XXXI AIA Conference – 13-16 September 2023 – Università della Calabria

Past AIA Conferences /

XXXI AIA Conference Rende, Cosenza, 13 -16 September 2023 CALL FOR PANELS – Deadline extension  Future Horizons:New Beginnings in English Studies The horizon leans forwardOffering you space to place new steps of change‘On the Pulse of Morning’, Maya Angelou When the Covid-19 pandemic rapidly and unexpectedly spread across the globe in February 2020 and the world we used to know suddenly came to a halt, many of us felt suspended in time and confined in space, the only glimpse of the horizon being the view from our windows. We turned into Proserpina-like creatures waiting for the long winter to come to an end and restrictions to be lifted. The cycles of lockdowns projected us backwards – our previous lives becoming a bittersweet memory for many – and forwards – the anticipations of the future to come, new beginnings that for some equalled the so-called new normal (an issue of Textus was significantly devoted to this topic in 2021) and for others was an act of intellectual creativity and imagination. Indeed, our present was – and still is – a time of change, conflict, resistance, resilience, vulnerability, survival, and hope. As scholars and academics, our way of teaching, doing research, studying and ultimately working was directly and deeply affected by the pandemic. This resulted in an impelling need for a critical re-thinking of our privileged lives, our disciplines and the whole university system. Today, more than two years after that watershed moment, we are still staring at the horizon, which – in Maya Angelou’s words – “leans forward [and offers] new steps of change”. Such transformations reverberate and bring new awareness into the way we critically look at the linguistic and literary phenomena not only of our present but also our distant and/or recent past, both in terms of the cultural production of writers and artists, performers and storytellers, and the language used to communicate, translate and discursively construe the world around us. This is even more so in the English-speaking world and especially in English Studies, as testified to by the adoption of new theoretical paradigms and the introduction of methodological innovations which has gone hand in hand with a redefinition of academia that promotes inclusivity and interdisciplinarity in order to decolonise Eurocentric epistemological models and offer cutting-edge educational programmes.  As an association, AIA has fostered the dissemination of interdisciplinary knowledge and competences since its very foundation. Over the years, its conferences have been a space where Italian angliste and anglisti could experiment and innovate (Catania 2022), think out of the box (Padua 2019), and explore the notions of complexity, creativity and conventionality (Pisa 2017), just to mention some recent meetings. For its 31st edition, which will be held at the University of Calabria on September 13-16, 2023, the AIA Conference welcomes panel proposals that examine and navigate the complexities of our past, present and future times, aiming to becomean arena where steps of change can be taken in English Studies, both from a theoretical, methodological and thematic perspective. Through Seminars and Poster presentations, the different souls of the Association –Language and Linguistics, Literary, Cultural and Translation Studies – will be staring at the horizon again, leaning forward and being willing to take English Studies in Italy to new beginnings.  The local organising committee looks forward to welcoming you to the 31st Conference that will focus on “Future Horizons: New Beginnings in English Studies”. Call for Panels AIA members are invited to submit proposals for panels on any subject within the major fields of research (language and linguistics, literature, culture, translation). Proposals with a 200/250-word description should be submitted jointly by two Convenors from different Universities to the Academic Programme Committee (AIA2023@unical.it) by 30 march 2023. Notification of acceptance will be given by 10 April 2023. Call for Papers The full list of Panels with outlines and contact addresses of Convenors will be published in March 2023. Abstracts of 200/250 words should be submitted directly to the Convenors of the targeted Panels by 15 June 2023. Deadline for Panels proposals by Convenors: 30 march 2023 Notification of acceptance to Convenors by Academic Committee: 10 April 2023 Publication of list of Panels and Convenors’ contact addresses: 15 April 2023 Deadline for submission of abstracts for individual papers: 15 June 2023 Notification of acceptance by Convenors: 30 June 2023 Please note that: – Panels will include from a minimum of three to a maximum of five speakers (presentations of max 20 minutes); – AIA members may give only one presentation at the conference (this applies both to single-author and co-authored presentations). Posters Posters are to be devoted to research-in-progress and project presentations. Abstracts of 200/250 words should be sent to the Academic Programme Committee (AIA2023@unical.it) by 15 June 2023. Notification of acceptance will be given by 30 June 2023. Link: https://www.anglisti.it/event/call-for-panels-xxxi-aia-conference-rende-cosenza-13-16-september-2023/?fbclid=IwAR0O2ck8zDGCOQsLJKPtoxvIlWOC6xTdjdXC1YK7GpHYScl4WufZgrKsofE Sito AIA XXXI: https://disu.unical.it/aia/ Gruppo Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/665866661932697

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AIA30 Conference – 15/17 September 2022

Past AIA Conferences /

AIA30 ConferenceExperiment and innovation: branching forwards and backwardsUniversity of Catania, Department of Human Sciences15-17 September 2022 I read some history: it is suddenly all alive, branching forwards and backwardsVirginia Stephen, 1903 Over forty years have passed since the first AIA national Conference was held in Rome, on 27th-29th April 1978. On that occasion Giorgio Melchiori presented the Association’s objective: “saggiare il livello scientifico raggiunto dalla ricerca nel campo dell’anglistica in Italia” [“to test the academic level achieved by research in the field of English Studies in Italy”]. In a radically changed University – “l’Università di massa” of the 1970s – the newly born Associazione Italiana di Anglistica set out to study the relationship between research and teaching, and to discuss, in Melchiori’s words, “il ruolo dell’anglista in una nuova Università, ossia la metodologia e la politica della ricerca” [“the role of the English Studies scholar in a new University, namely the methodology and the politics of research”].These words still resonate today. In 2001 the University of Catania hosted the twentieth AIA Conference – poignantly titled Rites of Passage – and now we have a further opportunity to look back to our past, reflect on the state of the art, and look forward to the future of English studies in Italy.On the exciting occasion of the AIA30 Conference, it seems particularly relevant to bring today’s sharpened awareness of the methodology and politics of research to the contexts of a profoundly changed academia and a radically altered post-Brexit geopolitical situation.The theme of that first AIA Conference in 1978 was “experiment and innovation”: in 2022 we would like to invite AIA members to pick up on that same challenge by contributing to the scholarly conversation in all broad areas of research – literature, culture and language – through Seminars and Poster presentations.The local organising committee looks forward to welcoming you to the AIA30 Conference in Catania, from 15th to 17th September 2022.

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ANNALI SEZIONE GERMANICA, ANGLISTICA XXI, 1-2 ATTI DEL I CONGRESSO NAZIONALE DELL’ASSOCIAZIONE ITALIANA DI ANGLISTICA RELAZIONE DEL PRESIDENTE AL I CONGRESSO NAZIONALE DELL’ASSOCIAZIONE ITALIANA DI ANGLISTICA Roma, 27 – 29 aprile 1978

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II primo Congresso nazionale dell’Associazione Italiana di Anglistica si propone di dimostrare concretamente – o forse, più cautamente, si potrebbe dire di saggiare – i1 livello scientifico raggiunto dalla ricerca nel campo del­l’anglistica in Italia; un livello che – se mi è consentito di esprimere un’opinione personale ma che credo ampia­mente condivisa – ha ben poco da invidiare, per impegno, per ricchezza di contributi, per risultati, a quello raggiunto nel medesimo campo negli altri paesi non anglofoni, ed anche in quelli di cultura inglese. L’unico settore in cui siamo restati indietro rispetto agli altri paesi è stato nella capacità di far conoscere il nostro lavoro al di là dei con­fini dell’Italia – ed è uno dei compiti primari della nostra Associazione l’ovviare a questa deficienza. Il Consiglio Direttivo dell’Associazione, riconoscendo la dignità e originalità scientifica raggiunta dalla ricerca non soltanto nel campo letterario ma anche in quello più specificamente linguistico, ha ritenuto di articolare gli in­terventi a1 Congresso in due sezioni distinte e parallele – letteraria e linguistica –, scegliendo tematiche circo­scritte sul piano diacronico. Va detto subito che la ristret­tezza del tempo ha costretto il Direttivo ad una imposta­zione poco elastica: il quadro di cui disponeva al momento ultimo per prendere decisioni in merito alla strutturazione del Congresso era ancora molto incompleto e frammen­tario. Spetterà alle consultazioni con tutti i soci, che avremo nei prossimi due giorni, fare proposte sia sui conte­nuti che sulle forme che dovranno assumere i congressi futuri – forme e contenuti – che potranno essere molto diversi da quelli di oggi (si potrà pensare, per esempio, a congressi con poche relazioni, tenute per invito anche da studiosi stranieri, con ampio spazio per il dibattito). In questo primo Congresso, tenendo conto degli inte­ressi dichiaratisi nella produzione scientifica di molti mem­bri dell’Associazione, si sono voluti privilegiare i temi dello sperimentalismo caratteristici del Novecento, sia nella pra­tica letteraria che nella riflessione linguistica. Di qui la scelta: «Sperimentalismo e innovazione nella letteratura inglese contemporanea» per la prima sezione; «Aspetti teorici e sperimentali della ricerca sulla lingua inglese» per la seconda. E’ un modo di fare il punto sullo svolgi­mento della ricerca in due campi, sia pur limitati, che rientrano in modo preminente negli interessi dei membri dell’Associazione. Ho parlato finora soprattutto della ricerca; ma questo non è l’unico obiettivo di un’Associazione come l’AIA. Mi sia consentito di approfittare di questa occasione per trac­ciare sinteticamente la storia della nascita dell’AIA e per fare un bilancio sommario dell’attività svolta nel suo primo anno di vita, indicando così le linee d’azione lungo le quali l’AIA si muove e almeno alcuni degli obiettivi vicini e lon­tani che intende perseguire. Proprio per il coordinamento della ricerca si costituì negli anni sessanta, sotto gli auspici del Consiglio Nazio­nale delle Ricerche, una prima Associazione Italiana di An­glistica. Si trattava di un gruppo ristretto di cattedratici, e occorre dire che furono allora impostate, con la collabo­razione di varie sedi universitarie, ricerche assai fruttuose, come quelle sui fondi di anglistica nelle biblioteche e negli archivi italiani, o sulla fortuna di Shakespeare in Italia, i cui risultati seguitano tuttora ad apparire. Tuttavia, so­prattutto dopo il 1968, i vari progetti di ricerca prosegui­rono indipendentemente l’uno dall’altro, grazie all’iniziativa, certamente encomiabile, di singoli docenti e ricercatori; contemporaneamente, a seguito della liberalizzazione degli accessi all’Università, gli Istituti e i docenti di anglistica erano assoggettati a formidabili pressioni per la moltipli­cazione del numero degli studenti, con esigenze che a prima vista sembravano interferire e addirittura opporsi all’im­pegno della ricerca – esigenze che le già fatiscenti strut­ture universitarie esistenti non erano assolutamente in gra­do di affrontare. I provvedimenti urgenti del ’73, mai in­tegralmente attuati, se da una parte diedero l’illusoria im­pressione di incrementare i ranghi di docenti e ricercatori (e in effetti permisero l’acquisizione di nuove leve di stu­diosi di merito), dall’altra accentuarono e quasi istituzio­nalizzarono la condizione di precarietà in cui l’Università versa ormai da tanti anni. Tale condizione fu sentita e si sente in maniera particolarmente grave nell’ambito della lingua e letteratura inglese per la ragione già indicata, ossia per l’enorme afflusso di studenti che vedono nell’inglese uno strumento indispensabile per accedere ad un qualsiasi sbocco professionale. Nell’ottobre del 1975, in una riunione promossa ancora una volta dal C.N.R., i docenti universitari d’inglese, fra i quali molti della nuova generazione, il cui genuino entu­siasmo era perennemente frustrato da una stagnazione am­ministrativa e organizzativa che dura tuttora, cercarono di riannodare le fila del discorso sulla ricerca e sul suo coor­dinamento. Ci si rese subito conto in quella sede che, se da una parte esistevano in abbondanza le forze per dare nuovo impulso alla ricerca, dall’altra il limitarsi ad una funzione di coordinamento sul piano nazionale sarebbe sta­to un chiudere gli occhi al compito primario del docente di anglistica in quella che ormai – bene o male – era di­venuta un’Università di massa, e dunque un’Università di­versa – un’Università che aveva bisogno di un radicale rinnovamento se voleva tentare di rispondere ad esigenze che si erano già dichiarate in maniera drammatica, e non in Italia soltanto, alla fine degli anni Sessanta, e alle quali le forze politiche e amministrative, con tutta la buona vo­lontà, non avevano fornito neppure l’ombra di una risposta. La domanda che gli anglisti dovevano porsi non era quale ricerca o ricerche perseguire, ma perché perseguirla – e in quale contesto. Insomma, riconoscendo la funzione di­dattica dell’Università (e particolarmente nel nostro campo, delle lingue e letterature straniere) – funzione innegabile, ma condotta in condizioni di estremo disagio per le gra­vissime carenze istituzionali –, l’unica via aperta apparve quella di approfondire lo studio del rapporto fra didattica e ricerca, di accertare lo spazio della ricerca nell’insegna­mento, soprattutto in vista di nuove strutture universitarie: in primo luogo il Dipartimento, una struttura all’interno della quale non può esistere didattica senza ricerca o vice­versa. Una commissione ristretta fu incaricata di preparare un convegno nazionale degli anglisti con un duplice fine: dibattere innanzitutto questa tematica, cercando di arrivare a proposte concrete e comunque a evidenziare l’estensione del problema e a puntualizzarne i momenti essenziali; in

ANNALI SEZIONE GERMANICA, ANGLISTICA XXI, 1-2 ATTI DEL I CONGRESSO NAZIONALE DELL’ASSOCIAZIONE ITALIANA DI ANGLISTICA RELAZIONE DEL PRESIDENTE AL I CONGRESSO NAZIONALE DELL’ASSOCIAZIONE ITALIANA DI ANGLISTICA Roma, 27 – 29 aprile 1978 Read More »

Call for papers – Rhesis. International Journal of Linguistics, Philology and Literature

CfPs: Journals /

Call for papers Rhesis. International Journal of Linguistics, Philology and Literature The call for papers is ongoing and has no deadline. Articles submitted to the Journal are organized into two sections (Linguistics and Philology, and Literature) and will be published on the website as they are accepted, typeset, and finalized for inclusion in the current year’s volume. The yearly volume will close on December 31st of each year. From January 1st 2023 it will be possible to submit essays and scientific studies to the editorial board of the journal Rhesis for the 14.1 (2023) and 14.2 (2023) issue. This invitation is valid for the whole of 2023. The studies will be published on the website when ready, starting from January 1st, 2023. The annual closing of the journal is supposed to be on December 31st each year. The articles submitted after October 30th, 2023 will be automatically considered for the following year’s issue, published with the same procedure starting from January 1st, 2024 to December 31st, 2024. Rhesis uses a double-blind peer-review process to evaluate scientific manuscripts. When an article is submitted to the Journal, the Editorial board reviews it to ensure that it meets the Journal’s scope and standards, which usually takes about one week. If the manuscript is deemed suitable for peer-review, it is sent to two reviewers who are experts in the same field as the author. To ensure objectivity, both the reviewers and the author are kept anonymous from each other. The reviewers usually have four weeks to complete their review and provide feedback to the editors and the authors. The feedback may include suggestions for revisions or improvements to the manuscript. Once the reviews are complete, the Editorial board carefully evaluates the feedback and makes a decision on whether to accept the manuscript for publication, request revisions from the authors, or reject the manuscript. If a manuscript is found to be unsuitable for publication in the journal, either because it does not meet the journal’s scope and standards or because of other reasons, it may be rejected by the Editors without being sent out for review by external experts (Desk rejection). Rhesis. International Journal of Linguistics, Philology and Literature is an international, academic, double-blind peer-reviewed, on line and open access Journal. Rhesis is ranked “rivista scientifica ANVUR” for academic area 10. It is indexed in MIAR and is present in the ACNP, BASE, ROAD, WorldCat databases. The peer-review process is managed through the OJS platform. For further information, please visit the journal website: https://ojs.unica.it/index.php/rhesis/about https://ojs.unica.it/index.php/rhesis/call

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Convegno “L2 accent and pronunciation research: acquisition, teaching, attitudes (L2APR)”

Members' Events /

Convegno “L2 accent and pronunciation research: acquisition, teaching, attitudes (L2APR)” Venezia, 15-16 novembre 2023 Dei colleghi di Ca’ Foscari segnalano il convegno (in presenza) “L2 accent and pronunciation research: acquisition, teaching, attitudes (L2APR)”, che si terrà presso l’Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia dal 15 al 16 novembre 2023.  Sono ora aperte le iscrizioni per i partecipanti senza contributo. Il link per la registrazione (gratuita) si trova in questa pagina, mentre il programma del convegno è visibile qui. Per ulteriori informazioni, scrivere a L2APRvenezia@unive.it.

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Textus issue 3/2024 –  Call for proposals 

Textus current CfP /

Textus issue 3/2024   Call for proposals  AIA members interested in editing issue 3/2024 of Textus are invited to send their proposals to Marilena Parlati (marilena.parlati@unipd.it), Paola Catenaccio (paola.catenaccio@unimi.it) and Massimiliano Demata (massimiliano.demata@unito.it) by 31 October 2023. Building on comments and suggestions put forth in the course of the pre-conference round table at AIA XXXI, we invite calls for proposals that encourage inter-, multi- and cross-disciplinary research on themes that lend themselves to exploration and analysis from multiple methodological vantage points. Prospective guest co-editors (at least two, and approaching the chosen topic from different disciplinary perspectives) should submit a preliminary call for papers based on a general theme that might be of interest to all AIA members. The call should include a working title, a brief description of the topic proposed by the guest editors (500 words max), the name of a foreign scholar of international standing who has agreed to co-edit the issue, and the name of a copy editor. All proposals will be examined by the Textus Editorial Board (Giuseppe Balirano, Paola Catenaccio, Massimiliano Demata, Manuela D’Amore, C. Bruna Mancini, Marilena Parlati and Irene Ranzato) whose decision will be communicated to the guest editors by 10 November 2023. The call for papers will be issued by 15 November 2023, the deadline for sending abstracts is 31 December 2023.   

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Insediamento nuovo Consiglio Direttivo

News /

Il 20 settembre 2023 alle ore 17.30 si è insediato il nuovo Consiglio Direttivo dell’Associazione Italiana di Anglistica. Sono presenti i/le Proff. Giuseppe Balirano, Paola Catenaccio, Manuela D’Amore, Massimiliano Demata, Bruna Mancini, Marilena Parlati, Irene Ranzato. Con decisione unanime, il prof. Giuseppe Balirano assume la carica di Presidente dell’Associazione Italiana di Anglistica per il biennio 2023-25. Il Direttivo designa, inoltre, quale Vice-Presidente la prof.ssa Marilena Parlati. Sempre all’unanimità è designato come Segretario-Tesoriere il prof. Massimiliano Demata.

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Afterlives of Empire, Università di Roma “La Sapienza”, 21-22 settembre 2023

Members' Events /

Ecco il programma del convegno Afterlives of Empire, Università di Roma “La Sapienza”, 21-22 settembre 2023 (solo in presenza) Thursday, 21 September 2023 9.00 Registration 10.00 Opening remarks (room 105) Camilla Miglio (Head of SEAI, Sapienza Università di Roma) and Riccardo Capoferro (Sapienza Università di Roma) 10.15 – 11.15 Keynote lecture I – Room 105 Chair: Riccardo Capoferro (Sapienza Università di Roma) Corinne Fowler (University of Leicester), Country Walks through Colonial Britain during the Culture War 11.15 – 11.45 Coffee break (room 204, 2nd floor) 11.45 – 13.15 Parallel sessions I Room 105 Panel 1 – Empire Lost, Empire Regained? Chair: Andrea Peghinelli (Sapienza) Caroline Gondaud (MEAE), L’Union européenne et les imaginaires impériaux Katharina Clausius (Université de Montréal) & Claudia Clausius (King’s University College/Western), Imperial Music in the Republican Press: National(ist) Icons in Interwar Austria Valerio Cordiner (Sapienza Università di Roma), Vestiges de l’Empire. De la Françafrique à la Françamérique Room 107 Panel 2 – Visions of India Chair: Asia Battiloro (Sapienza Università di Roma) Arnab Das (Indian Institute of Technology Madras), Spectres of a Colonial Narco-State: 19th-Century Opium Trade and Its Postimperial Afterlives in Contemporary Indian Fiction Rocío G. Davis (University of Navarra), Romancing the Empire: M. M. Kaye’s Memoir and Novels as Imperial Validation Christiane Schlote (University of Basel), Commemorating Care: Indian Ayahs and Emotional Imperialism Room 110 Panel 3 – Cultural Geographies Chair: Paolo D’Indinosante (Sapienza Università di Roma) Katherine Baxter (Northumbria University), Desertification María Fernández Díaz (University of Oviedo), Necropolitics and Colonial State Violence in Nadifa Mohamed’s The Fortune Men (2021) Lamia Mecheri (Université d’Annaba), Avatar 2 : La Voie de l’eau de James Cameron, un film (néo) impérialiste ? 13.15 – 14.45 Lunch (caffetteria, 1st floor) 14.45 – 16.45 Parallel sessions II Room 105 Panel 4 – Fascism and Post-Fascism Chair: Umberto Rossi (Independent Scholar) Franco Baldasso (Bard College, NY), Postcards from the Empire: The Long Journey through Fascism Claudia Sbuttoni (University of New Hampshire), Postwar Italy’s Refugee Re-Housing Projects: Urban Peripheries as Extension of Empire Kerry Gibbons (University of Warwick), Colonial Re-Imaginations: The Liberal Colony as a Narrative Setting in the Fascist-Era ‘Romanzo Coloniale’ Federico C. Simonelli (Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia), The Bard of Submerged Imperialism: D’Annunzio and Nationalist Ideology in the Italian Imaginary after the Second World War Room 107 Panel 5 – Post-Imperial Portrayals in Cinema and Television Chair: Luca Valleriani (Sapienza Università di Roma) Teresa Sorolla & Víctor Mínguez (Universitat Jaume I), Afterlife of Queen Victoria in Cinema: Victoria & Abdul (Stephen Frears, 2017) Roxana Elena Doncu (Carol Davila University of Medicine and Pharmacy), Prince and Pauper: The British Monarchy, Their Imagined Transylvanian Roots and Imperial Nostalgia in Wild Carpathia Emiel Martens (University of Amsterdam & Erasmus University Rotterdam), Welcome to Paradise Island: The Interwoven History of Film, Tourism and Empire in Jamaica, 1891–1951 Room 110 Panel 6 – Old and New Landscapes Chair: Katherine Baxter (Northumbria University) Mary Booth (University of Liverpool), Strategic Ambiguity: The Continued Influence of Empire and the Interpretive Evolution of Historic Houses in the United Kingdom Elizabeth Dillenburg (The Ohio State University at Newark), The Ozymandias of Delhi: Coronation Park and the Negotiation of Colonial Legacies in India Sean Ketteringham (University of Oxford), Enduring Coloniality: Georgian Heritage and Angus Acworth in the West Indies Leo Kadokura (University of Oxford), Distant Chimeras: The After-Effects of John Galsworthy and the Edwardian Novel 16.45 – 17.15 Coffee break (room 204, 2dn floor) 17.15 – 19.15 Parallel sessions III Room 105 Panel 7 – Displaying Empire Chair: Franco Baldasso (Bard College, NY) Jeremy Walton (University of Rijeka), Between Inter-Imperial Violence and Inter-National Peace: A View from the Military Museums of Vienna and Istanbul Andrea Potts (The University of Brighton), The Afterlives of Imperialism: Public Engagement with Museum Exhibitions Briony Widdis & Emma Reisz (Queen’s University Belfast), Collecting Ambiguity: Material Objects and the Afterlives of Empire in Northern Ireland Rebekah Hodgkinson (University of Oxford), Constructing the Past in the Present: The National Trust and British Colonialism Room 107 Panel 8 – Multimedial Empires Chair: Tiziano De Marino (Sapienza Università di Roma) Oded Feuerstein (Tel Aviv University), ‘I understand colonialism now and it terrifies me’: Ludic Imperialism and Victoria 3 Paolo D’Indinosante (Sapienza Università di Roma), The Afterlife of Colonial Fiction in The Secret Games Company’s Kim Judith Neder (Technische Universität Dresden), Challenging Fundamentalism: Gene Luen Yang’s Boxers and Saints Room 110 Panel 9 – Fiction and Colonial Memory Chair: Alessandra Crotti (Sapienza Università di Roma) Nicoletta Brazzelli (Università degli Studi di Milano), The Poetics of Memory in Afterlives by Abdulrazak Gurnah Eri Kobayashi (Seikei University), Memories of Empire in Caryl Phillips’s Novels Emma Parker (University of Bristol), The Baggage of Empire: Objects, Memory, and Colonial Whiteness in J. G. Ballard’s and Doris Lessing’s Life Writing Carmen Zamorano Llena (Dalarna University), Listening to the Precariousness of Post-Imperial Memory in Abdulrazak Gurnah’s Afterlives Friday, 22 September 2023 10.00 – 11.00 Keynote lecture II – Room 105 Chair: Irene Ranzato (Sapienza Università di Roma) Pablo Mukherjee (University of Oxford), Ghosts in the Machine: Famines and Afterlives of Empire 11.00 – 11.30 Coffee break (room 204, 2nd floor) 11.30 – 13.00 Parallel sessions IV Room 105 Panel 10 – Postcolonial Histories and Nation Building Chair: Paolo D’Indinosante (Sapienza Università di Roma) Ann-Sofie Nielsen Gremaud (University of Iceland), New Friendships and Old Ties: Post-Colonial Relations between Iceland and Greenland Skirmantė Biržietienė & Eglė Gabrėnaitė (Vilnius University Kaunas Faculty), The Concept of Empire in Contemporary Lithuanian Public Discourse: A Corpus-Based Research Karl Hele (Mount Allison University), Anishinaabeg Countering Settler Imperial-Colonial Narratives through Performance, c. 1900 to Present Room 107 Panel 11 – Gender, Memory, Empire Chair: Caterina Romeo (Sapienza Università di Roma) Noreen Kane (University College Cork), Intergenerational Memory in the Novels of Maaza Mengiste Nicole Fluhr (Southern Connecticut State University), Revision and/as Revolt: Tackling Empire’s Literary Legacies in Marlon James’ The Book of Night Women Giovanna Buonanno (Università di Modena e Reggio Emilia), Afterlives of Empire in Contemporary Black British Women’s Plays: Janice Okoh’s The Gift (2020) Room 110 Panel 12 – Post-Imperial Myths Chair:

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CFP: Storytelling, Identity Formation, and Resistance in North American Indigenous Culture

Members' Publications /

CFP: Storytelling, Identity Formation, and Resistance in North American Indigenous Culture Through stories, knowledge and culture within and between communities is passed from generation to generation. Oral narratives were used and are still used to share rituals, customs, and traditions of a community. The truths within Indigenous communities are reflected and grounded within their stories and Elders play a key role in passing knowledge. They “mentor and provide support and have systematically gathered wisdom, histories, skills, and expertise in cultural knowledge” (Iseke 561). Their stories shape identity and empower Indigenous communities and peoples. Stories indicate beliefs, attitudes, and perceptions of people. For instance, Datta emphasizes that “stories can vary from the sacred to historical, some focus on social, political, and cultural ways, some are entertaining, even humorous, some tell of personal, family, community, or an entire nations’ experience” (37). Indigenous stories represent Indigenous knowledge and can be a way to resist colonial power, through memories of the past. Additionally, memories as expressed through story for the basis for … the future. Elders “use their knowledge for the collective good” (Iseke 561). A person’s identity is shaped not only through their experience and knowledge of life but also by what is passed through community. Identity is shaped through cultural memory of the groups and communities. A common shared knowledge serves to connect individuals to the community. Memory can maintain the identity of the people who live within a community. The shared memory that passes from generation to generation, fashions culture and history. According to Assmann, “the term is cultural memory, it is ‘cultural’ because it can be realized institutionally and artificially, and it is ‘memory’ because its relation to social communication it functions in exactly the same way as individual memory does in relation to consciousness” (9). Culture connects history, myth, tradition, and identity which are bound together through story. Through memory, one can preserve the past and shape the future. With the aid of memory, communities can remember their traditions, history, and values and while making them speak to the present. One recalls not only what he learned and experienced but also how others have reacted to this knowledge; therefore, there is always interaction between an individual and their community. Storytelling is a way to share memories between generations. This call for papers will focus on the importance of storytelling in Indigenous communities, specifically within the context of North America. The storytelling can function as a method to overcome the past traumas, shape identity, resist colonial power and resurge the community. Moreover, storytelling helps the Indigenous community to avoid the false information spread about their culture while bringing awareness to both the community and outsiders. Fake news is widespread by colonializers has been damaging Indigenous peoples’ rituals, history, and identity while stories told by Elders can be a way to inform the people about the true facts remained untold, masked, or deformed. Some previous books focused on the importance of stories. Fagundes and Blayer’s edited book Oral and Written Narratives and Cultural Identity: Interdisciplinary Approaches (2007) contains 6 sections which emphasize on place, autobiographical voices, oral identities, textualized identities, and children’s stories. The book emphasizes on a general understanding of identity and storytelling. Archibald’s Indigenous Storywork: Educating the Heart, Mind, Body, and Soul (2008) is an attempt to bring in storytelling in educational context. In her book, she emphasizes on the power of stories in teaching about Indigenous people. Christensen et al. edited a book entitled Activating the Heart: Storytelling, Knowledge Sharing, and Relationship (2018) that deals with understanding, sharing, and creating stories. They use various mediums such as autobiography, poetry, and scholarly books to indicate how storytelling educates people. Besides, Xiiem et al. also edited a book related to Indigenous studies entitled Decolonizing Research: Indigenous Storywork as Methodology (2019) and focused on Indigenous communities in Australia, Canada, and New Zealand and shared some knowledge on how stories work as a method of decolonizing Indigenous history. Perspectives on Indigenous writing and literacies (2019) edited by Cocq and Sullivan explored Indigenous literacy across five continents. It deals with challenges that Indigenous writers face and new approaches that can pave the path for hopeful future for Indigenous writing. These books tackled the importance of storytelling and the current call for paper will focus on the role of storytelling among Indigenous peoples in Canada to heal the trauma, shape the subjectivity, and resist the colonial power. The call for paper seeks contributions from literary and non-literary disciplines such as memoirs, novels, diaries, movies, tv series, and documentaries to give a more holistic view of the power of the stories among Indigenous peoples in Canada. Through storytelling, the Indigenous people are not passive victims of colonization but active participants of shaping their own culture, rituals, and traditions. Hence this CFP for a volume, tentatively titled Storytelling, Identity Formation, and Resistance in North American Indigenous Culture, seeks expand the existing literature on the concept of storytelling as healing and identity formation by seeking for contributors from a range of different fields. Therefore, this call for papers seeks to gather proposal exploring literary and non-literary texts (including but not limited to feature films and documentaries) that exploit the power of storytelling, among Indigenous people of North America, as a therapeutic tool in different contexts. In this light, we are seeking contributions that engage with but not limited to Canadian Indigenous Studies and related disciplines. Contributions are sought concerning, but not limited to, issues such as: • Storytelling as an act of resistance and empowerment • Storytelling and notion of self in relation to others • Storytelling as a testimonial act • Stories and historical construction of events • Stories and representation of Indigenous knowledge The papers will be peer-reviewed. Interested contributors should send their proposals to Kamelia Talebian Sedehi (Kamelia.talebiansedehi@uniroma1.it). Please write in the subject: abstract for CFP on Storytelling. The manuscript collection will be submitted to John Benjamins press for consideration for publication. Timeline Deadline: 30/09/2023 – Abstracts (300 words) Notification of acceptance: 15/10/2023

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