DENUNCIA: Speaking up in Modern Italy
March 27-28, 2009
A Graduate Conference Sponsored by the Department of Italian Studies,
Department of History,
Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimò and the Graduate School of Arts & Science
of New York University.
KEYNOTE SPEAKER: Paul Ginsborg, University of Florence
CALL FOR PAPERS
Io so. Io so i nomi dei responsabili di quello che viene chiamato
golpe (e che in realtà è una serie
di golpes istituitasi a sistema di protezione del potere). Io so i
nomi dei responsabili della strage
di Milano del 12 dicembre 1969. Io so i nomi dei responsabili delle
stragi di Brescia e di Bologna
dei primi mesi del 1974. [...] Io so. Ma non ho le prove. Non ho
nemmeno indizi. Io so perché
sono un intellettuale, uno scrittore, che cerca di seguire tutto ciò
che succede, di conoscere tutto
ciò che se ne scrive, di immaginare tutto ciò che non si sa o che si tace.
Pier Paolo Pasolini, "Che cos'è questo golpe?," Corriere della Sera,
14 Novembre 1974
Mi avvicinai a questo quadrato con al centro due lastre di marmo
bianco, piccole, e vidi la tomba.
"Pier Paolo Pasolini (1922-1975)." […] Mi sembrò d'essere meno solo, e
lì iniziai a biascicare la
mia rabbia, con i pugni stretti sino a far entrare le unghie nella
carne del palmo. Iniziai a
articolare il mio io so, l'io so del mio tempo. Io so e ho le prove.
Io so come hanno origine le
economie e dove prendono l'odore. L'odore dell'affermazione e della
vittoria. Io so cosa trasuda
il profitto. Io so. E la verità della parola non fa prigionieri perché
tutto divora e di tutto fa prova.
Roberto Saviano, Gomorra, 2006
To denounce the injustices of his own time, Saviano revives Pasolini's
words of dissent: "Io so."
This is a claim to knowledge positioning its speaker in an
antagonistic relation with the
established order. What kind of knowledge does this "io" know? Does
denuncia implicitly invoke
a collective "we"? Why does it seem that the only way to comment on
Italian civil society is
through singular voices breaking the silence of the status quo? When
do these voices emerge and
what is so politically and culturally urgent about their utterance?
Does the denuncia in some way
strand its speaker, leaving it without recourse to civil or legal
redress? How do these
denunciations affect and impact the public sphere? How does the
institutional order respond, in
some cases co-opting or censoring these interventions?
As an interrogation into the dynamics of power, denuncia adopts
various registers of protest:
opposition, disapproval, critique, condemnation, activism. From an
interdisciplinary perspective,
this conference will attempt to understand the place of denuncia in
Italian leftist political culture
and how it is articulated through a variety of media: press, radio,
television, internet, books,
films, documentaries, photography, cartoons, music, and so forth.
While we will focus on modern
Italy from the unification to the present, we welcome papers that are
transnational and trans-
historical in scope.
Possible topics may include but are not limited to:
Fields of denuncia:
• corruption, bourgeois conformism, policies of migration/immigration,
racism, patriarchy,
organized crime, neo-conservativism and neo-fascism, globalization,
terrorism, environmental
concerns, workers' conditions, church-state relations, real estate
speculation, censorship…
Voices and Forms of denuncia:
• satire, journalism, literature, film and other forms of visual
culture (including graphic art,
photography, and performance), music, theater, urban studies, philosophy…
• intellectuals, student movements, anti-war organizations, queer and
feminist politics, centri
sociali, associations, inchieste, unions, magistrates, demonstrations,
strikes, occupations…
Historically articulated denuncia:
• Unification of Italy, First World War, Fascism, Second World War and
the Resistance, Post-War
Italy, Marshall Plan and the Cold War, 1960's Economic Boom, '68, Anni
di Piombo, the 1980's
and media privatization, Tangentopoli, Berlusconi's contemporary Italy...
A 250-word abstract and cover letter with name, academic affiliation
and contact information
should be sent by Monday, January 5, 2009 via email to the Conference
Committee at:
igsa.conference_at_nyu.edu
Or via post to:
Italian Graduate Student Association
Casa Italiana-Zerilli Marimò
24 West 12th Street New York, NY 10011
Attn: Conference Committee
--
Ogunleye, Yemisi (Miss)
www.iq4news.com
Head of Communications,
MeCCSA Post-Graduate Network
website: http://www.meccsa.org.uk/pgn/
Media & Communications Dept.,
Birmingham City University,
City North Campus,
Birmingham
B42 2SU
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