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Taormina Home | Contacts | AAIS HOMEPAGE | AATI HOMEPAGE | Call for Sessions and Papers | Proposed Sessions | Program | Conference Registration | Hotel Reservation | Directions | Sponsors | Sightseeing & Extras | IMPORTANT NOTES WE HAVE STOPPED UPDATING THIS WEBPAGE. SESSION #1 -- Title: Italians in America, Italian-Americans, Americans in Italy: Writing Between Two Worlds Description: This panel aims to explore the works of contemporary Italian and Italian-American poets and fiction writers who are based in the United States, as well as those of American writers based in Italy, and the multifaceted ways in which the intersections between modern and contemporary Italian culture and the culture of the United States emerge from such works. Papers that utilize a gender or cultural studies perspective are especially welcome. Title and abstract to session organizer by January 25, 2008. Organizer: Beppe Cavatorta (beppe@email.arizona.edu) and Federica Santini (fsantini@kennesaw.edu) SESSION #2 -- Title: A Tribute to Adriano Spatola on the 20th Anniversary of his Death Description: Open Session Title and abstract to session organizer by January 25, 2008. Organizer: Beppe Cavatorta (beppe@email.arizona.edu) and Federica Santini fsantini@kennesaw.edu) SESSION #3 -- Title: Exile, Migration, Border in Italian Culture Description: Open Session Title and abstract to session organizer by January 25, 2008. Organizer:Andrea Ciccarelli (aciccare@indiana.edu) SESSION #4 -- Title: Speaking the Unspeakable: Mental Illness and Suicide in Italian Film Description: No matter its intensity and gravity mental illness is always a shattering and painful experience both for the individual that suffers from it and for his/her friends, family and the society at large. To augment the sorrow for all the parties involved silence, shame, and stigma often surround mental illness. From Germania Anno Zero and Europa 51 to La Stanza del Figlio, Respiro, and La Meglio Gioventu', Italian cinema has offered some poignant and compelling depictions of this complex and delicate reality that fuses the personal with the social. Papers that explore the cinematic portrayal of all aspects of mental illness are welcome. Sociological, psychological, multi-disciplinary, and original perspectives are particularly welcome. Title and abstract to session organizer by January 25, 2008. Organizer:Alessandra Seggi (SeggA328@newschool.edu) SESSION #5 -- Title: The Legacy Of Michelangelo Antonioni Description: The session aims at illustrating the innovative aspects of Antonioni's cinema. From Obsession in 1942, to Identification of a Woman, in 1982, the cinema of Antonioni has spanned over 40 years of aesthetic revolution, changing the way in which filmmaking was conceived. We invite the submission of papers dealing with any aspect of Antonioni's art. From cinema and literature to the treatment of time and space, and from the sometimes difficult relationship with other Italian directors to the unique nature of his images. Title and abstract to session organizer by January 25, 2008. Organizer:Carlo Chiarenza (cchiaren@csulb.edu) SESSION #6 -- Title: Dalla finestra: sguardi di solitudine Description: Contributors are invited to present papers focussed on the iconography of solitude (including, for instance, the window) in major and minor authors of 20th and 21st-century Italian Literature. An interest for the interplay between literature and visual arts is welcomed. Title and abstract to session organizer by January 25, 2008. Organizer: Anna Maria Chierici (anna.chierici@utoronto.ca) SESSION #7 -- Title: Il Teatro Napoletano Description: Open Session on the Neapolitan Theater Title and abstract to session organizer by January 25, 2008. Organizer:Mario B. Mignone (mmignone@Italianstudies.org) SESSION #8 -- SESSION COMPLETE Title: Lettura di poesie: Voci italiane d'America Description: Questa sessione si divide in due parti. La prima, esclusivamente a inviti, è riservata a poeti italiani già molto affermati e da tempo attivi negli Stati Uniti. La seconda parte è invece aperta a chi, esordiente o meno, voglia presentare i propri testi all'attenzione del pubblico e dei poeti convenuti. L'obiettivo della sessione è ovviamente quello di dare il giusto risalto a una realtà letteraria non ancora adeguatamente riconosciuta dalla critica ufficiale. Title and abstract to session organizer by January 25, 2008. Organizer: Antonello Borra (antonello.borra@uvm.edu) SESSION #9 -- SESSION COMPLETE Title: Italian lyric between XIII and XIV c. Description: Open session on the lyrical poetry of the first two centuries Title and abstract to session organizer by January 25, 2008. Organizer: Antonello Borra (antonello.borra@uvm.edu) SESSION #10 -- Title: Comedy Italian Style in 60s & 70s Description: The “commedia all’italiana,” has served for many years as a national cinematographic patrimony as well as the principal economic strength of Italian cinema. Internationally known when it comes down to filmmakers such as Mario Monicelli, or Dino Risi, the genre revealed and confirmed many acting talents during the two decades (60’s and 70’s) with picturesque icons, all of them depicting the Italian emblem in the most idiosyncratic manner. While constantly omnipresent in the collective imaginary of a new Italian society, these comedies can therefore be labeled as authentic renderings of Italian people, which at the time underwent fundamental transformations. Cynicism, irony, malevolence and cruelty, all composed a series of devices -mostly employed in dramas- which however in the Italian comedies seemed to trigger just the opposite: humor. This session has for objective to discuss the diverse functions of these satirical comedies with respect to their recurrent and influential undertone evoking cultural and historical traditions, breaking with the conventions of the postwar era comedies. Title and abstract to session organizer by January 25, 2008. Organizer: Rémi Lanzoni (rlanzoni@elon.edu) SESSION #11 -- Title: L’italiano neo-standard e oltre: le descrizioni teoriche dell’italiano contemporaneo nell’ambito romanzo e indo-europeo Description: La tornata vuole fare il punto sugli strumenti teorici utilizzati per descrivere le trasfomazioni dell’italiano di oggi dalla prospettiva comparativista. Title and abstract to session organizer by January 25, 2008. Organizer: Jana Vizmuller-Zocco (jvzocco@yorku.ca) SESSION #12 -- Title: Culture regionali e dialetti nell’insegnamento dell’italiano e della cultura italiana Description: La tornata si propone di rispondere alle seguenti domande: Quale ruolo svolgono/dovrebbero svolgere i dialetti e le culture locali nell’insegnamento della lingua e della cultura italiane? Nonostante il mondo postmoderno, le forze centripete, nazionaliste, prevalgono nell’insegnamento della lingua e della cultura? Quali varieta` non-standard appaiono nei testi scolastici? Come vengono descritte le culture locali nei testi per l’insegnamento della lingua e della cultura italiane? Title and abstract to session organizer by January 25, 2008. Organizer:Jana Vizmuller-Zocco (jvzocco@yorku.ca) SESSION #13 -- Title: Italian Poetry in English Description: This session is devoted to a discussion of the selections and omissions, challenges and successes of the most recent English renditions of Italian poetry composed in the last two decades. Title and abstract to session organizer by January 25, 2008. Organizer: Maria Esposito Frank (frank@hartford.edu) SESSION #14 -- Title: Media, Violence and Spectatorship Description: Open Session Title and abstract to session organizer by January 25, 2008. Organizer:Flavia Brizio-Skov (fbrizio@utk.edu) SESSION #15 -- Title: Informed Dissent: Forms of Political Engagement in the Information Age Description: This panel aims to discuss new forms of engagement present on the Italian web today, and their importance in a situation in which media journalism has been increasingly co-opted by institutional power. In what way are the blogs of Beppe Grillo, Jacopo Fo, Franca Rame, Marco Travaglio, Sabina Guzzanti, and independent media portals like Nazione Indiana, Zabrinsky Point, Articolo 21 new forms of resistance to the status quo? In what way can they be perceived as new forms of engagement? What is the potential and/or limitation of such resistance? Title and abstract to session organizer by January 25, 2008. Organizer: Rita Gagliano (r_gagliano@earthlink.net) SESSION #16 -- Title: The Medium in the Message: Literature in the Age of Television Description: This panel aims to address changes that Italian literature has incurred due to the rise of television as dominant media. More specifically, this session examines the new lexicon of literature of and about television, the new set of myths and new terms of experience and subjectivity that arise from it. Particular attention will be given to literature from the 1980s to the present. Title and abstract to session organizer by January 25, 2008. Organizer:Rita Gagliano (r_gagliano@earthlink.net) SESSION #17 -- SESSION CANCELLED Title: The Rediscovery of Italy by Late Nineteenth-century Travelers Description: Open session on works by men and women on travels by men and women by bicycle, train and other means as well as through other 'sports' in the late 19th Century. Title and abstract to session organizer by January 25, 2008. Organizer: Paola Malpezzi Price (pmprice@lamar.colostate.edu) SESSION #18 -- Title: Giacomo Leopardi: letteratura contemporanea e critica Description: La sessione 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. Title and abstract to session organizer by January 25, 2008 Organizer: Irene Marchegiani (imarchegiani@notes.cc.sunysb.edu or imarchjn@fea.net) SESSION #19 -- Title: Personaggi maschili nella letteratura delle scrittrici contemporanee e nel cinema Description: Questa sessione si propone di analizzare la questione se e come è cambiata l’immagine dell’uomo italiano nella letteratura contemporanea e nel cinema. Come presentano personaggi maschili le donne scrittrici e registe? Come in altri aspetti della cultura contemporanea, i personaggi maschili si possono considerare al di là dei confini del bipolarismo tradizionale? Title and abstract to session organizer by January 25, 2008 Organizer: Irene Marchegiani (imarchegiani@notes.cc.sunysb.edu or imarchjn@fea.net) SESSION #20 -- Title: Antonio Gramsci Description: Open session on the work of Antonio Gramsci. Title and abstract to session organizer by January 25, 2008. Organizer: Joseph Francese (francese@msu.edu) SESSION #21 -- Title: Antonio Tabucchi Description: Open session on the work of Antonio Tabucchi. Title and abstract to session organizer by January 25, 2008. Organizer: Joseph Francese (francese@msu.edu) SESSION #22 -- SESSION COMPLETE Title: The Engaged Intellectual Description: Session welcomes papers that seek to analyze the social function of the intellectual (public and academic) in the contemporary world. Title and abstract to session organizer by January 25, 2008. Organizer: Joseph Francese (francese@msu.edu) SESSION #23 -- Re-thinking ‘77, beyond the Years of Lead Description: This session is open to all contributions investigating crucial aspects and developments in the last years of the ‘70s and the beginning of the ‘80s. Topics may include the appearance of independent radio and press, the development of micro-politics, the impact of burgeoning post-modern aesthetics as applied to the fields of visual arts and popular media such as cinema and adult comics, and examples of innovative literary works. Title and abstract to session organizer by January 25, 2008. Organizer: Simone Castaldi (simone.castaldi@hofstra.edu) SESSION #24 -- La Sicilia (ri)adattata e adottata Description: Questa sessione si propone di analizzare representazioni cinematiche di artisti di origine non siciliana che hanno, in un certo senso, adottato ed adattato quest’isola al loro medium per trasmettere dei punti chiavi della loro interrelazione. Di particolare interesse sarebbero anche le tecniche e gli stili utilizzati dagli artisti, con la speranza di coprire una vasta gamma di periodi e media nonchè di effetti e tematiche. Title and abstract to session organizer by January 25, 2008. Organizer: Giovanna Summerfield (summegi@auburn.edu) SESSION #25 -- SESSION COMPLETE Title: A Voyage to Sicily Description: In A Journey to Italy , Goethe inspires others to follow his path : "Without seeing Sicily it is impossible to understand Italy - Sicily is the key to everything." This session welcomes papers that analyze voyages to Sicily during the eighteenth century. Title and abstract to session organizer by January 25, 2008. Organizer: Giovanna Summerfield (summegi@auburn.edu) SESSION #26 -- SESSION COMPLETE Title: The use of Podcasting, iPod and iTunes U to teach Italian Language, Culture and Literature Description: Session welcomes papers that seek to explore new and enhanced pedagogical tools to teach the Italian language, culture and/or literature in an academic environment. Title and abstract to session organizer by January 25, 2008. Organizer: Jacqueline Samperi Mangan (jacqueline.samperi@umontreal.ca) SESSION #27 -- “Terrone” and “Extra-Comunitario”: The Evolution of Racism in Italian Cinema Description:
Title and abstract to session organizer by January 25, 2008. Organizer: Grace Russo Bullaro (gracerbullaro@msn.com) SESSION #28 -- Italian Painting and Photography Description: Proposals are welcome that examine and analyze Italian painting and photography from any period. Title and abstract to session organizer by January 25, 2008. Organizer: Van Watson (wvwatson@email.arizona.edu) SESSION #29 -- Italian Dual-Language Preschool Immersion Programs: Keys for Successful Implementation Description: Results from a feasibility research study examining the components and experiences of successful preschool dual-language immersion programs from data collected locally, nationally, and internationally with regard to seed money; sustained funding; grants; facility acquisition; collaborative community efforts; instructional strategies; staffing; teacher preparation; administration; parental support; community involvement, and student population and demographics will be presented. Data from focus groups and interviews of site administrators, teachers, parents, students, and community members utilizing the action research culture of inquiry, qualitative analysis, and mixed methodologies will be discussed. Focus will be given to answering the following research questions:
Title and abstract to session organizer by January 25, 2008. Organizer: Leo LoSasso Ricciardi (LeeRicciardi@aol.com) SESSION #30 -- SESSION COMPLETE Title: Rileggere Vittoria Colonna Description: Questa sessione intende riflettere sull'opera, oggi praticamente inaccessibile al pubblico per la mancanza di un'edizione commentata, della più importante poetessa del Cinquecento italiano: Vittoria Colonna. In vista di un lavoro di cooperazione internazionale sul 'canzoniere' della poetessa si discuteranno problemi di vario ordine, toccando questioni relative allo stato testuale e alla dimensione macrotestuale della raccolta, ma anche e soprattutto riflettendo, dalla prospettiva degli studi di genere, sullo statuto dell'io lirico che vi si manifesta. Title and abstract to session organizer by January 25, 2008. Organizer: Tatiana Crivelli (tatcriv@rom.uzh.ch) SESSION #31 -- Contemporary Italian Poetry Description: Come ogni anno questa sessione si propone di fare il punto su alcuni autori significativi della posia italiana contemporanea e al contempo individuare tendenze e tematiche significative nell'attuale panorama della poesia italiana. Title and abstract to session organizer by January 25, 2008. Organizer: Luigi Fontanella (lfontanella@notes.cc.sunysb.edu) SESSION #32 -- Omaggio a Giorgio Bassani Description: A otto anni dalla morte di questo scrittore, la sua opera di narratore e poeta appare complessa e al contempo rilevante anche in relazione all'esperienza ebraica in Italia, concentrata analiticamente ed emblematicamente nella città di Ferrara, che visse, da vittima, gli orrori della persecuzione fascista e razzista contro la quale Bassani seppe opporre narrativamente l'incantesimo dell'infanzia e la felicità del sogno. A questa sessione dovrebbe partecipare Portia Prebys, che è stata per tanti anni la compagna di Bassani, e sul quale ha recentemente pubblicato un preziosissimo volume bibliografico. Title and abstract to session organizer by January 25, 2008. Organizer: Luigi Fontanella (lfontanella@notes.cc.sunysb.edu) SESSION (ROUND TABLE) #33 -- -- Per il centenario di Cesare Pavese Description: A cento anni dalla nascita, l'opera variegata di Cesare Pavese appare fra le più complesse e affascinanti del Novecento italiano, dagli ideali della letteratura "engagé " all'importante contributo dato, insieme a Vittorini, sulla cultura americana come mitico mondo della libertà, da opporsi alla chiusura repressiva del regime fascista. Scrittore tra i più amati, simbolo del disagio esitenziale dell'Italia del dopoguerra, la figura di Pavese oggi appare emblematica di quell'intreccio vita-letteratura e di quel vitalismo decadente che non perde mai divista la propria ricerca umana e letteraria. Title and abstract to session organizer by January 25, 2008. Organizer: Luigi Fontanella (lfontanella@notes.cc.sunysb.edu) SESSION #34 -- Contemporary Italian Women Writers and the Historical Novel Description: This session welcomes papers that treat recent historical fictions by women, specifically the relationship of these fictions to questions of gender, historiography, national ideologies and canon formation. Title and abstract to session organizer by January 25, 2008. Organizer: Carol Lazzaro-Weis (weisC@missouri.edu) SESSION #35 -- Twentieth Century Italian Women Writers Description: This session is open both to scholars who want to discuss a single book or a single author, and to those who prefer to explore a particular theme within the context of contemporary women's literature (for instance women and history, women and autobiography etc...). Title and abstract to session organizer by January 25, 2008. Organizer: Giuliana Katz (katz@idirect.com) & Anne Urbancic (a.urbancic@utoronto.ca) SESSION #36 -- Andrea Camilleri Description: An open session on Andrea Camilleri's life, fiction (also in translation), political and social engagement, as well as informed proponents (www.vigata.org) and opponents (F. Merlo et alteri) of his work. Title and abstract to session organizer by January 25, 2008. Organizer: Jana Vizmuller-Zocco (jvzocco@yorku.ca) SESSION #37 -- SESSION COMPLETE Title: La visione come genere letterario Description: Questo panel si propone di discutere quelle opere letterarie nelle quali la visione è lo stato mistico in cui si svolge l’azione narrativa. Molti racconti di viaggio vengono descritti attraverso una visione: questa è spesso divina, come nella Bibbia e nella letteratura agiografica, o trascendente come nella Divina Commedia e nella letteratura mistica del XIII sec. Si ritrova poi in opere di carattere storico-geografico come le narrazioni dei viaggi in Oriente dei gesuiti seicenteschi, o in visoni letterarie a noi più contemporanee. La visione, cioè lo stato psico-fisico nel quale il personaggio si trova a vivere la sua esperienza, è considerabile come genere letterario a sé stante? Partendo da questo interrogativo la sessione vuole analizzare un espediente che nella letteratura si ritrova con una certa costanza dal Medioevo ai giorni nostri. Title and abstract to session organizer by January 25, 2008. Organizer: Valerio Cappozzo (vcappozz@indiana.edu) SESSION #38 -- The Interplay between Literature, the Visual/Performing Arts and Cinema Description: The panel welcomes interdisciplinary papers (in both Italian and English) that explore and analyze the complex relationships between Italian literature and other art forms. Papers should illustrate how artistic theories and works are witnessed in contemporary literature or vice versa. This panel is also meant to explain new trends and ideas within the Italian culture as a result of the reciprocal influences between literatures and the Arts. Title and abstract to session organizer by January 25, 2008. Organizer: Marco Cerocchi (cerocchi@lasalle.edu) SESSION #39 -- SESSION COMPLETE Title: The Urban Imaginary: Cityscapes in Literature and Film Description: Italian writers and filmakers have often used cityscapes as referential places as well as metaphors of politics and projections of desire. This panel seeks papers covering cinematic and/or literary representations of cities. Title and abstract to session organizer by January 25, 2008. Organizer: Letizia Modena (letizia.modena@villanova.edu) SESSION #40 -- Marco Tullio Giordana Description: The goal of this session is to explore and analyze the works of film director and writer Marco Tullio Giordana, from the most diverse points of views, including, but not limited to, criticism, teaching practice, representation of recent history, political cinema, and contributions to television and so on. All approaches are welcome for a director who, whether liked or disliked, has become important in teaching Italy ’s most recent cultural and historical experience. Title and abstract to session organizer by January 25, 2008. Organizer: Federica Colleoni (fedcolle@umich.edu) SESSION #41 -- Dante and Friendship Description: This panel aims to address and explore the notion of friendship in Dante, particularly in but not limited to the Commedia. Title and abstract to session organizer by January 25, 2008. Organizer: Fina Modesto (f.minerva@earthlink.net) SESSION #42 -- La storia e l’estetica in Luchino Visconti Description: Luchino Visconti fu un attento osservatore della realtà e della storia. Questa sessione vuol focalizzare il modo in cui si evolve la rappresentazione estetica di Luchino Visconti nella sua cinematografia. Title and abstract to session organizer by January 25, 2008. Organizer: Gaetano Maruca (gmaruca@alice.it) SESSION #43 -- SESSION COMPLETE Title: Anna Maria Ortese: l'anima e l'esilio Description: La sessione si propone di esplorare i diversi aspetti della poetica di Anna Maria Ortese: la prosa, la poesia, la scrittura giornalistica. Particolare attenzione verrà dedicata al tema dell'Esilio nelle sue molteplici implicazioni e connotazioni (esilio dalla patria, esilio dalla lingua) che informa l'opera intera di questa grande scrittrice del Novecento scomparsa nel 1998. Title and abstract to session organizer by January 25, 2008. Organizer: Cosetta Seno Reed (cosetta.senoreed@colorado.edu) SESSION #44 -- Boccaccio’s Decameron and the Practice of Irony/Parody Description: Several critics (e.g., Delcorno 1995; Kircher 2001) have emphasized the role of irony/parody in Boccaccio’s tales. In pointing out a crisis not just in the exemplum tradition but also in medieval life as well, Boccaccio subverts exemplary tales, hagiographic stories, and even sacred myths in order to show the decadence of his world (mostly in Decameron 1-9) in an attempt to recreate a new society, primarily in Decameron 10. Title and abstract to session organizer by January 25, 2008. Organizer: Dino Cervigni (cervigni@unc.edu) SESSION #45 -- Open sessions on the Middle Ages and the Renaissance Description: Organizer is willing to collaborate with scholars interested in submitting papers on any aspect of the Middle Ages and Renaissance. Title and abstract to session organizer by January 25, 2008. Organizer: Dino Cervigni (cervigni@unc.edu) SESSION #46 -- I gialli regionali Description: Tra le caratteristiche piu` interessanti dei gialli italiani scritti negli ultimi 10-15 anni spicca quello dell’ambientazione regionale. Le particolarità dei gialli regionali spaziano dalla topografia locale alla gastronomia, dalla descrizione dei luoghi alla caratterizzazione dei personaggi, dal crimine particolare a quello globale, dalla storia locale a quella nazionale, dal dialetto alla lingua, tanto per elencarne alcuni. Questa tornata si propone di offrire confronti che tengano presenti le peculiarita` ma anche le somiglianze tra i gialli (intra- ed extra-)regionali. Title and abstract to session organizer by January 25, 2008. Organizer: Jana Vizmuller-Zocco (jvzocco@yorku.ca) SESSION #47 -- SESSION COMPLETE Title: Intertextuality and Intratextuality in the Middle Ages Description: This panel seeks to chart the role of references in Italian medieval literature. By exploring the intertextual and intratextual strategies in works of Dante, Petrarch, Boccaccio and other authors of the Italian Middle Ages, this panel underlines the fundamental function of literature as a system of references. Title and abstract to session organizer by January 25, 2008. Organizer: Francesco Ciabattoni (Francesco.ciabattoni@dal.ca) SESSION #48 -- SESSION COMPLETE Title: Cultural Implications of Italian Science and Technology Description: Although renowned for its culture as expressed in fine arts and literature, Italy also has a significant history in developments in science and technology. This session examines such as culture. The assumption here is that science and technology are intricately linked with society and are a social process. Papers are invited to explore topics in this ambit including the aesthetics of Italian science and technology (including design), the cultural significance of a given exploration, experiment or discovery, and the cultural process of scientific and technology production. Papers could also include links between Italian science and technology and literature and the arts (consider Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, for example). Title and abstract to session organizer by January 25, 2008. Organizer: Annette Burfoot (burfoota@queensu.ca) SESSION #49 -- Berlusconeide: Culture and Politics in Contemporary Italy Description: In this panel, we will discuss how Italian cultural production reacted to and counteracted the political and social changes brought about by the “descent” into politics of ex-Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. We welcome contributions that investigate the dynamics of the relationship between culture and politics in contemporary Italy through the analysis of literary, cinematic and other media (including digital) produced in the last fifteen years. Contributions are welcome from a range of different approaches: theoretical, historical, as well as comparative and interdisciplinary inquiries into film, literature, theater, television, and the internet. Title and abstract to session organizer by January 25, 2008. Organizer: Paola Bonifazio (paola.bonifazio@nyu.edu) & Silvia Carlorosi (scarloro@umd.edu) SESSION #50 -- Il fascismo nel cinema di Ettore Scola Description: Da “Una giornata particolare” a “Splendor” fino al più recente “Concorrenza sleale,” il fascismo è un periodo storico a cui Ettore Scola fa ripetutamente riferimento e ritorno, fornendone una critica spesso in chiave tragico-comica. Il regista confessa che “del fascismo ho, più che altro, ricordi grotteschi” e spiega che “Non ho mai fatto film ‘drammatici’ … Nel racconto dei conflitti, delle ingiustizie, delle situazioni più tragiche credo che debba esserci anche una dimensione di gioco.” Alla luce di queste considerazioni, la sessione si propone di analizzare il modo in cui Scola articola la propria denuncia del fascismo. Title and abstract to session organizer by January 25, 2008. Organizer: Silvia Marchetti (silviam@umich.edu) SESSION #51 -- SESSION COMPLETE Title: Processi di riscrittura SESSION #52 -- SESSION COMPLETE Title: La letteratura italiana della Svizzera: aggiornamento letterario d'oltralpe Description: Questa sessione vuole dedicare uno spazio letterario alle produzioni svizzere in lingua italiana; all'evoluzione delle produzioni e a possibili filoni letterari. Includendo produzioni di teatro e cinema. Title and abstract to session organizer by January 25, 2008. Organizer: Jacqueline Samperi Mangan (jacqueline.samperi@umontreal.ca) SESSION #53 -- La cultura italiana nell’epoca della riproducibilità tecnica Description: In Italia, come in altre parti del mondo, la fotografia è stata, sin dagli inizi, uno dei media più diffusi, svolgendo un ruolo importantissimo nelle pratiche sociali, culturali e quotidiane del Paese. Stranamente, però, questa multiforme pratica fotografica non ha mai dato vita ad un corpus di riflessioni teoriche che tengano presente la specificità della nuova tecnologia. Questa sessione si propone di esplorare il perché di questa rimozione, prendendo in esame il rapporto tra l’immagine fotografica (in senso lato) e la cultura italiana. Esempi di possibili argomenti includono: la paura della modernità nella cultura italiana studiata attraverso l’uso, marginalizzazione, banalizzazione dell’immagine fotografia nella letteratura; il suo persistere/insistere/ritornare alla superficie nel cinema; gli usi politici, sociali e storiografici dell’immagine fotografica; l'immagine fotografica e la narratività; l'immagine fotografica e la “crisi dell’esperienza”. Title and abstract to session organizer by January 25, 2008. Organizer: Giuliana Minghelli (minghell@fas.harvard.edu) and Sally Hill (sally.hill@vuw.ac.nz) SESSION #54 -- La neoavanguardia Description: La sessione intende analizzare i vari aspetti della neoavanguardia italiana, incluso gli aspetti non strettamente letterari (cinema, arti figurative, architettura). Title and abstract to session organizer by January 25, 2008. Organizer: Paolo Chirumbolo (chirumb@univmail.cis.mcmaster.ca) SESSION #55 -- The Literary Fragment in the Renaissance Description: This panel seeks to explore the possible meanings and objectives, as well as the use and frequency, of literary fragments composed in the Renaissance. This may include, but is not limited to, fables, maxims, aphorisms and facetiae. Papers addressing how literary fragments express Renaissance ideologies are welcome so too are those examining fragmented writings as a literary genre. Title and abstract to session organizer by January 25, 2008. Organizer: Filomena Calabrese (filomena.calabrese@utoronto.ca) SESSION #56 -- Dante, Petrarch, and Rome : Narrating a National Identity Description: Open Session Title and abstract to session organizer by January 25, 2008. Organizer: Demetrio S. Yocum (dyocum@saintmarys.edu) SESSION #57 -- Contemporary African Women writers in Italy Description: Open Session Title and abstract to session organizer by January 25, 2008. Organizer: Rosetta D'Angelo (ROSET74064@aol.com) SESSION #58 -- Manzoni and Postwar Criticism Description: The objective of this session is to engage italianisti familiar with I Promessi Sposi in a dialogue that began in 1827 and continues to this day. The postwar period (1950-1980) is marked by conflicting ideological forces in Italian society that resonate in the literary and political discourses. In such a tense climate, Manzoni’s novel was subjected to fresh, extensive analysis by two groups: critics who envisioned a secular society grounded in social justice and individual freedoms; and by students of Manzoni who identified his works with social progress informed by moral and spiritual values. Interventi on either side are welcome. Title and abstract to session organizer by January 25, 2008. Organizer: Augustus G Pallotta (agpallot@syr.edu) SESSION #59 -- Siciliane Description: This session invites papers exploring and analyzing works by, or about, Sicilian women (literature, film, photography, art, and music). All approaches and perspectives are welcome. Paper topics might range from studies of well-known literary and cinematic constructions of 'Sicilian womanhood', to analyses of recent representations of the women of Sicily and their island--for example, Letizia Battaglia's photographic images, and Carmen Consoli's musical portraits. Title and abstract to session organizer by January 25, 2008. Organizer: Claudia Pompei Karagoz (karagoz@duke.edu) SESSION #60 -- Appunti Pasoliniani Description: This panel is dedicated to Pasolini's "unrealized," or "incomplete" projects: visual, lyric and narrative. Please submit proposals for papers that consider Petrolio, Il Padre selvaggio, Appunti per un'Orestiade africana, Appunti per un film sull'India, or other unfinished works or appunti. In addition to papers that consider these specific works, the panel welcomes papers that theorize the status of "interrupted" cinematic or narrative texts. Title and abstract to session organizer by January 25, 2008. Organizer: Rebecca Falkoff (rrf@berkeley.edu) and Rhiannon Welch (rhiannon@berkeley.edu) SESSION #61 -- 19th Century Italian Women Writers Description: Open Session with a focus on Italian women writers of the Ottocento. Title and abstract to session organizer by January 25, 2008. Organizer: Anne Urbancic (a.urbancic@utoronto.ca) SESSION #62 -- SESSION COMPLETE Title: “I vecchi e i giovani”: incontri di generazioni in Sicilia Description: "Age studies" is a fairly new interdisciplinary area where scholars and practitioners are becoming increasingly aware of age as a critical category and a key concept for understanding cultural change. Developing an age-studies niche in Italian cultural studies is particularly important today in light of the country's dramatic socio-demographic trends and intergenerational dynamics (youth-old age population imbalance, "long-family" phenomenon, lack of generational turnover in the ruling class, growing second-generation immigrant population). This session invites papers that approach the "Italian age imaginary," i.e., the ways younger and older people construct and refute cultural views about aging, life-stage expectations and age-appropriateness codes, intergenerational relations and cultural transmission/legacies. Investigations of past and present age-related discourses across a wide range of texts and disciplines (literature, film, visual and performing arts, family and social history, pop culture, gender studies, Italian American studies, migration studies, etc.) are welcome. SESSION #63 -- Italian Modernism Description: This session is interested in any aspect of Italian modernism. Papers with a theoretical, interdisciplinary and/or comparative perspective are especially welcome. Title and abstract to session organizer by January 25, 2008. Organizer: Luca Somigli (luca.somigli@utoronto.ca) SESSION #64 -- Nonverbal behaviour in the pedagogy of Italian as L2 - Il linguaggio nonverbale nella pedagogia dell'italiano L2 Description: The introduction of nonverbal behaviour in second language pedagogy can meaningfully change today's interpretation of language teaching and learning. Language teaching and learning still attributes certain priority to linguistic competence of the verbal type compared to other competences (e.g., kinesic, paralinguistic, etc.). Contributors to this session will address the issue with particular attention to Italian as target language and will discuss the ways we can promote the teaching and learning of a variety of competences to better prepare learners to interactions in this language. Title and abstract to session organizer by January 25, 2008. Organizer: Giuliana Salvato (gsalvato@uwindsor.ca) SESSION #65 -- SESSION COMPLETE Title: Trading Values: Money, Morality, and Culture in Medieval and Early Modern Italy Description: As the modern western monetary economy arose in the late Middle Ages, the new symbolic system of money restructured all aspects of everyday life including religious practices, familial routines, sexual practices, gender roles, the production of literature and art, and urban space. In addition, notions of religious, ethnic, gender, and social identity were discussed and negotiated as trade encouraged more communication between diverse groups and communities. Complex ethical and theological discussions also developed because the role of money in everyday life and the accumulation of wealth seemed to contradict Christian ideals of poverty and charity. This session will focus on the role of the developing monetary economy in the late-medieval and early modern cultures and values of Italy. Title and abstract to session organizer by January 25, 2008. Organizer: Juliann Vitullo (juliann.vitullo@asu.edu) SESSION #66 -- Passions and Sins: Theories and Politics of Intemperance in the Literature and Cinema of the Unified Italy Description: This panel would welcome contributions that consider, from a variety of perspectives (philosophical/theoretical, political, gender or sexual politics, psychoanalytical, amongst others), the representation and significance of passionate or sinful excess in literary and cinematic works of the long Italian 20th century. Possible topics include but are certainly not limited to: Love and/or anger as forms of political or social engagement, Sin and/or passion as realm of madness and loss of subjectivity, Any or all of the Seven Sins as form of programmatic (political, cultural, personal) transgression, Representations of sin as social critique, Gender-based and psychoanalytical readings of passionate excess. Title and abstract to session organizer by January 25, 2008. Organizer: Deborah Amberson (dambers@rll.ufl.edu) SESSION #67 -- Politics and the Postwar Novel Description: Papers will examine the relationship between the postwar novel and Italian politics. Title and abstract to session organizer by January 25, 2008. Organizer: Virginia Picchietti (picchiettv1@Scranton.edu) SESSION #68 -- Italian Contemporary Cinema Description: This session aims to explore new trends and ideas in 21st century Italian cinema. Title and abstract to session organizer by January 25, 2008. Organizer: Paolo Chirumbolo (chirumb@mcmaster.ca)
SESSION #69 -- SESSION COMPLETE SESSION #70 -- Rethinking Conversion in 19th and 20th Century Italian Literature Description: This panel seeks to explore notions of 'conversion'--how this topos, central to Italian literature, might be deployed and/or subverted and to what ideological ends. Starting from a broad definition of the phenomenon, this panel will consider papers that address the topic thematically (i.e. narratives of conversion: political, social, religious or other) and/or structurally (i.e. the conversion of narrative, through intertextuality, censorship, translation or other) in 19th and 20th century Italian literature. Papers that take an interdisciplinary approach are especially encouraged. Title and abstract to session organizer by January 25, 2008. Organizer: Marisa Escolar (marisa@berkeley.edu) SESSION #71 -- Laughing Is a Serious Matter Description: The Italian Sense of Humor within the 17th, 18th and 19th Centuries Italian Performing Arts: Theatre and Opera. This session invites papers focusing on discussing and analyzing the art of creating comedy in Italian theatre and Opera from the 17th to the 19th century. This panel seeks to explore the possible transitions from one genre to another (from short stories to plays or to opera libretti), and the ways in which Italian playwrights and librettists fashioned a tradition that mirrored, satirized, and deconstructed values and realities contemporary to them. All approaches and perspectives are welcome. Title and abstract to session organizer by January 25, 2008. Organizer: Amaryllis Rodríguez (arodrigu@duke.edu) SESSION #72 -- La cultura italiana nel mondo:prospettive e programmi Description: Il tema proposto intende esaminare l'attuale status della circolazione della cultura italiana nel mondo (con particolare riferimento agli scambi interculturali italo-americani), in tutte le sue manifestazioni (cinematografia, letteratura,arte ) attraverso i moderni sistemi d'informazione. Il focus atrgomentativo verterà sulle proposte di organizzazioni strutturali (banche dati, sistemi editoriali etc) che, in prospettiva diacronica, potrebbere ottimizzare tali relazioni. Title and abstract to session organizer by January 25, 2008. Organizer: Daniela Privitera e Liborio Termine (privitera.daniela@gmail.com) SESSION #73 -- Women Writing in Italian across the genres Description: Open Session Title and abstract to session organizer by January 25, 2008. Organizer: Davida Gavioli (dgavioli@colby.edu) SESSION #74 -- SESSION COMPLETE Title: La politica a teatro Description: La comunicazione teatrale, grazie al suo intrinseco carattere di comunicazione 'di massa', si presta da sempre a veicolare discorsi di natura politica. Questa sessione è aperta a contributi che analizzino occasioni diverse di uso 'politico' del teatro: dal teatro del principe in epoca rinascimentale al teatro del popolo in età giacobina e risorgimentale, dalle serate futuriste alle esperienze dei collettivi teatrali degli anni '60, dalla esperienza di Dario Fo e Franca Rame al nuovo teatro 'di narrazione'. Title and abstract to session organizer by January 25, 2008. Organizer: Claudia Chierichini (cchieric@mtholyoke.edu) SESSION #75 -- The Italian novella collection "à la Boccaccio": imitations, emulations, tranformations Description: Open session Title and abstract to session organizer by January 25, 2008. Organizer: Martin Marafioti (mmarafioti@pace.edu) SESSION #76 -- SESSION COMPLETE Title: Crossing Literary Borders / Intersecting Disciplinary Boundaries Description: Open session Title and abstract to session organizer by January 25, 2008. Organizer: Martin Marafioti (mmarafioti@pace.edu) SESSION #77 -- SESSION COMPLETE Title: Strategie della passione: il cinema tra politica e ideologia. Italia 1948-1968 Description:Nel dopoguerra il cinema italiano ha attentamente e appassionatamente riflettuto i profondi cambiamenti vissuti dalla società. Insoddisfatto però nell'essere solo un riflesso, deformante e non, di tali trasformazioni, il nostro cinema nazionale si è volontariamente e caparbiamente reso anche documento e frammento di tale passione, registrando puntualmente sia il dibattito politico sia quello ideologico, ed anzi facendosi testimone di quella che negli anni è divenuta forse un'irreparabile frattura tra ideologia e politica. In occasione dell'anniversario di entrambi questi due momenti fondativi dell'Italia contemporanea, il 1948 e il 1968, si vogliono sollecitare riflessioni sul ruolo del cinema come soggetto di una vera e propria strategia della 'passione', politica e/o ideologica, nell'Italia del dopoguerra. Title and abstract to session organizer by January 25, 2008. Organizer: Manuela Gieri (m.gieri@utoronto.ca) SESSION #78 -- SESSION COMPLETE Title: The Teachers' Blog as a Teaching Tool Description: Setting up a blog today is quite easy; incorporating it as a teaching resource is fascinating. Blogs can increase reading and listening skills by including reading material along with audio and video files allowing students to be immersed in the culture and the language. Teachers can easily extrapolate segments of interviews, movies and documentaries and make them available to students. The significant advantages are the use of authentic language only, the total immersion in the culture and the activation of the processes of cultural learning which go beyond the verbal expression extending to the shared culture within a community (Italians in this case). Moreover, blogs make it possible for teachers to work with up-to-date and fresh material making language learning more interesting for students too. Title and abstract to session organizer by January 25, 2008. Organizer: Alessandro Adorno (director@babilonia.it) SESSION #79 -- SESSION COMPLETE Title: Storie di prigionia e di fuga nella cultura italiana Description: Questa sessione si concentra su testi letterari, storici e autobiografici relativi ai secoli XVIII-XX, che abbiano al centro il tema della prigionia e/o della fuga. Title and abstract to session organizer by January 25, 2008. Organizer: Cristina Gragnani (gragnani@uic.edu) SESSION #80 -- One Hundred Years of Italian American Cinema Description: This session focuses on the representation of Italian American culture as the “Other” in mainstream and independent North-American cinema from D.W. Griffith’s silent movies, such as The Greaser’s Gauntlet (1908) and In Little Italy (1909), to Martin Scorsese’s The Departed (2006) and beyond. Contributions with a cultural studies approach are particularly welcome. Title and abstract to session organizer by January 25, 2008. Organizer: Margherita Heyer-Caput (mheyercaput@ucdavis.edu) SESSION #81 -- Il teatro italiano di fine Ottocento e inizio Novecento Description: Open Session Title and abstract to session organizer by January 25, 2008. Organizer: Christine Sansalone (csansalone@laurentian.ca) SESSION #82 -- Italian Utopian and Intentional Communities Description: Papers are sought that address the topic of intentional and utopian communities past and present in Italian geography, culture and literature. These spaces can be physical, mental, linguistic, political, cultural, spiritual, virtual or literary. Title and abstract to session organizer by January 25, 2008. Organizer: Cristina Perissinotto (cperissi@uottawa.ca) SESSION #83 -- Travel In Italy and Italians Traveling Abroad Description: Papers are sought that address the discourse of travel, identity and the individual in Italian culture. We seek papers about travels in Italy , as well as about Italian travelers abroad. We would like to see papers from a wide range of theoretical and cultural perspectives, including anthropology, women’s studies, literary criticism and cultural studies. Title and abstract to session organizer by January 25, 2008. Organizer: Cristina Perissinotto (cperissi@uottawa.ca) SESSION #84 -- Italian Philosophies in the New Millennium Description: We welcome papers that discuss the contemporary philosophical landscape in Italy and its possible effects abroad. From Severino to Vattimo, from Empire to postcolonialism, this panel seeks to address the major issues in Italian philosophical debates nowadays, and the way Italian philosophy is affecting international political and philosophical thought. Title and abstract to session organizer by January 25, 2008. Organizer: Cristina Perissinotto (cperissi@uottawa.ca) SESSION #85 -- Industrial Italy Description: Papers are sought to address the representation of Italian business and industry from a philosophical, ethical, filmic and literary point of view. We shall discuss the world of Italian business, high finance, industry and international trade; from our (ex) presidente operaio to our capitale morale, from white-collar crimes to inflation, from outsourcing to the ecological impact of Italian industry on the land. Title and abstract to session organizer by January 25, 2008. Organizer: Cristina Perissinotto (cperissi@uottawa.ca) SESSION #86 -- SESSION COMPLETE Title: The Urban Imaginary: Cityscapes in Literature and Film 2 Description: Italian writers and filmakers have often used cityscapes as referential places as well as metaphors of politics and projections of desire. This panel seeks papers covering cinematic and/or literary representations of cities. Title and abstract to session organizer by January 25, 2007. Organizer: Letizia Modena (letizia.modena@villanova.edu) SESSION #87 -- Sciascia: Narrative, Ideology, Politics Description: Cognizant of the fact that this year’s Conference is held in Sicily, this session represents a tribute to Leonardo Sciascia, one of the most discerning observers of postwar Italian society. The Confer-ence papers of this session should address one or more of the topics mentioned in the title, which summarize the essence of Sciascia’s work: ingenious use of the detective novel as an instrument to probe and shed light on the deception and connivance of the political system; the ever-present shadow of mafia operatives; the inefficient and corrupt socialinstitutions. Informing these aspects of society is a keen and incisive mind nurtured by a secular ideology which shuns political parties and points to justice and social emancipation. Title and abstract to session organizer by January 25, 2008. Organizer: Augustus Pallotta (agpallot@syr.edu) SESSION #88 -- Garibaldi’s Legacy and the End of Nations Description: What is the “end” of nations? “End” may here be understood in various senses: e.g. as the goal or purpose of an undertaking or project—what were nations meant to accomplish?; as the point when something ceases to exist—are nations and nationalisms dead or on their way to extinction?; or as the part of an area that lies at the boundary and marks its extent—how far do nationalist projects and national identities extend and how do they interact with other types of identity: e.g. racial, ethnic, religious, ideological, etc.? Are we still operating in the golden age of high nationalism and nationalist heroism cultivated in the 19th century, negotiating its endgame, or already in the throes of nostalgia for its loss? In the wake of the world-wide observance of the bicentennial of Giuseppe Garibaldi’s birth in 2007, this session will address topics that issue from or gravitate around his complex and controversial legacy, in Italy and Europe, as well as in South America and elsewhere. The aim is not merely to celebrate the “Hero of Two Worlds,” but to take a closer, more critical look at the legacy that he and his times have bequeathed to us. Title and abstract to session organizer by January 25, 2008. Organizer: Sante Matteo (matteos@muohio.edu) SESSION #89 -- Morphosyntactic phenomena in Italian Description: This session is open to papers on diachronic and synchronic issues of morphosyntax in Italian or Italian and the Romance languages. Title and abstract to session organizer by January 25, 2008. Organizer: Janice Aski (janiceaski@yahoo.com) SESSION #90 -- SESSION COMPLETE Title: Terrorismi d'Italia: Letteratura, cinema e societa' dagli anni 60 ad oggi Description: Fare il punto su memoria e rappresentazione di un fenomeno ci consente di mettere in luce la coscienza storica che abbiamo di esso, il suo "significato" retrospettivo - e attuale. Che traccia conserva, che "coscienza" crea nella nazione di oggi (ammesso ancora ne crei) il tragico periodo dei terrorismi italiani? Title and abstract to session organizer by January 25, 2008. Organizer: Carlo Testa (ctesta@interchange.ubc.ca) SESSION #91 -- Postcolonial Italy: Theories, Imagination, Practices Description: This session intends to analyze Italian culture through a series of postcolonial lenses of investigation. The organizers welcome interdisciplinary contributions that pertain to the study of those processes -- in a variety of forms from literature, film and media studies to history and (bio)politics -- that posit, discuss and represent Italy, unavoidably, if reluctantly, as a postcolonial country, with an all too often unacknowledged past of colonialism and migration and an uncertain post-nationalist future. Title and abstract to session organizer by January 25, 2008. Organizer: Clarissa Clò (cclo@mail.sdsu.edu) & Cristina Lombardi-Diop (cldiop@yahoo.com) SESSION #92 -- SESSION COMPLETE Title: Tra-duzione letteraria in prosa ed in poesia. Tra riva e riva, naufraghi e salvati Description: Un banale, antiquato poncif vorrebbe ancora imporci di concepire la tra-duzione letteraria come indistricabilmente avvinta ad un destino di tra-dimento. Al contrario, mettendo in rilievo teorie e pratiche di tra-duzione come *negoziato* tra molteplici ed egualmente necessarie esigenze, questa tavola rotonda si propone di sottolineare l'aspetto "soteriologico" del voltare da linguaggio in linguaggio. Nel trasportare la parola letteraria da una riva ad un'altra, il tra-durre ne puo' infatti -- per definizione, sotto mutate spoglie -- *salvare* la vita. Perche', e come, può questo salvataggio riuscire? Perché, e come, può fallire? Title and abstract to session organizer by January 25, 2008. Organizer: Carlo Testa (ctesta@interchange.ubc.ca) SESSION #93 -- Introduzione alla letteratura italiana per studenti di lingua del primo anno Description: La presentazione si propone di analizzare lo status attuale dell’insegnamento della lingua italiana nelle fasi iniziali del primo anno di studio con approccio facilitato alla letteratura. Gli studenti che cominciano a studiare la lingua italiana pur essendo limitati nella conoscenza di argomenti o elementi necessari alla conversazione e discussione letteraria, sono interessati alla scoperta della letteratura italiana sopratutto con riferimento ai grandi nomi dei primi scrittori di lingua italiana. Il loro interesse e’ mosso da una curiosita’ spontanea e semplice. Da qui la necessita’ di aprire un varco alla conoscenza attraverso un approccio un po’ elementare e anche alternativo. Attraverso alcuni tipi di strumenti moderni e contemporanei, gli studenti familiarizzano con la letteratura e la cultura che altrimenti per loro sarebbe astratta e occulta. Title and abstract to session organizer by January 25, 2008. Organizer: Anna Iacovella (anna.iacovella@yale.edu) SESSION #94 -- Campania and Sicily: A case of diverging similarities? Description: Guy de Maupassant observed that perhaps the most drastic contrast between any two Italian regions is that belying the culture and customs of Campania and Sicily. This session aims to explore the spirit of the former "Due Sicilie" through their respective literature and culture, ultimately with the scope of glossing Maupassant's conjecture. Papers referencing dialect literature are most welcome. Title and abstract to session organizer by January 25, 2008. Organizer: Fiorentina Russo (russof@stjohns.edu) SESSION #95 -- SESSION COMPLETE Title: La classe di lingua straniera come luogo di riflessione e apprendimento interculturale Description: La centralità della cultura nell’insegnamento delle lingue straniere è oggi un principio che riscuote unanime consenso. La sessione intende indagare l’applicazione di tale principio alla pratica didattica, ovvero come la cultura della lingua di apprendimento (l’italiano in particolare, ma non solo) e la cultura d’appartenenza del discente vengano oggi, o possano essere “utilizzate” nella classe di lingua per promuovere negli studenti lo sviluppo di una competenza definibile in termini sociolinguistici, nei termini, cioè, di “competenza interculturale” Title and abstract to session organizer by January 25, 2008. Organizer: Lucia Ghezzi (lucia.ghezzi@utoronto.ca) SESSION #96 -- Italian Renaissance Drama: 'Imitatio vitae, speculum consuetudinis, imago veritatis' (Cicero) Description: This panel aims to explore the social, political, and aesthetic role played by the theater in the Italian Renaissance. Paper proposals may include (but are not limited to): the role of comedy; the development of secular drama; the influence of classic texts; the ways in which drama reflected and influenced Renaissance society; the question of how subjectivity and gender are ³performed,² and how their performance onstage is construed; cross-dressing; the emergence of role of the actress; the dynamics of spectatorship; the development of perspective in painting and theatre; and the staging of court power relations. Title and abstract to session organizer by January 25, 2008. Organizer: Angela Capodivacca (Angela.Capodivacca@yale.edu) SESSION #97 -- Brutte, sporche e cattive: anti-canoni letterari al femminile nella cultura italiana Description: This session aims at exploring issues originating from aesthetically and morally alternative female characters in Italian literature and visual arts. What are the most common roles played by women who are not beautiful and attractive, and who escape the strictures of the socially accepted models of wife or nun? Do they really enjoy a higher level of freedom? Under what conditions and at what price? The panel welcomes papers addressing, among others, the non- or anti-canonical subjects from the point of view of gender otherness. Title and abstract to session organizer by January 25, 2008. Organizer: Paolo Pucci (ppucci@uvm.edu) SESSION #98 -- Women and/ in Italian Academies: Principles, Policies, and Practices Description: In seventeenth and eighteenth-century Europe, women were members of regional, provincial, and national academies--this session seeks papers that examine women¹s presence in literary and scientific Italian academies of the time. Papers¹ topics include (but are not limited to): the definitions of conversations, private academies and public academies; the various degrees of women¹s participation (from honorary membership to trend-setting contribution); women¹s poetics in relationship to the academies¹ expectations and standards; the academies¹ principles, politics, policies, and practices as bearing upon women's participation and presence. Title and abstract to session organizer by January 25, 2008. Organizer: Paola Giuli (giuli@sju.edu) SESSION #99 -- New Directions in Primo Levi Criticism Description: Along with other works of Holocaust literature, Levi’s texts are often presumed to be transparent in meaning, and those assumptions are now being challenged in Levi criticism. The paperson the panel will look at Levi as an author who wrote complicated, sometimes contradictory texts, and assess the current state of Levi studies. Title and abstract to session organizer by January 25, 2008. Organizer: Nancy Harrowitz (nharrow@bu.edu) SESSION #100 -- La noia nelle opere italiane (letterarie, teatrali, e/o cinematografiche) Description: Invito relazioni che trattano della presenza della noia nei protagonisti di opere letterarie, teatrali e/o cinematografiche di ogni epoca e avendo subito influenze dalla filosofia (Pascal, Kant, Shoenhauer, Kierkegaard, Benjamin, Nietzshe, Svendsen) e/o dalla letteratura (Flaubert, Baudelaire, Leopardi, Dostoevsky, Byron, Isben, Pessoa, Moravia), oppure provenendo della cultura in generale. L'argomento si estende anche alla presenza della melancolia e dello "spleen" e le sue varie definizioni e interpretazioni. Title and abstract to session organizer by January 25, 2008. Organizer: Marisa Ruccolo (Marisa.Ruccolo@uvm.edu ) SESSION #101 -- Title: Vincenzo Consolo Description: Open session. Title and abstract to session organizer by January 25, 2008. Organizer: Joseph Francese (francese@msu.edu) and Daragh O'Connell (fsantini@kennesaw.edu) SESSION #102 -- SESSION COMPLETE Title: Cinema politico: oggi, ieri e domani Description: This session asks how and why our understandings of Italian cinema politico or cinema di impegno requires revision from the perspective of a moment when alternative social visions are becoming more and more difficult to generate and sustain. In the context of neoliberal "globalization," hegemonizing NATO and European Union policy-making, and corporate ownership of the media, how are both critics and filmmakers evolving broader understandings of "politics?" What are the implications of these understandings for the category of "national cinema," closely associated in the case of Italy with cinema politico? Title and abstract to session organizer by January 25, 2008. Organizer: Maguerite Waller (mwaller@ucr.edu) and Aine O'Healy (aohealy@lmu.edu) SESSION #103 -- Title: Incontro con scrittori italiani Description: Questa sessione invita autori contemporanei italiani e critici, a presentare al pubblico, le loro opere, tramite la lettura di estratti e tramite una critica letteraria mirata. Molti di questi autori, anche se riconosciuti e premiati dalla critica, non sono necessariamente visibili al pubblico italiano e a quello nordamericano. Anche se alcuni romanzi contemporanei passano lo scrutinio di lettori scelti, come al Premio Zerilli-Marimo` di New York, Premio Bagutta, Premio Viareggio, Premio Strega, Premio Accademia dei Lincei, Premio Campiello, Premio Bancarella e Premio Fondo Feltrinelli, spesso non sono conosciuti dal grande pubblico, particolarmente non sono esposti al pubblico accademico nordamericano. Title and abstract to session organizer by January 25, 2008. Organizer: Jacqueline Samperi Mangan (jacqueline.samperi@umontreal.ca) SESSION #104 -- Title: The Sicilian Fairy Tales and its folkloristic tradition Description: The aim of this paper is to focus on the development of Sicilian folk tales from Giuseppe Pitrè’s and Laura Gonzenbach’s transmission and interpretation of an oral tradition to the literary fairy tales created by Luigi Capuana in his five collections. According to I. Calvino the simple structure of fairy tales implies a general explanation of the world and its moral values. Therefore the analysis of both the structure of some proposed fairy tales and of the function of their main characters will lead to the explanation of their metaphorical implication and to a better understanding of the connection between folklore and literature. The didactic relevance of analysing such a connection will also be focused on. Title and abstract to session organizer by January 25, 2008. Organizer: Marina Di Stefano (distefano@Cardiff.ac.uk) SESSION #105 -- SESSION COMPLETE Title: Le opere latine di Boccaccio Description: La sessione si propone di riconsiderare le opere latine di Boccaccio - in particolar modo il De mulieribus claris, il De casibus virorum illustrium e il Genealogie deorum gentilium - nella speranza di rilevarne i tratti narrativi e le analogie con le opere volgari, risanando la frattura, conseguenza di una lunga ma ormai datata tradizione critica, tra i due ambiti della produzione boccacciana. Benvenuti anche saggi che illuminino nuovi aspetti delle opere latine di Messer Giovanni, nell’intento di evidenziare la loro importanza storico-letteraria. Title and abstract to session organizer by January 25, 2008. Organizer: Elsa Filosa (elsa.filosa@vanderbilt.edu) SESSION #106 -- Title: L'autobiografia dal Barocco al Romanticismo Description: Open Session Title and abstract to session organizer by January 25, 2008. Organizer: Elsa Filosa (elsa.filosa@vanderbilt.edu) SESSION #107 -- Title: L'insegnamento dell'italiano nei programmi universitari americani in Italia. Description: In questa sessione sarà presentato il lavoro dei docenti di lingua italiana che insegnano nei programmi universitari americani presenti in Italia. In particolare vorremmo ospitare le presentazioni degli insegnanti che, operando in classi monolingue formate da studenti anglofoni, hanno sviluppato nuovi approcci metodologi, e realizzato nuovi testi e prodotti editoriali. Title and abstract to session organizer by January 25, 2008. Organizer: Ada Bertini Bezzi (abertini@johncabot.edu) |