected]
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Addressing Italian workers in his Doveri dell'uomo of 1860, Mazzini unequivocally laid out his thoughts on women's rights. The thinker from Genoa, all the more after his encounters with other political philosophers from different national environments such as Britain and France, saw the principle of equality between men and women as fundamental to his project of constructing first the nation, and second a democratic republic. In his ideas regarding emancipation Mazzini, who spent a good 40 years of his life in exile, was one of a small group of European thinkers who in challenging the established customs and prevailing laws not only hoped for the end of women's social and judicial subordination, but also held that changes to the position of women were essential to the realisation of their political projects. Thanks to this respected group of intellectuals, the issue of female emancipation found a place in the nineteenth-century European debate regarding democracy and the formation of national states. The closeness of the positions of these thinkers, and their commitment in practice as well as theory, mean that it can legitimately be argued that in the course of the nineteenth century a current of feminist thinking took shape. This was born of the encounters between and reflections of various intellectuals who met first in France and then in England, and who came to see women's rights not just as a discrete issue for resolution but as fundamental to their projects for the regeneration of nations, or, as in the Italian case, for the construction and rebirth of a nation.

Keywords

Mazzinidemocracyequalitywomen's rightsnation
Type
Articles
Information
Modern Italy , Volume 17 , Issue 1 , February 2012 , pp. 15 - 30
Copyright
Copyright © Association for the study of Modern Italy 

References

Aristotle, 2007. Politica. Rome–Bari: Laterza.Google Scholar
Ashurst Venturi, E. 1875. Joseph Mazzini. A memoir by E. A. V. With two essays by Mazzini: Thoughts on democracy, and The duties of man. London: Henry S. King & Co.Google Scholar
Banti, A.M. 2008. Sacrality and the aesthetics of politics: Mazzini's concept of the Nation. In Giuseppe Mazzini and the globalisation of democratic nationalism 1830–1920, ed. Bayly, C.A. and Biagini, E.F., 59–74. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Banti, A.M., and Ginsborg, P. 2007. Il Risorgimento. (Storia d'Italia, Annali 22). Turin: Einaudi.Google Scholar
Bayly, C.A., and Biagini, E.F., eds. 2008. Giuseppe Mazzini and the globalisation of democratic nationalism 1830–1920. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bock, G. 2003. Le donne nella storia europea. Rome–Bari: Laterza.Google Scholar
Bonanni, S., ed. 2006. Pensiero e azione: Mazzini nel movimento democratico italiano e internazionale. Atti del LXII Congresso di Storia del Risorgimento Italiano (Genova, 8–12 dicembre 2004). Rome: Istituto per la storia del Risorgimento italiano.Google Scholar
Certini, R. 1998. Jessie White Mario una giornalista educatrice: tra liberalismo inglese e democrazia italiana. Florence: Le Lettere.Google Scholar
Crawford, E. 2001. The women's suffrage movement: A reference guide 1866–1928. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Davidson, J.M. 1880. Eminent English liberals in and out of Parliament. London: Stewart & Co.Google Scholar
Duggan, C. 2008. Giuseppe Mazzini in Britain and Italy: Divergent legacies, 1837–1915. In Giuseppe Mazzini and the globalisation of democratic nationalism 1830–1920, ed. Bayly, C.A. and Biagini, E.F., 187–207. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Duran, J. 2006. Eight women philosophers: Theory, politics, and feminism. Chicago: University of Illinois Press.Google Scholar
Falchi, F. 2001. Le Costituenti: le ragioni di un'elite politica. Elíte e storia 1, no. 2:65–99.Google Scholar
Gazzetta, L. 2003. Giorgina Saffi. Contributo alla storia del mazzinianesimo femminile. Milan: FrancoAngeli.Google Scholar
Hammond, J.L., and Hammond, B. 1932. James Stansfeld: A Victorian champion of sex equality. London: Longmans, Green.Google Scholar
Hinkley, E. 1970. Mazzini: The story of a great Italian. Port Washington, NY: Kennikat Press.Google Scholar
International Federation for the Abolition of State Regulation of Vice 1914. Report of the Portsmouth Conference June 15–18 1914. London: British Branch, International Abolitionist Federation.Google Scholar
King, B. 1912. The life of Mazzini. London: Dent.Google Scholar
La Puma, L. 2008. Giuseppe Mazzini democratico e riformista europeo. Florence: Olschki.Google Scholar
Lazzarino Del Grosso, A.M. 2005. I Rights nei Thoughts upon Democracy. In Mazzini e gli scrittori politici europei, 1837–1857, ed. Mastellone, S., 197–207. Florence: Centro Editoriale Toscano.Google Scholar
Luzzato, F. 1947. Giuseppe Mazzini e George Sand. La relazione e la corrispondenza. Milan: Fratelli Bocca.Google Scholar
Mack Smith, D. 1993. Mazzini. Milan: Rizzoli.Google Scholar
Mastellone, S. 1994. Il progetto politico di Mazzini: Italia–Europa. Florence: Olschki.Google Scholar
Mastellone, S., ed. 2005a. Mazzini e gli scrittori politici europei, 1837–1857. Florence: Centro Editoriale Toscano.Google Scholar
Mastellone, S. 2005b. Introduzione. In Pensieri sulla democrazia in Europa, Mazzini, G., trans. and ed. Mastellone, S., new ed. Milan: Feltrinelli (articles originally published in English in The People's Journal, 1846–7).Google Scholar
Mastellone, S. 2007. Mazzini e Linton. Una democrazia europea (1845–1855). Florence: Olschki.Google Scholar
Mastellone, S. 2009. La nascita della democrazia in Europa. Carlyle, Harney, Mill, Engels, Mazzini, Schapper, Addresses, Appeals, Manifestos (1836–1855). Florence: Olschki.Google Scholar
Mazzini, G. 1860. Doveri dell'uomo. Rome: Tip. Alle Terme Diocleziane.Google Scholar
Mazzini, G. 1862. The duties of man, trans. Emilie Ashurst Venturi. London: Chapman & Hall.Google Scholar
Mazzini, G. 1922. Mazzini's letters to an English family 1844–1872, ed. Richards, E.F. 3 vols. London: John Lane.Google Scholar
Mazzini, G. 1939. Scritti editi ed inediti, Epistolario. Appendice 3. Imola: Cooperativa P. Galeati.Google Scholar
Mazzini, G. 1940. Scritti editi ed inediti, Epistolario. Appendice 4. Imola: Cooperativa P. Galeati.Google Scholar
Mazzini, G. 1941. Scritti editi ed inediti, Epistolario. Appendice 5. Imola: Cooperativa P. Galeati.Google Scholar
Mazzini, G. 1943. Scritti editi ed inediti, Epistolario. Appendice 6. Imola: Cooperativa P. Galeati.Google Scholar
Mazzini, G. 1986. Note autobiografiche, ed. Pertici, R. Milan: Rizzoli (previously published 1944, ed. Menghini, Mario. Florence: Le Monnier).Google Scholar
Mazzini, G. 2005. Pensieri sulla democrazia in Europa, trans. and ed. Mastellone, S., new ed. Milan: Feltrinelli (articles originally published in English in The People's Journal, 1846–7).Google Scholar
Mill, J.S. 1842. Letter to Robert Barclay Fox, September 20, 1842. In The earlier letters of John Stuart Mill 1812–1848, ed. Mineka, F.E., Part 2, 548 (vol. 13 of The collected works of John Stuart Mill). Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1963.Google Scholar
Mill, J.S. 1869. The subjection of women. In Essays on equality, law, and education, ed. Robson, J.M., 259–340 (vol. 21 of The collected works of John Stuart Mill). Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1984.Google Scholar
Mill, J.S. 1870. Letter to Peter Alfred Taylor, August 22, 1870. In The later letters of John Stuart Mill 1849–1873, ed. Mineka, F.E. and Lindley, D., Part 4, 1759–60 (vol. 17 of The collected works of John Stuart Mill). Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1972.Google Scholar
Mill, J.S. 1872. Letter to John Elliot Cairnes, April 6, 1872. In The later letters of John Stuart Mill 1849–1873, ed. Mineka, F.E. and Lindley, D., Part 4, 1879–80 (vol. 17 of The collected works of John Stuart Mill). Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1972.Google Scholar
Mill, J.S. 1873. Autobiography. In Autobiography and literary essays, ed. Robson, J.M. and Stillinger, J., 1–290 (vol. 1 of The collected works of John Stuart Mill). Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1981.Google Scholar
Modugno, R.A. 2005. Lo spirito democratico del ‘People's Journal’. In Mazzini e gli scrittori politici europei, 1837–1857, ed. Mastellone, S., 131–52. Florence: Centro Editoriale Toscano.Google Scholar
Morelli, E. 1965. L'Inghilterra di Mazzini. Rome: Istituto per la storia del Risorgimento.Google Scholar
O'Connor, M. 1998. The romance of Italy and the English political imagination. New York: St Martin's.Google Scholar
Pesman, R. 2006. Mazzini in esilio e le donne inglesi. In Famiglia e nazione nel lungo Ottocento italiano, ed. Porciani, I., 55–82. Rome: Viella.Google Scholar
Picchetto, M.T. 2005. John Stuart Mill. In Mazzini e gli scrittori politici europei, 1837–1857, ed. Mastellone, S., 1–28. Florence: Centro Editoriale Toscano.Google Scholar
Porciani, I. 2006. Famiglia e nazione nel lungo Ottocento italiano. Modelli, strategie, reti di relazioni. Rome: Viella.Google Scholar
Roberts, W. 1989. Prophet in exile: Joseph Mazzini in England, 1837–1868. New York: Peter Lang.Google Scholar
Sarti, R. 2005. Giuseppe Mazzini. La politica come religione civile. Rome–Bari: Laterza.Google Scholar
Taylor, P.A. 1875. Introduction. In Joseph Mazzini. A Memoir by E.A.V. with two essays by Mazzini: Thoughts on Democracy, and The Duties of Man, ed. Ashurst Venturi, E., v–vi. London: Henry S. King & Co.Google Scholar
Tramarollo, G., ed. 1972. Apostolato popolare: 1840–1843 (reprinted periodicals). Rome: Edizioni della voce.Google Scholar
Urbinati, N., ed. 2001. Sull'eguaglianza e l'emancipazione femminile. Scritti di John Stuart Mill e Harriet Taylor. Turin: Einaudi.Google Scholar
Urbinati, N. 2008. The legacy of Kant: Giuseppe Mazzini's cosmopolitanism of nations. In Giuseppe Mazzini and the globalisation of democratic nationalism 1830–1920, ed. Bayly, C.A. and Biagini, E.F., 11–35. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
White Mario, J. 1886. Della vita di Giuseppe Mazzini. Milan: Sonzogno (reprinted 1972).Google Scholar