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.
