Call for Papers
Reading Through the Tears
This session invites papers that explore illness in literature/art from a
novel perspective: Illness not as subject/metaphor but as
strategy/perspective.
It isthe oldest theme: Mortality. How we face it is the novel-ty/artist-ry. Illness and literature seem a strange, though natural, coupling. The writer employs words and metaphors in a speculative realm of aesthetic qualities. The physician explores symptoms and diagnosis in a quantifiable field of physical properties. Both examine the nature of reality, both organize their perceptions of reality to fit often preconceived patterns that often depend upon transcendent insight.
Deadline:January 2nd, 2012.
Organizer: Franco Ricci
Chair: Franco Ricci
Italian Studies
University of Ottawa
fricci@uottawa.ca
ROUND TABLE: The Future of Queer Studies within the AAIS
This session seeks to provide a space for the evaluation of queer Italian studies. While we would like to look at the history of the Gay and Lesbian Italian Studies Caucus (GLIS) with some of its original members, our primary aim is discussing how to revitalise the caucus and securing the place of LGBT and queer topics within the AAIS.
ROUND TABLE: Queer, in Class?
This session will explore the personal narratives of LGBTQ or allied individuals in academia who speak about sexual identity and its effects on the teaching and learning process. The mission of this roundtable is to provide an experiential analysis of how sexuality can influence classroom dynamics in the high school and university setting.
Please e-mail abstracts of 150-200 words (in either English or Italian), a brief bio, and any specific A/V requirements by Monday, 2 January. General inquires and ideas should be addressed to Ayana Smythe at ayana.smythe@gmail.com or ayana.smythe@berkeley.edu
CFP 1
Medieval and Renaissance Notions of Love, Homosociability, Homosexuality and Queerness
When we talk about a homosexuality or queerness in medieval Italy, do we include women or is it largely perceived as only a male experience? What were the shared stigmas and bonds between the female and male homosexual experience, if any? Did separate notions of desire and community develop? This panel is interested in topics based on homosocial relationships, communes, or utopias between both men and women in a queer medieval and Renaissance Italy.
CFP 2
Performing Queer Ethos in 21st Century Italian Politics
Prompted by the apparent increased visibility of queer culture in Italy, this panel seeks to: consider how queer spaces are performatively constituted and contested in light of ethical and political concerns during and after the era of Berlusconi; explore the ethical and political relationship between queer publics, counter-publics and the public sphere; assess the ethical and political agency (or lack thereof) of a range of queer bodies, sites, and practices in the public sphere
Submissions may address topics such as:
• Civil-partnership and marriage ceremonies
• LGBTQ activism, protests and parades
• The erasure or expansion of queer spaces in urban environments
• Displays of queer relationships and intimacies, and/or their policing
• Queer celebrities, personalities and political figures
• Queer readings of spectators, participants, fan-bases and virtual communities
• Queer analyses of ostensibly heteronormative cultural practices
• Methodologies for the analysis and documentation of queer spaces
Please e-mail abstracts of 150-200 words (in either English or Italian), a brief bio, and any specific A/V requirements by Wednesday, 21 December. General inquires and ideas should be addressed to Ayana Smythe at ayana.smythe@gmail.com or ayana.smythe@berkeley.edu
12/2/2011
Round table title: Making Online and Hybrid Classes Work: Pro and Con
Abstracts by January 2nd, 2012
Chiara M. Dal Martello, Arizona State University,
Chiara.dm@asu.edu
Italian Stardom and Celebrity
This panel seeks to interrogate multiple aspects of Italian stardom and celebrity culture including but not necessarily limited to film and media. Other fields of analysis could be literary stardom, sports figures, and political celebrity.
Please send a title, abstract and audio-visual needs to Jacqueline Reich at jacqueline.reich@stonybrook.edu by December 20, 2011.
Cultural values and linguistic choices
This session welcomes papers discussing the relationship between cultural values, in this case italianità, and linguistic choice. Which linguistic forms do native speakers, interpreters and translators use in order to encode typical Italian cultural values?
Please submit a 150-200 word abstract and a brief biography to Manuela Pinto, Utrecht University, M.Pinto@uu.nl by January, 2.
Giacomo Leopardi: letteratura contemporanea e critica
La sessione, divenuta ormai tradizionale all'interno dell'AAIS, si propone di individuare il significato del pensiero e della poesia di Giacomo Leopardi nella letteratura contemporanea e di presentare gli ultimi sviluppi della critica leopardiana, con lo scopo di offrire indicazioni per una futura ermeneutica del suo lavoro. Si prendono in considerazione saggi su aspetti ancora poco esplorati dell'opera leopardiana; sulla presenza diretta e indiretta di Leopardi nella scrittura più recente; sull'applicazione ai testi leopardiani di metodologie critiche contemporanee; su nuove prospettive interpretative che contribuiscano ad analizzare la funzione che gli studi leopardiani possono rappresentare nella cultura contemporanea; sulla presenza di Leopardi nel mondo di lingua inglese.
Chair and Organizer: Irene Marchegiani, State University of New York,
Stony Brook
Please send abstracts by January 2nd to imarchegiani@notes.cc.sunysb.edu
Italian Graphic Novels and Comics
Papers on any aspect of Italian graphic novels and comics will be considered. Please send abstracts of 150- 200 words and a brief biographical note to Anna Giannetti, University of Oregon, agiannet@uoregon.edu.
Deadline: January 2, 2012
Experimental Writings from 1960 to the Present
Organized by the Sempremai editorial staff, this panel seeks to investigate the experimental works of all genres, spanning from the beginning of the '60s (the Neo-Avant-Garde) to the present. Papers analyzing the intersection between literature and other art forms are particularly welcome. All presentations will also be considered for publication in Sempremai's online journal and annual paper issue.
Please send abstracts by January 2nd.
Organizer: Giuseppe Cavatorta (University of Arizona) and Federica Santini (Kennesaw State University)
Email: beppe@email.arizona.edu and fsantini@kennesaw.edu
12/1/2011
The Further Line: Narrators? Poetry in the Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries
This panel will consider different aspects of the meaningful poetic production of authors, who are renowned for their narrative work. Contributions may be either in Italian or in English.
Please send abstracts to Anna Maria Chierici, University of Georgia
(chierici@uga.edu AND anna.chierici@utoronto.ca) by January 2, 2011.
Io ho i nervi! Neurosis and Hysteria in the Fin de Siècle
Paolo Mantegazza refers to the Nineteenth Century as "il secolo nevrosico" and the figures of the male neurotic, and (more often) the female hysteric, color the pages of modern fiction. This session will explore representations of psychopathologies and their implications in Italian literature and culture with special focus on Nineteenth and early Twentieth-century texts. Contributions that utilize various theoretical frameworks, as well as comparative and interdisciplinary approaches, are welcome. Please send 250-word abstracts with name and affiliation to Christina Petraglia at cpetragl@gettysburg.edu.
Please send abstracts by Decemebr 31.
Varietà rinascimentali dell'epica
Questa sessione esamina le diverse maniere in cui gli autori rinascimentali hanno adattato temi e modelli epici per esprimere valori ed aspirazioni della società contemporanea.
Organizer: Laura Benedetti, Georgetown University, lb227@georgetown.edu
Please send abstracts by December 31st.
Sound Affects: Listening to Italian Cinema
Starting with the notion of film as audio-visual medium and creation, this session invites investigations of the role of the sound track in Italian cinema, from the dawn of sound film to the present day. By sound track we intend not simply the traditional music-track but the noise-track, and the voice/dialogue-track. This opens the conversation to aesthetic, political and theoretical discourses of aurality and orality in film and modernity in their intersection with technological developments and the creation of new modes of listening and perceiving. The session encourages papers that focus on national specificities in the cultural and technical modes of soundtrack production, andpost-production in their relation with/to the image production. Listening to Italian cinema can track, among others, the following generic points: the musical ear, the linguistic question(dialects/standard Italian/foreign languages), the creative synergy of film director/music composer/sound arranger, the representation of national identity and imaginary as sound-scape, cinema as audiovisual poetry.
Please send a 350 words abstract to Antonella Sisto, Smith College, asisto@smith.edu.
Deadline December 31, 2011
Roundtable Title: Internship and Service Learning During a Study Abroad Program: A Practical Experience for Students and a Benefit for the Host Community
Organizer: Cristiana Panicco and Marco Marino, Sant'Anna Institute-Sorrento Lingue,
director@sorrentolingue.com, marco.marino@sorrentolingue.com
Please send abstracts by December 31.
11/22/2011
Italian theater Arts in the Sixteenth, Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries
This session welcomes papers on all aspects of Italian theater in the sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth centuries: commedia dell'arte, scripted theater, opera (seria o buffa).
Please email proposals by December 31st to dantuono@saintmarys.edu
Many thanks,
Nancy l. D'Antuono
Professor of Italian
Saint Mary's College, Notre Dame
Notre Dame, Indiana 46556
The Camorra, the Sacra Corona Unita and the N'Drangheta in film, television and other medias
This panel invites contributions that look at representations of Italy's other mafias (The Camorra, the Sacra Corona Unita and the N'Drangheta) in film, television and other medias. Proposals are also welcome that engage with the organizations' cultural history.
Please send a 200 word abstract to Giovanna De Luca (delucag@cofc.edu ) and Dana Renga (renga1@humanities.osu.edu) by January 2nd, 2012.
11/21/2011
Women and the Resistance in their Own Words
This session invites papers discussing first person accounts of female experience during the Italian Resistance to Fascism. First person accounts might include oral testimonies, autobiographies, memoirs, letters, interviews, etc. This panel aims to examine not only the accounts of those women actively involved in the Resistance but also the accounts of women with some other perspective on the Ventennio and the years 1943-1945. Note that perspectives from either side of the Fascist/Anti-Fascist divide are welcome.
Email an abstract of 150-200 words (English or Italian), a brief biography and anticipated A/V requirements to Fiona M. Stewart (fms15@psu.edu), The Pennsylvania State University, no later than Monday 2nd January 2012.
European Women in 19th and 20th century: Italy and Beyond
Questo panel si propone di analizzare la produzione di scrittrici italiane del diciannovesimo e ventesimo secolo in una prospettiva internazionale. I saggi possono essere di approccio comparato, cioe' considerando testi di scrittrici italiane in relazione ad altre scrittrici europee; oppure su testi e figure che intervengano su eventi storici, politici, e culturali di impatto transnazionale.
Please submit a 150-200 word abstract and a brief biography to Silvia Valisa, Florida State University, svalisa@fsu.edu by January 2nd, 2012.
11/16/2011
Echoes of Betrayal and Vendetta
From Julius Caesar's "Et tu Brute?" to Cosa Nostra's perfection of systematic vendetta, Italian culture has been scattered with tales of treachery and revenge. This session invites submissions of papers that explore these images through poetry, literature, and film. Please send a 150-200 word abstract in English or Italian, a brief bio and audio-visual needs, to Rosetta Giuliani Caponetto at rgc0006@auburn.edu no later than January 2nd, 2012.
Rosetta Giuliani Caponetto
Assistant Professor, Italian
Dept of Foreign Languages and Lit.
6056 Haley Center, Auburn University, AL 36849
Tel: 334-844-6371
Teatro e romanzo
The panel is open to contributions that explore the interaction between these two forms of artistic expression in Italian Literature, from the beginning of the twentieth century to the present. Topics may include - but are not limited to - the experimental uses of theatrical forms in novels, the ambiguous status of the narrative/theatrical monologues, the role played in literary or theatrical performance by the alternation between diegesis and mimesis, the problems connected to adaptations from novel to stage and viceversa, the work of authors who have experimented in crossing the traditional boundaries between theatre and novel. Please send a 250-word abstract and a brief bio to valentina.fulginiti@utoronto.ca or to wanda.santini@utoronto.ca by January 2nd, 2012.
Race, Migrancy, and (Post) National Belonging
Contemporary African immigration to Italy has led to a critical re-evaluation of passages, movements, and migrations shared by the Italian and African diasporas. This panel examines literary and filmic constructions of alternate histories and moments of cultural hybridity which destabilize "center/margin" discourses that delineate relations between the two diasporas.
Please send a 150-200 word abstract in English or Italian and brief bio to greenes@uwm.edu
Abstract deadline: January 2nd, 2012.
(Completed sessions shall be submitted to the conference organizers no later than January 22, 2012)
Organizer: Shelleen Greene
Affiliation: University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee
The Grand Hotel Abyss: Italian Culture 1880-1914
Gyorgy Lukacs's metaphor of the Grand Hotel Abyss epitomizes his view of La Belle Epoque as an era characterized by the collapse of traditional values and epistemological paradigms. With this in mind, our panel examines the concept of crisis in Italy between 1880 and the advent of World War I.
Send abstracts of 300 words and short bio to Elena Borelli elenabo@eden.rutgers.edu and Mimmo Cangiano domenico.cangiano@duke.edu by January 2nd, 2012.
Elena Borelli
Rutgers University, Italian Department
84 College Avenue
New Brunswick
New Jersey 08901
elenabo@eden.rutgers.edu
Mimmo Cangiano
Duke University, Department of Romance Studies
205 Language Center
Durham North Carolina 27708
domenico.cangiano@duke.edu
11/10/2011
New Tendencies in Italian Narrative
This panel explores critical and analytic perspectives on Italian narrative in recent years. In the context of new social and cultural trends, how have writers responded to the tension between reality and imagination? From a critical and analytic standpoint, what innovations have they brought to contemporary literature? What issues have they raised in relation to individual creativity? Any approach is welcome.
Please e-mail 150-200 word abstracts in English or Italian and short cv to Francesca Seaman ( fseaman@depauw.edu ) by January 2nd, 2012. (All completed sessions shall be submitted to the conference organizers no later than January 22, 2012.)
Social Fragmentation in Contemporary Cinema
This panel aims to explore sociological crisis in contemporary Italian cinema. Many films produced by directors such as Muccino, Soldini, Salvatores, Ozpetek, Lucchetti, VirzĂ, etc., are populated with traumatized characters who seem to have lost every point of reference; they desperately and unsuccessfully are in search of reasons for their existence. Papers with a psychoanalytical and sociological critical approach are encouraged.
Please, send 150-200 word abstracts in English or Italian, information about any audio-visual requirements, and a short bio to Annachiara Mariani, University of Tennessee, Knoxville (amariani@utk.edu) by January 2nd, 2012.
Roundtable: Technological Tools for Successful Teaching and Learning
This session aims to create a forum in which to share examples of good practice in the incorporation of technology in Italian courses with the intention of then creating an online repository of technological resources for instructors in higher education. Panel participants should thus be prepared to contribute material to the project. Examples drawn from language, literature, culture and/or cinema courses of all levels are equally welcome. Submissions should give attention to the pedagogical rationale behind the use of such technology and, where applicable, offer reflection on any issues encountered.
Please e-mail abstracts of 150-200 words (English or Italian), a brief bio. and specific anticipated A/V requirements - in PDF format - by Monday, 2 January.
Organizers: Deena R. Levy, dlevy@psu.edu & Fiona M. Stewart, fms15@psu.edu, The Pennsylvania State University
Through the Traveler's Gaze: National Identity and Travel Writing
This panel considers travel writing as the site for negotiating national identity. We invite papers that address the image of Italy and Italians through the perspective of foreign travelers in Italy or that of Italian travelers abroad.
Please send 150-200 word abstracts by December 31, 2011, to Michele Monserrati, Tulane University (mmonserr@tulane.edu) and to Stiliana Milkova, Independent Scholar (stiliana.milkova@gmail.com).
The Political/Politicized Reception of Dante
This panel invites papers on interpretations of Dante's work and life that emphasize its political dimensions, politics broadly understood. From Leonardo Bruni's critique of Boccaccio in reassessing Dante's career, to Protestant emphases on Dante's position versus the papacy in the 16th century, to Foscolo's "il Ghibellin fuggiasco," to the adaptation by LeRoi Jones/Amiri Baraka of Dante's Inferno to life in segregated America (to single out but a few), over the centuries readers have consistently used Dante's life and work as a means to comment on the complexity of their own respective political situations. Send abstract (150-200 words) to Dennis Looney by December 31, 2011: looney@pitt.edu.
11/7/2011
Italian Poetry in the Third Millennium
contact: Prof. Luigi Fontanella, luigi.fontanella@stonybrook.edu
Tel. 631-476-6678
Please send abstracts by December 31st, 2011
Round Table Title: Italian Journals in the USA: New Functions & Perspectives
contact: Prof. Luigi Fontanella, luigi.fontanella@stonybrook.edu
Tel. 631-476-6678
Please send abstracts by December 31st, 2011
Che invenzione prelibata! Unexpected opera accents in Italian Film
This panel invites papers which explore the unexpected appearances of operatic themes and images in Italian film: in the soundtrack/framing/screenplay and/or through the use of musical leitmotifs, visual, or textual elements.
Chair: Daniela Bini
University of Texas, Austin
Please send the title of your paper, a brief abstract (150-200 words) and a short bio to organizer Erika Marina Nadir University of California, Los Angeles at enadir@ucla.edu. Abstract deadline: December 31st, 2011.
The Contemporary Italian Documentary
In the history of Italian cinema, Italian documentary lacks the visibility accorded to other genres. This session intends to discuss documentaries that instead had a significant impact on the public reception. Particular attention will be given to recent Italian documentaries, to their development and goals, and to the relation between content and form, reality and fiction, history and truth. Different theoretical approaches to the study of the documentary, as well as comparisons between female and male production are welcome.
The session will host documentary filmmaker Cecilia Mangini who will participate via Skype from Italy.
Please, send 150-200 word abstracts in English or Italian, information about any audio-visual requirements, and a short bio to Anna Paparcone, Bucknell University (apaparco@bucknell.edu) by December 31, 2011.
11/4/2011
Italian Literature on Trial: Authorship vs Censorship
This panel explores the often controversial relationship between the Italian literary world and censorship. Topics may include, but are not limited to: policies of books censorship (books censored on political/religious/sexual grounds), self-censorship, works by Italian authors forbidden in Italy and abroad.
Please send 150-200 word abstracts to Matteo Brera, University of Edinburgh (M.Brera@ed.ac.uk). Proposals should be submitted by December 31st, 2011.
Food and Italian regional identities
This session will explore the representations of food in Italian literature and film to uncover cultural and/or regional identities.
Please send 150-200 word abstract of your proposed paper to Simonetta Milli Konewko, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, at smilli@uwm.edu by December 31st, 2011.
Round Table Title: Women's Studies Caucus Round Table: In & Out: What kept Women out of Mainstream Culture?
This Round Table will discuss cultural politics and practices that kept/keep women out of mainstream culture. Topics may include, but are not limited to:
- Women's exclusion/inclusion in the literary canon and in cinema
- The presence of women in the publishing industry
- Women's access to the public sphere in today's Italy
- Social history of women and women historians
- Sexual politics
- Representations of women in literature, cinema and the arts
- The future of Women's Studies or Future directions of research in
- Women's Studies
- Strategies for inclusion?
Please send a 200 word abstract to Chiara Fabbian (cfabbian@uic.edu) and Cristina Gragnani (cristina.gragnani@temple.edu) by December 31st.
10/28/2011
New Definition of “il femminile”
The representation of the female body in Berlusconi’s Italy is at the center of many cultural debates, both in Italy and abroad. This panel examines the ways in which he female body is being (de)/(re)constructed in the Italian visual media and in literature and
the ways in which women are asserting the need to abandon the new stereotypes imposed on them to formulate a new definition of “il femminile”.
Please send a short abstract to Davida Gavioli, Bowdoin College dgavioli@bowdoin.edu by Deadline: December 31st 2011
Italian Intellectuals Traveling Abroad in the XX Century
The panel seeks to investigate any travel writing published or unpublished, in Italian or in another language, documenting Italian intellectuals' travels abroad in the XX century. Please send 150-200 word abstracts in English or Italian to Chiara De Santi, SUNY Fredonia, chiara.desanti@fredonia.edu. Deadline: December 31st, 2011.
From Otium and Occupatio to Work & Labor in Italian Culture
Labor, work, and their changed conditions at the dawn of the 21st century are among the most discussed and debated questions of our times. In recognition of the topicality of this subject and in light of the historical centrality of Italy in the constitution of, but also antagonism towards capitalist formations, this session invites contributions that explore the engagement of Italian literature and the arts with their respective work cultures and/or contextualized investigations and debates over work, labor, laborers' self-fulfillment and agency of philosophers, political as well as economist theorists from different periods of Italian cultural history.
Organizer:
Norma Bouchard
Norma.bouchard@uconn.edu and Normabouchard60@hotmail.com
Representations of Animals and Theriomorphism in Modern Italian Literature
This section wants to explore how representations of animals and animalistic features have been used in modern Italian literature in order to suggest both a different understanding of the limits of our own humanity and a possible ethical relation with other forms of life. Papers addressing any use of animal imagery in literary texts, especially from the twentieth century, are welcome.
Please submit a 150-200 word abstract and a brief biography to Damiano Benvegnu' (University of Notre Dame) at dbenvegn@nd.edu by December 31st , 2011.
10/14/2011
Cos'e restato degli anni '80? Immagini e immaginario di un decennio da ri-vedere attraverso il cinema e la televisione.
Anni grigi, anni persi, anni orrendi, secondo alcuni commentatori; anni di importanti e decisive trasformazioni del Paese, secondo altri. La sessione ospita contributi utili ad una riflessione su tale decennio operata attraverso l'analisi della produzione cinematografica e televisiva degli e sugli anni '80: dal cinema autoriale dei "padri, figli e nipoti" all'allora nascente cinepanettone, dal fenomeno della neotelevisione al vintage cinetelevisivo di oggi.
Organizer: Christian Uva
Affiliation: Universita Roma Tre
Email address: christian.uva@uniroma3.it
Andrea Zanzotto: Poetry, Prose, Criticism, Conversations
Andrea Zanzotto, since publishing his Le poesie e prose scelte in 1999, has brought forth new books of poetry, literary criticism, interviews and conversations. New translations continue to appear. Papers are invited on any aspect of Zanzotto's work or reception from the 1950s until today.
Please send abstracts of between 150-200 words, a brief bio, and requests for audiovisual equipment to John Welle, University of Notre Dame at jwelle@nd.edu before December 31st.
Representations of (corrupted) Power in Italian Film
This panel invites papers which investigate the representation of power and corruption in Italian Film. Presentations may explicate films from a variety of possible periods and genres, including Mafia movies, Italian political Film of the '50s, '60s or '70s, film "gialli" or contemporary cinema.
Please send a 200 word abstract by December 31st to Camilla Zamboni (UCLA) czamboni@ucla.edu or Christopher B. White (UCLA) cbwhite@ucla.edu
Dantesque Horizons: metaphorical and real itineraries in the Divine Comedy
This session aims to discuss the importance of the theme of travel in the Divine Comedy. It is evident that the author uses literary forms particular to a travel story for different purposes: making narration more realistic, explaining the passing of time, etc. In this sense, it is very interesting to analyze these techniques chosen by the author by looking at the different ways he uses them in the text of the Canticles.
Please send the title of your paper, a brief abstract (150-200 words) and information about any audio-visual requirements by December 31st to Cristiana Panicco and Marco Marino (Sant'Anna Institute-Sorrento Lingue) to director@sorrentolingue.com and marco.marino@sorrentolingue.com.
10/7/2011
The Interplay of Literature and the Arts: an exemplar of multicultural mutual understanding.
This panel features interdisciplinary papers that consider the interplay between two or more of the following: literature, theater, music/opera, cinema and visual arts. Throughout history, the evolution of Italian culture and of the various art forms through which it is expressed has been closely aligned. Explicit discussion of the parallels between such fields allows for a greater understanding of these interconnections than can be had by considering any one in isolation.
Please email me a 200 word abstract by December 31st.
Organizer and Chair: Marco Cerocchi, La Salle University
email: cerocchi@lasalle.edu
Disability in Italian Literature and Film
This session is dedicated to modern and contemporary Italian literary and cinematic representations of disability (including cognitive disabilities). Theoretical approaches particularly welcome.
Please send 150-200 word abstract (in English or Italian) to Elizabeth Leake (Columbia University) by 1 December to el2598@columbia.edu.
Realism Under Fascism?
Taking the fascist period in Italy as its temporal focus, this session investigates what it means to produce realist literature in a context marked by the management of consent. Papers addressing any manifestation of literary realism during the interwar years are welcome.
Please submit a 150-200 word abstract and a brief biography to Kathleen Gaudet (University of Toronto) at
kathleen.gaudet@utoronto.ca by December 31, 2011.
Italy and China: Centuries of Exchange
This panel will examine the relationship between China and Italy throughout the ages in literature, film, and the arts. Possible topics that reflect the artistic, political, and economic exchange include Marco Polo's voyages, Jesuit missionaries in China, the phenomenon of chinoiserie, the Tianjin Concession, representations of China in film (Antonioni, Bertolucci, Amelio, and others) and Chinese immigrants in Italy today.
Please send 150-200 word abstracts in English or Italian and short bios to Mary Ann Carolan to mcarolan@fairfield.edu by Abstract deadline: December 31st , 2011. (All completed sessions shall be submitted to the conference organizers no later than January 15, 2012.)
Pasolini on the Verge
Pasolini continues to fascinate due, in large part, to his often-contradictory nature. This panel seeks to productively explore the liminal or contradictory elements in his ideology as expressed on screen and page. Possible areas of consideration include Pasolini and (post) modernity, spirituality, sexuality, environmentalism, Marxism and more. Please send 150-200 word abstracts in English or Italian and short bios to Monica Seger to mjseger@ou.edu.
Abstract deadline: December 31, 2011. (All completed sessions shall be submitted to the conference organizers no later than January 15, 2012.)
9/23/2011
Italian Cinema in the Present Tense: Case Studies and Current Trends:
Despite the widely held assumption that Italian cinema is in decline, the medium has given indications of strength and vitality in a number of ways. This session will be dedicated to considering the authorial talents, generic developments, technological advances, etc which have emerged in Italy. Please send 150-200 word abstracts in English or Italian and short bios to Millicent Marcus (Yale University) to email: millicent.marcus@yale.edu.
Abstract deadline: January 2nd, 2012 All completed sessions shall be submitted to the conference organizers no later than January 15, 2012.
Italian Judaism: History, Culture, Representation:
After the success of the first sessions on Italian-Jewish Studies last year at Pittsburgh and the constitution of the AAIS Caucus on Italian-Jewish Studies, a series of sessions will be dedicated at Charleston (May 3-5, 2012) to the study of Italian Judaism in all its historical and cultural aspects (from antiquity to the present) and in the multiplicity of its interdisciplinary connections and interactions with Italian culture (literature, music, theater, cinema, visual arts), including the way in which the Jewish presence has been perceived, appreciated, recognized or opposed in Italy (from anti-Semitism to philo-Semitism). In collaboration with the Italian Scientists and Scholars in North America Foundation (ISSNAF), the Italian Association for the Study of Judaism (AISG), and the Center for Contemporary Jewish Documentation (CDEC).
Papers may be offered either in Italian or in English. Specialists in Italian Jewry from America, Italy, Europe and Israel are invited to apply. Please send 150-200 word abstracts in English or Italian and short bios to Gabriele Boccaccini (University of Michigan) at gbocca@umich.edu, who will review the applications with the other two members of the Steering Committee, Prof. Jonathan Drucker (Illinois State University), Prof. Massimo Ciavolella (University of California at Los Angeles), and Prof. Millicent Marcus (Yale University).
Abstract deadline: December 1, 2011. Early submissions are welcome. All completed sessions shall be submitted to the conference organizers no later than January 15, 2012 to Gabriele Boccaccini at gbocca@umich.edu.
9/15/2011
Rethinking Photography in Italian studies:
Photography has rarely been object of attention in North American Italian studies. Considering its relevance in artistic, philosophical, political and cultural discourses, this panel will address the relationship between photography and cinema and photography and literature in Italian studies. Any kind of approach is welcomed.
Send abstracts to Nicoletta Pazzaglia, University of Oregon, nicol179@gmail.com or Marco Andreani, University of Bologna, marcoandreani18@yahoo.it by December 31st.
Alda Merini
This panel seeks contributions on italian poet Alda Merini. Send abstracts to Nicoletta Pazzaglia, University of Oregon, nicol179@gmail.com by December 31st.