Article contents
The Italian historiographical debate and the Fact Checkers movement
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 19 October 2023
Abstract
The ‘Fact Checking’ series of titles published by Laterza since 2020 is, in the first place, a response to the proliferation of historical fake news, which has grown exponentially as a consequence of social networks. But it is also a response to an increasingly systematic political abuse of history – not only in Italy. The authors and the public firmly believe in the necessity of restoring complexity and value to historical research, as well as in the importance of playing a significant role in the public debate about our past. In many ways the political use of history works in an authoritarian and anti-democratic manner, spreading erroneous and dangerous convictions among broad sections of society. Among the examples which appear in various sections of the article, we discuss the books in the series which problematise the ‘official’ and victimist version of events which took place on the Italian-Yugoslavian border at the end of the Second World War. Other parts of the article examine the instrumental readings of the history and experience of twentieth-century communism.
Questo articolo illustra l'attività di un gruppo di studiosi e studiose, in reazione alla proliferazione di fake news storiche, a partire dall'esperienza della serie ‘Fact Checking’ di Editori Laterza. Gli autori e l'editore condividono infatti l'esigenza di restituire complessità e valore alla ricerca storica e di giocare un ruolo significativo nel dibattito pubblico sul nostro passato. In molti casi infatti la strumentalizzazione politica della storia agisce in senso autoritario e antidemocratico, diffondendo in ampi strati della società convinzioni errate e pericolose. Ed è questa deriva che l'esperienza di ‘Fact Checking’ vorrebbe contribuire ad arginare.
- Type
- Contexts and Debates
- Information
- Modern Italy , Volume 28 , Special Issue 4: Gaetano Salvemini: profile of a transnational intellectual , November 2023 , pp. 344 - 362
- Copyright
- Copyright © The Author(s), 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Association for the Study of Modern Italy
References
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