Call for Papers – AATI at Lucca (Updated Nov. 1, 2021)

Please see below for a list of Open CFPs for the upcoming AATI Conference in Lucca, Italy (25-29 maggio 2022). If you are interested in submitting a paper, please reach out to the Panel Organizer directly, not the Conference Committee. Thank you.

  1. Title: SUPPORTING OUR TEACHING AND IMPROVING STUDENTS’ LEARNING WITH EVIDENCE-BASED RESEARCH

    Description:
    Language educators constantly renew their teaching strategies and techniques in order to provide a highly dynamic and engaging environment for student learning. However, their innovative and effective practises especially in areas of blended, hybrid and online teaching, can go unnoticed if not properly researched, analyzed and documented.

With this roundtable we propose to discuss evidence-based research in language teaching and share strategies to incorporate research in our teaching practice.

By collecting and using empirical evidence to measure the effectiveness of our teaching, we, as language educators, can secure our role, demonstrate leadership in our practises and improve our students’ learning experience. Please, send a 250-word abstract and a 75-word bio by October 30 to:

Luisa Canuto luisa.canuto@ubc.ca

Daniela Bartalesi-Graf dbartale@wellesley.edu

  1. Title: Dante Today.

Description: Although Dante wrote his works more than 700 years ago, his presence in Italian studies is still tangible. As it is written in the preface of the second edition of Approaches to Teaching Dante’s Divine Comedy, “Dante’s poem continues to dominate our curricular times” (xi). Every year, his works are the focus of various courses around the globe.

But do we continue to teach Dante? Are his works and his ideas still befitting today’s world? How do his works intellectually stimulate younger generations?
This panel explores the enduring link between Dante and the Italian culture and language. It would focus on reasons that make Dante’s works relevant today, as well as how Dante’s works relate to today’s society. We also invite panelists to share pedagogical suggestions/sources, if applicable.
Papers can focus on Commedia but not necessarily be limited to it.

Submissions in English or Italian are welcome. Please send a title, 250-word abstract, a brief bio (75 words) including your affiliation, and technological needs by November 6, 2021.

CO-Organizers:  

Sara Galli, University of Toronto, sara.galli@utoronto.ca

Marina Melita, Marist College, marina.melita@marist.edu

  1. Title: NEUTRALIZING GENDERED LANGUAGE IN ITALIAN

Organizers: Elisabetta D’Amanda (Rochester Institute of Technology), Sara Galli (University of Toronto), Mohammad J. Jamali (University of Toronto), and Federica Santini (Kennesaw State University) for the AATI Gender and Women’s Studies Collective aatiwgs@gmail.com

Chair: Federica Santini (Kennesaw State University)

Description: According to Porpora Marcasciano, President of MIT (Movimento Identità Transessuale), “Le diversità […] si declinano al plurale: un mondo diverso e vario come lo vorremmo noi.” The goal of this panel is to propose strategies that help free the Italian language from the biases faced by those who identify with and/or are allies of the transgender community: how can we facilitate communication that is both respectful and reflective of our and our students’ gender identities?

Submissions in English or Italian are welcome. Please send title, 150-200 words abstract, and a brief bio to aatiwgs@gmail.com

 

  1. Title:VISIBILITY AND REPRESENTATIONS OF TRANSGENDER AND NON-BINARY IDENTITIES IN ITALIAN CINEMA, VISUAL CULTURE, AND LITERATURE

Organizers:  Elisabetta D’Amanda (Rochester Institute of Technology, Sara Galli (University of Toronto), Mohammad J. Jamali (University of Toronto), and Federica Santini (Kennesaw State University) for the AATI Gender and Women’s Studies Collective, aatiwgs@gmail.com

Chair: Elisabetta D’Amanda (Rochester Institute of Technology)

Description:

This panel aims to explore the multi-faceted representations of transgender and non-binary identities in Italian cinema, visual arts, and literature. We welcome papers that explore the work that has been done and, at the same time, propose new strategies for inclusive representations, as well as analyses of past and current biases and stereotypes that pervade Italian movies, media representations, and beyond.

Submissions in English or Italian are welcome. Please send title, 150-200 words abstract, and a brief bio to aatiwgs@gmail.com

 

  1. Title:GENDER EQUALITY AND PEDAGOGY IN THE LANGUAGE CLASSROOM

Organizers:  Elisabetta D’Amanda (Rochester Institute of Technology), Sara Galli (University of Toronto), Mohammad J. Jamali (University of Toronto), and Federica Santini (Kennesaw State University) for the AATI Gender and Women’s Studies Collective

Chair: Sara Galli (University of Toronto)

Description: As a follow-up to our panel on neutralizing gendered language in the Italian classroom, this roundtable explores specific in-class activities that promote gender equality. In many Italian textbooks, gender differences are present in both language exercises (i.e. not allowing answers like “voi vi siete sposate”) and cultural readings (i.e. “la donna si occupa della famiglia”). Participants should present an in-class activity that empowers women and/or non-binary individuals. Presentations will be followed by a discussion involving presenters and attendees, during which we would like to invite people to present real life situations and adopted strategies.

Submissions in English or Italian are welcome. Please send title, 150-200 words abstract, and a brief bio to aatiwgs@gmail.com

  1. Title: Tavola Rotonda: “Insegnare Dante nel 2022”

La pagina dantesca è attuale? E se sì, come portare Dante in una classe di studenti, specie di studenti stranieri? Sette secoli dopo la morte del Poeta, leggere l’opera di Dante è quasi doveroso; ma lo è anche chiedersi quanto di quello che si legge sia attuale, in particolar modo se si è insegnanti e si è alle prese con studenti che, soprattutto per il modo diverso di apprendere, rischiano di non coglierne che gli aspetti superficiali. Per quanto si possa leggere Dante per passione o per citazione, portare la Divina Commedia in una classe di studenti stranieri è ancora una sfida: bisogna lasciar parlare solo Dante? Oppure è legittimo, se non auspicabile, che si trovi il modo di rendere più chiaro possibile il testo e che si affianchi ad esso un percorso più attraente e contemporaneo, capace di solleticare l’attenzione degli studenti sui tanti temi universali di cui il Poema tratta?

Questa Tavola Rotonda – promossa da Edizioni Edilingua e dal Sant’Anna Institute – intende proporre una riflessione sulle  possibili modalità di costruzione di unità didattiche incentrate sulla pagina dantesca, con un doppio fine: teorico, per dare risposta alla domanda sull’attualità della Divina Commedia, e pratico, mostrando come poter agevolare il lettore di Dante – sia esso uno studente o un appassionato, madrelingua o straniero – senza banalizzare la complessità e la ricercatezza del testo originario.

I colleghi e le colleghe interessat* a partecipare sono invitat* a inviare un abstract (max 150 parole) e una breve nota biografica, entro il 1° novembre 2021, a Elena Vianello elena.vianello@edilingua.it e Marco Marino marco.marino@santannainstitute.com

  1. Title: TWENTIETH- AND TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY ADAPTATIONS OF MEDIEVAL AND EARLY MODERN LITERATURE

Linda Hutcheon defines adaptations as “repetitions but without replication, bringing together the comfort of ritual and recognition with the delight of surprise and novelty” (2014, 173). Adaptations should involve both memory and change, persistence and variation that result in reinventing an identifiable source. Medieval and early modern literary works have long constituted sources of inspiration in a variety of genres in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Theater, cinema, creative writing, dance, graphic design, games and videogames, music, photography, and digital media constitute some of the examples in which works from the Middle Ages and the Renaissance have been adapted. Possible topics could include but are not limited to:

  • The positive application of adaptations in historical and cultural memory;
  • Film, televised, theatrical, musical, artistic, and/or digital adaptations in dialogue with original texts and history;
  • Adaptations as supplementary and not necessarily contradictory to original texts and/or historical facts;
  • Theorizing visual narratives/interpretations of literature and history;
  • Media adaptations as aesthetically rich works in their own rights;
  • Teaching adaptation and adapting teaching of literary texts;
  • Re-examination of scholarly discourses surrounding televisual and literary histories of cultural legitimation;
  • Adaptation, Transmedia Storytelling, and Participatory Culture.

Please, send a 250-word abstract and a 75-word bio by October 30 to Daniela D’Eugenio at deugeni@uark.edu and Annachiara Mariani at amariani@utk.edu.

 

  1. SOCIAL JUSTICE IN THE ITALIAN CURRICULUM

Proposal for the AATI Conference 2022

Organizers:

Diana C. Silverman, Ph.D., The Fashion Institute of Technology, The State University of New York

argento235@alumni.princeton.edu

Chiara De Santi, Ph.D., Farmingdale State College, The State University of New York

desantc@farmingdale.edu

 

This session explores the integration of social justice themes and projects in the Italian classroom, from the first semester of language learning, to intermediate and upper-level courses, to interdisciplinary collaborative courses, for example, jointly listed offerings with departments such as business or nonprofit management.  The purportedly disembodied sentences in mass language textbooks can be replete with rhetoric consistent with racism and sexism; one current book unironically interposes a claim that the accent of Naples is “terrificante.”  This session investigates how, instead, Italian curriculum at all levels can address social justice issues, such as income inequality, migration, climate disaster, and war.

Cancelled – 31 October 2021

  1. LEGGERE NON BASTA: LA LETTERATURA ITALIANA IN CLASSEL’insegnamento della letteratura italiana non si limita alla conoscenza dei classici.  Una lezione di letteratura non può prescindere dal contenuto e dalla lingua del testo letterario, così come non può far a meno di tenere in considerazione il contesto-classe. La definizione di nuove pratiche didattico-divulgative per l’insegnamento della letteratura tenta di rispondere all’esigenza di avere a disposizione contenuti fruibili dai nativi digitali che siano anche funzionali all’obiettivo didattico. Il panel intende discutere gli approcci innovativi in seno alla didattica della letteratura, proponendo casi di studio specifici o esperienze in classe.. I colleghi e le colleghe interessat* a partecipare sono invitat* a inviare un abstract (max 150 parole) e una breve nota biografica, entro il 1 novembre 2021, a Marco Marino marco.marino@santannainstitute.com.

 

10. AATI-AAIS Co-sponsored Session: “Walking the Walk: Deconstructing Monolithic Myths of Homeland and Insiders/Outsiders in the Italian Studies Classroom”

            Much has been written of late about the urgency to address the dearth of diversity, equity, and inclusion in Italian Studies in a multitude of sectors: in hiring practices and graduate student recruitment (Deborah Parker, Gaoheng Zhang, AAIS 2021 DEI Survey, among others), in scholarship (by postcolonial scholars, such as Sandra Ponzanesi, Cristina Lombardi-Diop, Caterina Romeo; the recently formed AAIS Queer Studies Caucus and scholars Sole Anatrone, RyanCalabretta-Sajder, and John Champagne; the results of the AAIS DEI Survey), and in Italian Studies curricula (edited volume by Sian Gibby and Anthony Julian Tamburri, Diversity in Italian Studies, 2021; the homonymous conference organized by the John D. Calandra Institute at City University of New York in 2019; Teaching Black Italy online intensive course for Italian teachers organized by Fred Kuwornu, among others). Not surprisingly, the paucity of diversity, equity, and inclusion in Italian Studies has been tied to declines in both numbers of programs and students enrolled in our courses and to the diminishing relevance of the field, at least in its present form.

This panel will bring together the experiences of teacher-scholars who have adopted practical measures in the Italian classroom to address these deficiencies. Possible topics for 15-minute paper presentations could include:

  • Examples of texts and resources utilized in the classroom that depict the reality of a multiethnic, multicultural, and plurilingual Italy
  • Syllabi developed for language, literature, and cinema courses that feature, or at least include, Black and Asian Italians, queer communities, disabled persons, etc.
  • Development of interdisciplinary and/or cross-listed Italian Studies courses that dialogue with and include discourses from: postcolonial theory; history of Italian colonialism and its relationship to present day politics, citizenship law, immigration policies, and cultural notions of belonging; gender, sexuality, and queer studies; critical race theory; disability studies; diaspora theory, among others.
  • Strategies adopted to foster the inclusion of historically underrepresented student populations in study abroad courses and/or in pursuing an Italian major or minor

Colleagues interested in participating on the panel are invited to send a 200-word abstract and 75-word biography by January 15, 2022 to Carla Cornette at

ccornette@coloradocollege.edu

  1. Jewish Culture within the Italian Landscape

Organizer: Ryan Calabretta-Sajder, University of Arkansas (rcalabretta@gmail.com)

The Jewish community is one of the oldest communities/cultures present within the Italian peninsula, spanning as many as two thousand years, dating back to the pre-Christian Roman period.  As such, Italian Jewish Identity has evolved in a unique manner, sharing diverse traditions related to religion, culture, history, and language while simultaneously remaining rather homogenous and often separate.  In 2016, the Jewish Culture in Italy remembered the 500th Anniversary of the Jewish Ghetto in Venice and the 100th Anniversary of Giorgio Bassani’s birth (inaugured the Centro studi bassaniani a Ferrara), one of Italy’s most noted Jewish Italian authors.

This panel aims to explore any intersection(s) of Jewish and Italian identity.  Some themes include, but are not limited to the following:

  • Artistic blendings/mixings/etc.
  • Jews enlisting in the Fascist party
  • Jews of the Mediterranean
  • Regionalism Judaism in Italy
  • Jewish Italian writers/writings
  • The underground
  • Racial Laws in Italy
  • Screening Jewish Italian Culture
  • The Venetian Ghetto
  • Giorgio Bassani

 

Please send an abstract of 250 words, along with a brief biography and technology requests to rcalabretta@gmail.com by November 6, 2021.

  1. Gendering the Cinema of the South

Organizer: Ryan Calabretta-Sajder (rcalabretta@gmail.com), University of Arkansas 

La questione meridionale has been a topic of both political and academic discussion for more than 100 years.  Some scholars maintain that Southern Italy is dominated in old-world, traditional, patriarchal values, while others including Gabriella Gribaudi in her piece entitled “Images of the South” (in Italian Cultural Studies: An Introduction) argues that the South is rather matriarchal in nature.

Using this concept as a springboard for the panel, the session aims to open a discussion on contemporary cinematic images of the South from a gendered perspective.  Some topics include the following:

  • Differences between gender in Southern and Northern films
  • Is the South more patriarchal or matriarchal? Or can we even use this terminology in today’s society?
  • What is the role of woman in Southern Italian cinema of the last ten years? Has anything changed?
  • How does travel/public space vs private space/work influence gender in society?
  • How does the recent wave of migration to Southern Italy register with gender concepts?
  • Are their homosexuals, lesbians, transvestites, and transgendered people in Southern Italian film? How are they seen on screen?

Please send an abstract of 250 words, along with a brief biography and technology requests to rcalabretta@gmail.com by November 6, 2021.

  1. Teaching Off the Beaten Path: Roundtable

Organizer: Ryan Calabretta-Sajder (rcalabretta@gmail.com ), University of Arkansas 

Italian Studies both in Italy and more recently in North America has boasted a rather traditional, or canonical approach to the field, which even flows into the pedagogical methodology often utilized.  Yet, students (as such parents) are requesting a more contemporary, cultural introduction within the Italian curriculum of today.  This roundtable aims therefore to recognize, explore, discuss, and criticize the current state of Italian Studies in North America with the hope of addressing new ideas and approaches to the field.

The roundtable particularly searches for instructors on any level (K-university) who have experimented with new theoretical models in the classroom with success and/or even failure.   The goal is to dissect want can, but also, may not work.  Some topics include the following:

  • Italian and Intercultural Comprehension
  • Italian for Romance Speakers
  • Online Italian
  • Business Italian/MADE IN ITALY/ Italian for the Professions
  • Study Abroad
  • Internships/Researchships/ecc.

Please send an abstract of 250 words, along with a brief biography and technology requests to rcalabretta@gmail.com by November 6, 2021.

  1. Queering Italian Studies

Organizer: Ryan Calabretta-Sajder (rcalabretta@gmail.com ) University of Arkansas 

The focus on gender in Italian Studies has come to the forefront within the last five years both in Italy and North America.  Whether it is a rereading older texts or taking into account the newly highlighted life of the contemporary LGBTQIAA+ society in Italy, more and diverse attention has been afforded this thematic/cultural field.

Some possible themes to consider include the following:

  • Intersections and/or Contradictions of Queer Theory (Anglophone vs. Italian)
  • Gendering the Body
  • Queering Italian Daily Life (talk shows, reality tv shows, Gay Pride, etc.)
  • Intersex in Italy
  • Queering Italian Art
  • Representations of LGBTQI in Literature/Film/Media

Please send an abstract of 250 words, along with a brief biography and technology requests to rcalabretta@gmail.com by November 6, 2021.

  1. Pier Paolo Pasolini 50 Years Later

Organizer: Ryan Calabretta-Sajder (rcalabretta@gmail.com ) University of Arkansas

This session seeks submissions on any aspect of Pier Paolo Pasolini’s opus in remembrance of the 50th anniversary of his assassination. Even after 50 years, much of Pasolini’s works have yet to be thoroughly explored. This panel aims to study under-represented texts of any type as well as re-visiting Pasolini classics through new theoretical perspectives.

Please send an abstract of 250 words, along with a brief biography and technology requests to rcalabretta@gmail.com by November 6, 2021.

  1. New Publications in Italian Studies (Roundtable)

Organizer: Ryan Calabretta-Sajder (rcalabretta@gmail.com ) University of Arkansas

This roundtable aims to provide space to authors of recent manuscripts relating to any aspect of Italian Studies. Each presenter will have 15 minutes to share an overview about his/her/their book. A Q&A session will follow.

Please send a brief overview of the book (150 words) along with a brief biography and technology requests to rcalabretta@gmail.com by November 6, 2021.

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GRADUATE STUDENTS CFP AATI at Lucca:

The AATI Presidential Panels on Graduate Student Research Dissertations in Progress Workshop 

  1. Title: Graduate Studies Research – Medieval, Renaissance, and Early Modern Studies 

Organizers: M. Marina Melita (Marist College) & Ryan Calabretta-Sajder (University of Arkansas) Chair: TBA  

Description: This panel is intended for graduate students who are not ABD or working on their dissertation at the time of the conference. Students are invited to submit an abstract in any area of Medieval, Renaissance, and Early Modern Italian / Italian Studies. NB. This call is not limited only to literature. We encourage papers with fresh or innovative perspectives on traditional works or themes that also reflect/use critical and contemporary theories.

Submissions in English or Italian are welcome. Please send title, 250-word abstract, a brief bio (75 words) including your affiliation, and technological needs to marina.melita@marist.edu, by November 1, 2021.

All accepted graduate students will be invited to a GS Meet & Greet for networking and exchanging of ideas during the conference in Lucca.

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  1. Title: Graduate Studies Research – Modern and Contemporary Studies 

Organizers: M. Marina Melita (Marist College) & Ryan Calabretta-Sajder (University of Arkansas)

Chair: M. Marina Melita

Description: 

This panel is intended for graduate students who are not ABD or working on their dissertation, at the time of the conference. Students are invited to submit an abstract in any area of Modern and Contemporary Italian / Italian Studies, including but not limited to literature, film/media studies, and visual studies. We are especially interested in papers focused on new and/or critical issues such as Afroitalianità, DEI, LGBTQ+, Marginalized & Non-traditional voices, and digital humanities in Italian studies.

Submissions in English or Italian are welcome. Please send title, 250-word abstract, a brief bio (75 words) including your affiliation, and technological needs to marina.melita@marist.edu, by November 1, 2021.

All accepted graduate students will be invited to a GS Meet & Greet for networking and exchanging of ideas during the conference in Lucca.

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  1. WORKSHOP: Dissertations in Progress 

Organizers: M. Marina Melita (Marist College) & Ryan Calabretta-Sajder (University of Arkansas)

Chair: TBA  Respondents: TBA

Description: 

This workshop is open only to graduate students who are ABD and in the process of writing their dissertations on any topic in the fields of Italian, Italian Studies, or the Italian Diaspora. Other related topics/fields will be considered as well. During the workshop, accepted students will receive feedback from respondents and other attendees. This workshop will be hands-on and depending on the number of submissions may be a double session. The goal is to help graduate students continue advancing on and further refining their dissertations.

During the workshop, students will briefly present their abstract and a short excerpt from their dissertations in progress. All accepted students will be required to send one chapter of their dissertation, as well as an outline of the overall work, in advance of the conference so respondents may prepare.

This workshop is a welcome and ideal opportunity for graduate students to work with a scholar in their field, as well as beyond their home institution.

Submissions in English or Italian are welcome, but presentations and excerpts should be in the language in which you are required to write your dissertation. Please send a title, 250-word abstract, which includes theories and methodologies used in your research, and a brief bio (75 words) including your affiliation to marina.melita@marist.edu, by November 1, 2021.

All accepted graduate students will be invited to a GS Meet & Greet for networking and exchanging of ideas during the conference in Lucca.