Education and emancipation in the thought and practice of scholars of Southern Italy (1861-1947)

Following Italian Unification in 1861 saw the birth of the “Southern Question”, which in fact encompassed a number of questions, first and foremost, that of education. Indeed, the pervasive ignorance, as decried by scholars of Southern Italy, represented a clear obstacle to the social and cultural emancipation of the Mezzogiorno, making it necessary to seek the enactment of suitable laws that would ensure the universal provision of schooling, especially in those areas where illiteracy was highest. Numerous ministerial enquiries, together with research carried out by intellectuals and philanthropists in many communities of the Mezzogiorno, gave rise to an intense debate on the real nature of the Southern Question, highlighting the centrality of the fight against illiteracy. By the first decade of the twentieth century, the state had also begun to address the issue of adult illiteracy, and numerous initiatives to tackle this problem were undertaken by philanthropic associations and individuals involved in education.