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The Italic civilization is not only the result of migratory movements from a center to the periphery but is born of the multipolar iteration of phenomena generated by meeting with different cultures. It is the Italics themselves, and not only the Italians, who have produced and promoted Italicity around the world: foreigners who choose the Italian civilization as cultural point of reference
Unlike other cultures, like the Anglo-Saxon or, in some instances, the Hispanic, the Italic civilization is founded only partially on a linguistic community. The strength of Italicity resides precisely in the ability to combine different ethnicities, languages, and communication codes. This is a crucial issue also for Italian foreign policy. In a glocal world, political and cultural relations must be maintained also with those Italics who not necessarily speak Italian.
How can we build a new subject founded on the need to transcend nationalist assumptions? Can the traditional cultural and linguistic categories be put into question? Can sociolinguistics re-think the ethnic identity grids used so far to interpret its data? Can the notions of “people” and of “minority” be reformulated, starting with the criteria that today inspire them?
The “Italics” will not find adequate representation unless culture, politics, and the language sciences re-think the criteria according to which they define and describe the nature and the map of the “neo-peoples” of the global world.
Please send a 250 words proposal and a brief vita (no cv) to [log in to unmask] by Nov. 15.
The conference website with all information relative to registration and accommodations will be activated at the end of July. We ask that you register for the conference as soon as possible after notification of acceptance of your proposal. The registration fee will be $150 for faculty and $100 for graduate students.
Marina Della Putta Johnston, PhD
Assistant Director, Center for Italian Studies
University of Pennsylvania
549 Williams Hall
255 South 36th Street
Philadelphia, PA 19104
Tel. 215 898 6040