In this discussion, Carlo Ginzburg, a widely admired and influential historian, will reflect on his life’s work and his contributions to the field of history, including his pioneering work in microhistory and the history of mentalities—in conversation with Emmanuelle Saada. A Q&A with the audience will follow.
Carlo Ginzburg is an Italian historian. He is best known for The Cheese and the Worms: The Cosmos of a Sixteenth-Century Miller (Il formaggio e i vermi, 1976) which examined the unique beliefs of Italian heretic, Menocchio. The book is a notable example of the history of mentalities, microhistory, and cultural history, and has been called "probably the most popular and widely read work of microhistory."
His other books include The Night Battles: Witchcraft and Agrarian Cults in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries; Ecstasies: Deciphering the Witches' Sabbath; The Judge and the Historian: Marginal Notes and a Late-Twentieth-Century Miscarriage of Justice; Clues, Myths and the Historical Method; and Threads and Traces: True, False, Fictive.
He has taught at the University of Bologna, UCLA, and the Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa. He has been a Senior Fellow of Columbia's Italian Academy since its inception. His interests range from the Italian Renaissance to early modern European history, and he has made important contributions to the theory of historiography, art history and literary studies.
Emmanuelle Saada is Professor of History and French and Chair of the Department of French.
This talk is part of the Eugene Sheffer Distinguished Speaker series of Columbia’s Maison Française; the series was created by the family of Eugene Sheffer to honor his commitment to the Maison Française, which he directed from 1942 to 1966.
This event is co-sponsored by Columbia’s Maison Française, Italian Academy for Advanced Studies, and Department of History, and by the American Academy in Rome.
This event is currently sold out. We expect to admit stand-by guests, space permitting, from 6:20PM. (Registration does not guarantee a seat. Doors open at 6:00PM.)
This event is in-person, not hybrid (not live-streamed nor on Zoom).
