https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/117804 2026-04-05T10:00:22Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/144839 Title: 'Voi siete dunque chiamati all’associazione. Essa centuplica le vostre forze' : il pensiero associazionistico di Giuseppe Mazzini fra reminiscenze del mondo classico e risonanze imperiture Abstract: Nelle sue opere, in particolare in quella maggiore Dei doveri dell’uomo (1860), Giuseppe Mazzini (Genova, 1805 – Pisa, 1872) – uno dei protagonisti dell’Unificazione d’Italia, nonché una delle personalità più celebri del suo secolo e di quello successivo, non solo nella sua patria, ma a livello internazionale – insiste incessantemente sulla necessità imprescindibile che l’uomo viva in maniera fraterna e comunitaria piuttosto che in isolazione, mirando al bene comune di tutti i popoli del mondo che costituiscono l’intera umanità, anziché all’interesse individuale che in effetti porta all’egoismo, danneggiando la società e l’umanità in generale. A seconda del suo pensiero anti-individualista e antimaterialista, l’uomo nasce in una famiglia, e la fusione di ciascuna d’esse costituisce la nazione, e infine, l’insieme di tutte le nazioni e di tutte le patrie, costituisce l’umanità, ovvero il gruppo più largo; pertanto, Mazzini crea il nesso stretto e interdipendente uomo-società poiché, secondo lui, l’uomo da solo è privo della forza, indebolito e incapace di portare alla sua realizzazione la “Legge di Dio”, ossia la “Legge di Progresso”. Mazzini, quindi, insiste fermamente sull’associazione, che definisce come la moltitudine delle forze dei molti, la quale non è semplicemente un diritto, ma per lui, associarsi è soprattutto un dovere, un obbligo conditio sine qua non, come testimonia il decimo capitolo del suo capolavoro, in cui delinea il processo attraverso il quale l’uomo, educandosi e associandosi grazie alla libertà, raggiunge il fine culminale, ovvero il progresso. Poiché sono stato ispirato da una frase, tratta da Dei doveri dell’uomo – da cui questa tesi prende parte del titolo – la tesi è imperniata attorno all’associazionismo, alla fratellanza e all’unionismo mazziniano, ponendo in rilievo l’ambivalenza dell’eroe risorgimentale in mezzo tra patriottismo e cosmopolitismo. Non potendo studiare e analizzare il pensiero mazziniano in maniera isolata, il presente lavoro abbraccia quindi un approccio metodologico comparativo, avvalendosi di riferimenti a opere e discorsi di altri pensatori e personaggi, in base a criteri storici e/o sociologici, influenti – anche se, per motivi di storicizzazione, non sono strettamente sempre legati in maniera implicita o esplicita a Mazzini, oppure, perlomeno, lo sono solo in modo remoto – per poter tracciare sia le convergenze e analogie, sia le divergenze nonché, perlopiù, contrapposizioni tra di esse, affinché il principio associazionistico possa essere afferrato complessivamente. Il presente lavoro consta di una triplice parte in cui la triade Mazzini-mazzinianismo-associazionismo è sempre presente e intesa come punto di partenza e d’arrivo, la cui comprensione è ritenuta come il fine maggiore. Tracciando le reminiscenze degli ideali associazionistici sin dai classici antichi greco-romani e seguendo le orme di coloro che, in un modo o in un altro, incisero la loro impronta sull’aspetto associazionistico del pensiero mazziniano, questa tesi focalizza in parallelo l’attenzione sulla nascita, la maturazione e il culmine d’esso e dei suoi ideali universalistici, tramite un’analisi approfondita di molte delle sue opere facenti parte della sua opera omnia, e osservando attentamente anche le risonanze imperiture della triade in diversi contesti, relazionandola al contempo al quadro nazionale italiano, internazionale e contemporaneo, e ponendone in rilievo la sua attualità. Description: M.A.(Melit.) 2024-01-01T00:00:00Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/144074 Title: For a cultural reading of the Italian Risorgimento in Sicily : the Euro-Mediterranean routes of Giuseppe La Farina, Carlo Gemelli, and Salvatore Chindemi 1800-1860 Abstract: This thesis examines the Sicilian Risorgimento through the biographies of three southern intellectuals and patriots who lived in southern Italy during the Bourbon monarchy of Naples in the first half of the 19th century. The focus is on the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, situated within a Euro-Mediterranean context where major powers of the time, such as Russia, the Ottoman Empire, and above all France and England, contended for the protection of the Bourbon kingdom, particularly Sicily. The study emphasizes the cultural education of three Sicilian patriots, their experiences during the cholera epidemic, the revolts of 1837, and their involvement in the Sicilian Revolution of 1848, as well as the subsequent Sicilian counterrevolution. Additionally, it explores their experiences of exile, with popular destinations including Tuscany, nearby Malta, France, Belgium, and Piedmont. Ultimately, Piedmont became the final destination for all three protagonists, where they embraced the unification efforts led by the Cavour faction and the House of Savoy, abandoning alternative solutions such as republicanism, separatism, and federalism. In terms of methodology, I employed a combination of three approaches: Mediterranean studies (New Thalassology), transnational cultural history, and the history of emotions. Description: Ph.D.(Melit.) 2024-01-01T00:00:00Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/142035 Title: The role of marine resources at Latnija (Malta) and the Mesolithic to Neolithic transition in the Central Mediterranean Abstract: Recent archaeological excavations at the Latnija cave site, led by the Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology (Germany) and the Department of Classics and Archaeology at the University of Malta, have revealed a significant prehistoric sequence marked by the consumption of wild animals and marine resources in the earlier, Mesolithic phase and subsequently by agropastoral societies. This dissertation presents a comprehensive zooarchaeological and taphonomic analysis of the marine faunal remains, aiming to provide new insights into the lifeways and diets of Malta’s earliest inhabitants. The post-excavation processes of flotation and micro-sieving, uncovered minute and often overlooked marine remains. These techniques allowed for the reconstruction of a more detailed picture of this ancient subsistence economy by revealing evidence of fishing practices, species diversity, and the seasonal exploitation of marine resources. This study confirms that the marine faunal assemblage was the result of a cultural accumulation. The evidence indicates that the first Mesolithic colonisers of the Maltese islands were skilled anglers with a sound understanding of the local environment and ecology. Offshore fishing, possibly involving boats or canoes, cannot be ruled out. Evidence from other Central Mediterranean sites like Corsica, Sardinia, southern Italy, and Sicily, reveals a consistent exploitation of marine resources across the Mesolithic and Early Neolithic periods. At Latnija, marine species were exploited throughout all phases, with a similar marked intensification in fishing during the final Mesolithic, reflecting a cultural affinity towards the sea. Marine resources not only complemented the island's endemic wild fauna as part of a sustainable subsistence strategy, but also possibly served utilitarian, decorative, and functional purposes. The evidence supports the notion that the seascape of the Central Mediterranean functioned as a conduit for interaction and allows us to move beyond our understanding of the Maltese Neolithic and sheds light on the paleo-diets of the local pre-Temple Period. Description: M.A.(Melit.) 2024-01-01T00:00:00Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/135570 Title: Al.luġatu al.mālṭīyyatu ūālʿarbiyyatu al.tūnisiyyatu : dirāsatun muqāranatun Abstract: Our objective in this research is to highlight the aspects of convergence between the Maltese language and the Tunisian Arabic dialect. We took into consideration as a starting point that Maltese descends from the Arabic language, based on what has been previously approved by researchers in the analysis of the Maltese language. We conducted a descriptive and comparative study of linguistic phenomena with their counterparts in the Tunisian dialect. This research includes the history of Malta, highlighting the Arab period and focusing on the text "Himyari"; perhaps, through historical events, at the end of the research a hypothetical conclusion can be drawn about the origin of the language and the population of Malta. We studied grammar and morphology, based on the Maltese approach to establishing linguistic rules and comparing them with Tunisian Arabic and Classical Arabic. We conducted an analysis of ancient Maltese texts from different periods to highlight the linguistic changes that occurred in the historical period between the 15th century and the present day; in particular, we performed a careful analysis of the poem "La Cantilène," as it is the oldest Maltese document, and the poem 'Mejju ġie bil-Ward u ż-Żahar' which dates from a later period, and finally an analysis of the poem "Catherine Ta'a Médine." We collected Maltese sayings and lessons and compared them with Tunisian ones. We also collected ancient Maltese words of Arabic origin, surnames, and place names of Arabic origin and compared them with Tunisian Berber words used in both countries. We conducted a field study using a questionnaire with Maltese people from different classes and regions to compare their linguistic and cultural perspectives on the relationship between Tunisia and Malta. We concluded with the research findings. Description: Ph.D.(Melit.) 2024-01-01T00:00:00Z