Periodic Reporting for period 2 - TransIT (Many Diasporas from One Transnational Italy)
Reporting period: 2022-08-01 to 2023-07-31
TransIT is inspired by the necessity of promoting a more open and complex perception of Italian culture in the context of higher education. It aims to broaden the conception of Italianness by investigating a series
of cultural texts that can be included within a comprehensive definition of ‘Italian culture’, once this is extended to its migratory and diasporic manifestations. On these premises, TransIT encourages inclusivity. It draws upon multidisciplinary resources – literature, film, television, newspapers and magazines, sociological surveys and historical documents – and adopts an interdisciplinary approach to examining the evolution of Italian culture outside of Italy, with a specific focus on the experiences included within the Italophone and Anglophone worlds. In looking at race- and gender-specific cultural witnesses, it seeks to redress the mainstream interpretation of Italian culture. The final goal is to promote greater understanding of the history of migrations to and from Italy and to offer an effective critique of the skewed sense of belonging informing the nationalist and racist visions that have inspired right-wing propaganda in Italy and other European countries. Engaging with universities in the United Kingdom and the United States to then expand to other European and international education institutions, the project responds to the demand for revised and updated methods and materials for teaching Italian culture in transnational perspective. An interactive, bilingual online multimedia anthology of texts constitutes the principal outcome of TransIT. This anthology will provide students and faculty alike a guided reading of significant sources currently available solely in Italian or English.
of cultural texts that can be included within a comprehensive definition of ‘Italian culture’, once this is extended to its migratory and diasporic manifestations. On these premises, TransIT encourages inclusivity. It draws upon multidisciplinary resources – literature, film, television, newspapers and magazines, sociological surveys and historical documents – and adopts an interdisciplinary approach to examining the evolution of Italian culture outside of Italy, with a specific focus on the experiences included within the Italophone and Anglophone worlds. In looking at race- and gender-specific cultural witnesses, it seeks to redress the mainstream interpretation of Italian culture. The final goal is to promote greater understanding of the history of migrations to and from Italy and to offer an effective critique of the skewed sense of belonging informing the nationalist and racist visions that have inspired right-wing propaganda in Italy and other European countries. Engaging with universities in the United Kingdom and the United States to then expand to other European and international education institutions, the project responds to the demand for revised and updated methods and materials for teaching Italian culture in transnational perspective. An interactive, bilingual online multimedia anthology of texts constitutes the principal outcome of TransIT. This anthology will provide students and faculty alike a guided reading of significant sources currently available solely in Italian or English.
I developed the project and worked on its outputs, in particular on the interactive, bilingual online multimedia anthology of texts which has constituted the main output, at the Clorinda Donato Center for Global Romance Languages and Translation Studies (CDC) at California State University, Long Beach (CSULB) during the outgoing phase and at the School of Modern Language (MLang) at Cardiff University (CU) during the returning phase. Under the supervision of Prof. Clorinda Donato, I developed a specific training in translation and transnationalism which was completed under the supervision of Dr. Liz Wren-Owens at MLang and allowed me to guide and edit the translation of the texts which, meanwhile, I selected through extensive library research. I investigated secondary sources allowing me to develop a theoretical framework based on which I completed the selection and the analysis of the texts for the anthology, I translated those texts in translation workshops organized with students and in other contexts involving former students and colleagues, and edited and organized them alongside sources of criticism and teaching resources to be uploaded on the final project output. I exploited and disseminated my research findings in academic and non-academic events, as well as on social networks and on an informative blog. The blog has gradually become a website hosting my broader research under the title Multiple Italy(s) (www.multipleitaly.com) alongside the digital anthology Voices of Multiple Italy | Voci di un’Italia Molteplice, which is near completion and will be released by April 2024.
At the end of the fellowship, two journal articles have also resulted in publication, on Translation and Interpreting Studies and Women Language Literature in Italy; another one is under revision for Italian studies; three more journal articles sprang from the project will be submitted or resubmitted in 2024.
At the end of the fellowship, two journal articles have also resulted in publication, on Translation and Interpreting Studies and Women Language Literature in Italy; another one is under revision for Italian studies; three more journal articles sprang from the project will be submitted or resubmitted in 2024.
During the implementation of the project, the context of the Modern Languages witnessed a significant reduction, in terms or student enrolment and language programs, in the UK and the US, which are the main contexts where I carried out my investigation. Nonetheless, the project is still relevant to the expected evolution of my career as well as in terms of impact on society through the education of languages and cultures in their plurality and global circulation. My research contributed to the search for new innovative methodologies through which promoting a new interest in the study and the research on languages and cultures through phenomena impacting all countries globally, such as migrations. The recent increase in the demand for online contents and methodologies has indeed strengthened the timeliness of the project and its relevance in the field, making the socio-economic impact and its wider societal implications even stronger and more radical. The main progress made beyond the state of the art is the elaboration of a methodological model which allows, promotes and encourages the dialogue between field of expertise so far separated, like the ones investigating the representations of the emigration from Italy and the representations of the immigration to Italy. The finalization of the online, multimedia bilingual digital anthology will make concrete and accessible the narrative resulting from the critical interpretation of the texts I selected in my research.
At CDC and MLANG I received appropriate training which significantly increased my skills in translation and supervising translation work and groups, and I transferred my knowledge to the institutions through the organization of events. At the same time, I exploited and disseminated my research findings and translated my research into public knowledge to an academic audience through conferences, workshops and symposia, online and in presence; and I engaged the wider public in discussion on the Italian diaspora and transnational perception of Italian culture through a dedicated space on social networks (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter) and on an informative blog which I have opened to engage the wider audience in my research entitled Multiple Italy(s). The completion of the final output allows me to advance significantly beyond the state of art at the beginning of the project and project my research in the future, contributing to the transnational evolution of the entire field of modern languages. This is confirmed by the invitation to present the project session organized by the Transnational Italian Studies Working Group at MLA 2023, the collaboration with Galway University within the project, the interest arisen among colleagues and the enlargement of my network to institutions such as the Confucius Institute at Cardiff University and Xiamen University, and with Monash University Malaysia.
At CDC and MLANG I received appropriate training which significantly increased my skills in translation and supervising translation work and groups, and I transferred my knowledge to the institutions through the organization of events. At the same time, I exploited and disseminated my research findings and translated my research into public knowledge to an academic audience through conferences, workshops and symposia, online and in presence; and I engaged the wider public in discussion on the Italian diaspora and transnational perception of Italian culture through a dedicated space on social networks (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter) and on an informative blog which I have opened to engage the wider audience in my research entitled Multiple Italy(s). The completion of the final output allows me to advance significantly beyond the state of art at the beginning of the project and project my research in the future, contributing to the transnational evolution of the entire field of modern languages. This is confirmed by the invitation to present the project session organized by the Transnational Italian Studies Working Group at MLA 2023, the collaboration with Galway University within the project, the interest arisen among colleagues and the enlargement of my network to institutions such as the Confucius Institute at Cardiff University and Xiamen University, and with Monash University Malaysia.