Lessons in Nationhood: Power, Gender, and Schooling in Post-Unification Southern Italy

Abstract

This paper expands on research presented at the 13th Annual International Conference on Humanities & Arts in a Global World, analyzing the relationship between state power, ideology, and public education in post-Unification Southern Italy. Focusing on the former province of Terra d’Otranto, it examines an area marked by illiteracy, economic backwardness, and clerical influence. Based on extensive bibliographic and archival sources—official correspondence, ministerial circulars, school regulations, and inspection reports—the study reconstructs both the legislative framework and its local implementation, revealing tensions between reform and reality. The paper investigates how the newly unified state sought to centralize, secularize, and standardize education through the Casati (1859) and Coppino (1877) laws, introducing compulsory schooling and reducing Church control. Yet, poor funding and municipal responsibility led to uneven application. A key focus is the rivalry between state schools and unauthorized religious institutions, especially those run by female congregations such as the Daughters of Charity. Promoting domestic and devotional education, these schools contrasted with the state’s civic and national aims. Ultimately, the study shows that education in Terra d’Otranto became a contested arena where state authority, local culture, and gender norms intersected—anticipating dynamics later intensified under Fascism.