italian-studies: Scholarly discussions in any field of Italian studies
Call for Papers: Cross-cultural Encounters
The Society for Italian Studies Postgraduate Conference
University of Bristol, Friday 24th November 2017
Italian culture has continually benefited from the exchange of literary and artistic traditions from other cultures. In literature, Dante Alighieri’s trilingual canzone, Aï faux ris, written in Old French, Latin, and the Italian vernacular is an example of how this intercultural communication is visible from the origins of Italian literary history. The complex rhyming structure of Dante’s canzone, which combined three languages on the same level, giving the Italian vernacular the same status as Latin and Old French, shows how the encounter of languages in the text contributed to the reshaping of the relationship between Italian culture and the foreign.
This cultural exchange is also widely present in modern theatre, as seen in I ventidue infortuni di Mor Arlecchino (1993) by Marco Martinelli, which offers an original interpretation of Carlo Goldoni’s servant Harlequin as a Senegalese migrant in Milan. Martinelli’s politically provocative adaptation explores the encounter between European and African cultures through the figure of Harlequin, who is seen as a metaphor for African immigration in Italy during the 1980s. Claudia Gualtieri claims that Martinelli’s play aims to challenge ‘the borders of nationalism, racial identity and fixed belonging’ in its portrayal of a contemporary and intercultural society, a fact that was also reflected in the different origins and languages of the actors themselves.
This conference will explore the changing permeability and openness between Italian and foreign cultures. It aims to bring together early career researchers working on examples of cross-cultural encounters in all areas of Italian Studies, including literature, art, music, theatre, cinema and digital media. To what extent do foreign cultures manifest themselves in Italian culture? And how are these influences identified as foreign? Has Italian culture become more or less permeable to foreign influences, why? Who are the agents that contribute to these cross-cultural encounters? Are there specific or recurrent contact zones between different cultures? Do multilingual texts, and also multilingual authors, belong to a national culture, or are they part of a transnational culture?
Areas of research might include, but are not limited to:
• Multilingualism, national culture, and transnational culture
• The encounter of Italian languages with ancient languages, modern foreign languages, and dialects in Italian literature, music, theatre, cinema and digital media
• Translation as a form of cross-cultural encounter
• Contact zones: the geographical and textual spaces between Italian and foreign cultures
• Acceptance or rejection of ‘the other’ in visual and textual representations
• Transnational agents and cultural mediators in Italian culture
• Cross-cultural education
We are delighted to welcome Dr Guyda Armstrong (Manchester) and Dr Jennifer Burns (Warwick) as our keynote speakers.
Abstracts of no more than 300 words for a 20 minute paper should be submitted, along with a short biography, including your degree, institution and research interests, to Marta and Rebekah at [log in to unmask] and [log in to unmask] by 24th October 2017. The event is free to attend and refreshments will be provided.
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