Venezia, Italy by Jonathan Ford, (@jonfordphotos) for Unsplash
Italy and its Environments
ASMI Annual Conference
29 & 30 November 2024
Senate House, University of London
This conference aims to bring together scholars and practitioners across different research areas to discuss the transdisciplinary topic of ‘Italy and its environments’ in modern and contemporary times.
In the burgeoning field of the Environmental Humanities, Italian environments represent major areas of inquiry for their critical re-assessment of Italian culture as well as for the interactions and connections of Italian environmental imaginaries at regional, national, and global levels. Environmental issues and sensibility towards threatened eco- and Earth systems are, in fact, inherently without borders and transnational. That is not to exclude diversity and difference in their effects and experiences at regional, national, and global levels.
This conference aims to foster new perspectives and dialogue, bringing these cross-disciplinary approaches and scales of analysis together by seeing Italy through the lens of the environment, and vice versa. The aesthetic appreciation of Italian landscapes and the imaginaries associated with them, environmental disasters past and present, colonial politics of land reclamation, the emergence of issues such as ‘ecomafia,’ Italy’s rural pasts and its transnational food economics, depopulation, and the imbalance in the culture/nature divide are all facets of the Italian historical and contemporary context which speak to wider concerns in the Environmental Humanities.
We encourage contributions that explore the environment within transnational, cultural, political, social, and historical frameworks; contributions linking Italian environments to global crises and networks; contributions looking at the Italian case through a comparative lens within European history and culture; among others. The conference seeks to feature papers from different disciplines – literary studies, gender studies, history, anthropology, planning, arts, social sciences, media studies, and philosophy (this list not being exclusive). Academics and independent researchers of all career stages are welcome to submit proposals for individual papers or entire panels.
Plenary Speakers: Marco Armiero (Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona), Serenella Iovino (University of North Carolina), Elena Past (Wayne State University), Niccolò Scaffai (Università degli Studi di Siena)
Panels might include, but are not limited to the following conference themes:
- Politics and nature
- Tourism and the environment
- Extreme climatic events and environmental disasters
- Food, foodways and the environment
- Ecocritical approaches to modern literature and cinema
- Ecofeminism
- Animal and plant studies
- Political perspectives on green energy policies
- Ecomafia and environmental crimes
- Depopulation and le aree interne
- Climate change
- Environmental dimensions of colonization
- Migrations and the environment
- Public environmental humanities
The conference will be in-presence with the possibility of a few hybrid sessions. Papers can be presented either in English or Italian.
All proposals for papers or panels (300 word abstract per 20 minutes presentation either in English or Italian, plus a brief biography) should be sent to asmiconference2024@gmail.com by Monday July 1st 2024.
Acceptances will be communicated by Monday July 15th 2024. Accepted speakers will be required to join ASMI (https://asmi.org.uk/membership/) and register for the conference by 1 November. Registration details will be announced no later than September.
Organising committee: Roberta Biasillo (Utrecht University), Marzia Maccaferri (Queen Mary, University of London) Patrizia Sambuco (University of Dundee) Joseph Viscomi (Birkbeck, University of London).