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AAIS News
__ 09 September 2003
CALL_FOR_PAPERS
The Mariano A. Elia Chair in Italian Canadian Studies at York University,
the Frank Iacobucci Centre in Italian Canadian Studies, University
of Toronto, and the Research Group on Southern European Literature
and Culture, Carleton University are inviting contributions for a
major international conference:
FROM EMIGRANTE
TO CANADESE: THE ITALIAN-CANADIAN PROJECT
The conference will take
place in Ottawa, Canada on 14 -16 May
2004 in conjunction with the Museum of Civilization's
exhibit, “PRESENZA: A NEW LOOK AT ITALIAN CANADIAN HERITAGE.”
The conference will take
stock of the Italian-Canadian experience, its history, its present
condition, and future prospects. Sessions for the conference therefore
will welcome the widest possible representation from and participation
of the Italian-Canadian community, from Atlantic to Pacific: professionals,
politicians, entrepreneurs, writers, artists, and intellectuals.
The conference organizers believe that the time is ripe, fifty years
after the beginning of the post-Second World War mass immigration
from Italy to Canada, and more than one hundred years after the beginning
of settlement of significant numbers of Italian immigrants here, to
discuss some fundamental issues:
The first generations of
Italian Canadians and the formation of Canadian society.
The history and limitations of the notion of “Little Italy.”
Not only “Little Italies”: Italian Canadians in non-urban
settlements.
Writing the Italian-Canadian experience.
The mass media (Italian-language or other) and representations of
Italian Canadians.
Language and ethno-cultural identity.
The position of Italian in a bilingual nation.
Anglophone and Francophone Italian Canadians – parallel histories?
The relationship between Italian-Canadian and Italian culture.
The implications of dual Italian-Canadian citizenship.
Italian-Canadian identity across generations.
Family, food, and fashion: concrete and symbolic markers of Italian-Canadian
identity.
Italian Canadians in the arts.
The material history of the Italian-Canadian experience.
Italian-Canadian food and foodways: pasta and espresso in the “frozen
wastes.”
Traditional religious and communal practices – feste and other
festivities.
Italian Canadians and the evolution of Multiculturalism Policy.
Women, history, and the Italian-Canadian project.
Race, gender, and sexual orientation: Emerging or compounding diversities
in Italian-Canadian life?
Italian Canadians and/in politics.
Politicians, political life, and the Italian-Canadian constituency.
Italian Canadians in business and the professions.
Please
note: the topics listed are suggestions only and we
have yet to decide the format in which they might be presented (lecture
sessions, roundtable discussions etc.). In addition to our suggestions
we invite other ideas from would-be participants. Individuals are
invited to organize their own sessions around their own themes together
with a list of proposed speakers. Sessions can be structured either
as a number of lectures grouped by theme or subject matter, or as
roundtable discussions on a given theme, or as a series of readings
of creative works (for example) together with discussions.
We will apply for funding to support those who wish to present papers
at the conference and we ask that proposals be submitted no later
than 22 September 2003. Please submit your proposal (max. 150 words)
together with a short CV (most recent publications, teaching, research
interests etc.) The organizing committee will review all proposals
and retains the right to determine whether they will be included for
the conference.
Send proposals
to either address listed below:
Professor
Elio Costa
Director, Mariano A. Elia Chair in Italian Canadian Studies
135 Founders College, York University
4700 Keele Street
Toronto, Ontario M3J 1P3
Professor Luca Somigli, Director
Frank Iacobucci Centre for Italian Canadian Studies
Dept. of Italian Studies, Univ. of Toronto
100 St Joseph Street
Toronto, Ontario M5S 1J4
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