June 15 – The 8th biennial conference of the Australasian Centre for Italian Studies is scheduled for July 1-4 at the University of Sydney, under the title “Fertile areas and dynamic places: mapping Italian culture.” The event will focus on the many ways in which Italians were influenced and influences their surroundings. Italian culture and society have long been dimmed by a strong sense of place: whether if we speak of those who left their country or of those who remained in the same places where their families lived for centuries, Italians have always had a strong sense of the environment and physical space they inhabited. The topics discussed at the conference, organized by Australasian Centre for Italian Studies in collaboration with the University of Sydney and the Italian Cultural Institute, will be related to Italian art, film, cultural studies, economics history, linguistics and sociolinguistics, literature, immigration and emigration, politics, sociology and anthropology. Among the guest speakers, there will be: John Foot (University of Bristol), Mari D’Agostino (University of Palermo), and Niall Atkinson (University of Chicago). (Cle)
