Numbers and Nationhood Writing Statistics in Nineteenth-Century Italy [Paperback]

An innovative 1996 study of statistics in Risorgimento Italy, and their contribution to the national identity.Numbers and Nationhood explores the rise of statistics as a mode of representation in Italian society during the nineteenth century. Silvana Patriarca examines the ideologies which informed numerical productions, and the role which statistics played in generating a national image of Italy which nevertheless accentuated its internal territorial divisions.This innovative study provides a fresh reading of the historiography of Risorgiamento Italy, bringing issues of science, ideology and representation to the fore.Numbers and Nationhood explores the rise of statistics as a mode of representation in Italian society during the nineteenth century. Silvana Patriarca examines the ideologies which informed numerical productions, and the role which statistics played in generating a national image of Italy which nevertheless accentuated its internal territorial divisions.This innovative study provides a fresh reading of the historiography of Risorgiamento Italy, bringing issues of science, ideology and representation to the fore.Numbers and Nationhood explores the rise of statistics as a mode of representation in Italian society during the nineteenth century. Silvana Patriarca examines the ideologies that informed numerical productions, and the role that statistics played in generating a national image of Italy that nevertheless accentuated its internal territorial divisions. This innovative study provides a fresh reading of the historiography of Risorgimento Italy, bringing issues of science, ideology and representation to the fore.1. Introduction: the history of statistics between state making and objectifications; 2. A science for 'civilized' countries: practitioners, audiences and theories of statistics, 1820s50s; 3. Statistical description: between epistemology and politics; 4. Making public numbers: official statistics in the pre-unification monarchies; 5. Buildl£