PRINCETON UNIVERSITY
Program in Italian Studies
Wendy Heller, Director
Symposium
Across the Borders of Desire:
Italy as a Land of Departure and Destination
March 31 – April 1, 2011
The Program in Italian Studies at Princeton University invites you to participate in a symposium titled “Across the Borders of Desire: Italy as a Land of Departure and Destination,” which will take place on March 31 and April 1, 2011, on the Princeton University campus. For the symposium, we are pleased to have with us GRAZIELLA PARATI (Professor at Dartmouth University) and JULIO MONTEIRO MARTINS (Writer and Professor at the University of Pisa, Italy) as the keynote speakers.
Beginning in the 1980s, Italy, traditionally a land of emigration towards Northern Europe and the Americas, underwent a transformation into a destination for millions of immigrants seeking a better life. Italian literature of migration, a key phenomenon for understanding the forces that regulate Italian culture, is an expression of this migration that is continuing to modify Italy socially, economically, and culturally. The objective of this conference is to reflect on the cultural practices birthed by a complex circuit of migration in which Italy is a land both of departure and arrival, a reflection made still more crucial in consideration of the imminent celebration of the 150th anniversary of Italian unification.
Papers presented may consider the following topics:
Migration and media
Migration and the urban space
Italian culture abroad
Italian-American literature
Migration and music
Linguistic dis-locations and/or translations
Migration and cinema
Women migrant writers
Migration and trauma
Papers on a variety of other related topics that adhere to the conference theme are welcome.
Those interested in participating should send a 200-250-word abstract, in the form of an electronic attachment, to LAURA GANDOLFI (gandolfi@princeton.edu) or ALIYAH SHANTI (ashanti@princeton.edu) by February 15, 2011. In your abstract, include name, email address, academic affiliation, and A/V requests. The length of each presentation should not exceed 20-25 minutes. Papers may be presented in English or in Italian.
Princeton University,
Program in Italian Studies
Wendy Heller, Director
Susan Kovach, Program Assistant
Laura Gandolfi & Aliyah Shanti, Graduate Student Coordinators
Symposium made possible with support from the Eberhard L. Faber 1915 Memorial Fund in the Council of the Humanities and the Program in Latin American Studies at Princeton University
