Applying Friedrich Ratzel's political and biogeography to the debate on natural borders in the Italian context (1880–1920)

Bibliographic Data

ID18947772
AuthorsMatteo Proto (0000-0002-9494-5632, University of Bologna, corresponding author)
Year2023
Volume78
Issue1
Pages41-52
Publication date2023-01-24
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueGeographica Helvetica (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0016-7312 • E-ISSN: 2194-8798
PublisherCopernicus GmbH (PUBLISHER • DE)
DOI10.5194/gh-78-41-2023
OpenAlexW4317885069
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited26

This paper examines the contribution of Italian academic geography to the processes of nation-building between ca. 1880–1920. With reference to Friedrich Ratzel's works, it explores the ways in which biological and vitalist theories shaped political processes. In the decades between Italy's national unification until the first post-war period, Italian academic geographers helped to consolidate the nation-state by means of theoretical reflection, applied research, and education. The main focus of geographers was in defining the national space and its boundaries, especially by developing a scientific analysis that could establish the exact position of the terrestrial border along the Alpine chain. The scientific topic was strongly connected with the nationalist question of irredenta, which garnered growing consideration in the last 2 decades of the 19th century. The epistemological turn in Italian geography was particularly influenced by new approaches in German geography introduced by scholars such as Oscar Peschel and Friedrich Ratzel and aimed to formulate a general understanding of biogeography in its relationship with the earth's physical space. The reception of this theoretical model in the political debate and the way it was applied in the following decades proved highly significant

Archaeology · Context (archaeology) · Critical geography · Epistemology · Geography · German · Historical geography · Human geography · Nationalism · Organicism · Political science · Politics · Social science · Sociology · Unification · Vitalism · Ecology, Conservation, and Geographical Studies · Geographies of human-animal interactions · Historical Geography and Geographical Thought · Law · Philosophy

Tools

Open DOIOpen Access