Synopses & Reviews
Numbers and Nationhood explores the rise of statistics as a mode of representation in Italian society during the nineteenth century. Silvana Patriarca examines the ideologies that informed numerical productions, and the role that statistics played in generating a national image of Italy that nevertheless accentuated its internal territorial divisions. This innovative study provides a fresh reading of the historiography of Risorgimento Italy, bringing issues of science, ideology and representation to the fore.
Synopsis
An innovative study of statistics in Risorgimento Italy, and their contribution to the national identity.
Synopsis
Numbers and Nationhood explores the rise of statistics as a mode of representation in Italian society during the nineteenth century. Silvana Patriarca examines the ideologies that informed numerical productions, and the role that statistics played in generating a national image of Italy that nevertheless accentuated its internal territorial divisions. This innovative study provides a fresh reading of the historiography of Risorgimento Italy, bringing issues of science, ideology and representation to the fore.
Synopsis
Numbers and Nationhood explores the role that statistics played in generating a national image of Italy in the nineteenth century. Silvana Patriarcaâs innovative study provides a fresh reading of Risorgimento Italy, bringing to the fore issues of science, ideology, and representation.
Description
Includes bibliographical references (p. 243-270) and index.
Table of Contents
'1. Introduction: the history of statistics between state making and objectifications; 2. A science for âcivilizedâcountries: practitioners, audiences and theories of statistics, 1820s 1850s; 3. Statistical description: between epistemology and politics; 4. Making public numbers: official statistics in the pre-unification monarchies; 5. Building the nationâs body: âpatriotic statisticsârepresentation of Italy; 6. The identity of the Italians, or the ambiguities of moral statistics; 7. Representing the new nation (1861 1871); 8. A nation of Communes in a Europe of nationalities: the statistical Congress of Florence; Epilogue: measurable and unmeasurable things.\n
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