The Alfonse M. D’Amato Endowed Chair in

Italian and Italian American Studies

at Stony Brook University

Stony Brook, NY 11794

is proud to announce the launching of

FIAC

Forum on Italian American Criticism

An Annual Symposium

The Topic of this first edition is

The Status of Interpretation in Italian American Studies

In collaboration with

The John D. Calandra Italian American Institute, and

National Italian American Foundation

Additional support from

Stony Brook University:

The Center for Italian Studies, 

The Department of European Languages, Literatures, and Cultures, and

The Office of the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences.

Stony Brook Manhattan, 3 October, 2008

Calandra Italian American Institute, 4 October, 2008

With the participation of

Josephine Hendin, Francesca Sautman, Stefano Luconi, Pellegrino D’Acierno, Ben Lawton, Robert Casillo, William Boelhower, Anthony Tamburri, Fred Gardaphé, Peter Carravetta, Djela Kadir, Ottorino Cappelli, Sebastiano Martelli, Donna Chirico, Martino Marazzi, Jerry Krase, Gerald Meyer, Donato Santeramo, Renate Holub, Gustavo Perez-Firmat.

Keynote Speaker: Robert Viscusi.

Free and Open to the Public; For information and RSVP:

 Peter.Carravetta@stonybrook.edu, ccacciato@stonybrook.edu, or 631 632-7440/7444, 212-642 2094 

PROGRAM

Friday, October 3, 2008

Stony Brook Manhattan, 428 Park Ave/28^th St., New York

8:30 am  - Registration; Coffee

9:00 am - Opening Remarks

Welcome, James Staros, Dean, College of Arts and Sciences, Stony Brook University

Greetings, Hon. Francesco Taló, Italian Consul General

Introductory Remarks, Mario Mignone, Director, Center for Italian Studies, Stony Brook University

About The First FIAC Conference, Peter Carravetta, Alfonse D’Amato Professor, Stony Brook University

 9:30-11:30 -  1. The View from Inside the Fold

Chair: Mary Jo Bona, Stony Brook University

Anthony Julian Tamburri, John D. Calandra Italian American Institute

From Private to Public: An Italian/American Socio-Cultural Trajectory

Fred L. Gardaphé, CUNY/Queens College & Calandra Institute

Commedia della Morte: Theories of Life and Death in Italian American Culture

William Boelhower, Louisiana State University

The Dimensions of Italian American Writing

 11:30 am - 1:00 pm – 2. The View from Ethnography and the Social Science

Chair: Joseph Sciorra, John D. Calandra Italian American Institute

Jerry Krase. Emeritus, CUNY/Brooklyn College

Interpreting the Italian Look, or: What Looks Italian?

Donna Chirico, CUNY/York College

The Dog Catches Its Tail: A Critical Reflection on the Value of an Italian American Identity in Personal Development

1:00-2:30 pm • Lunch

2:30-4:30 pm   3. The View from Italy

Chair: Mario Mignone, SUNY/Stony Brook

Sebastiano Martelli, University of Salerno

Studi sull’emigrazione versus studi italoamericani: aspetti teorici e metodologici

Ottorino Cappelli, University of  Naples “L’Orientale”

Politics in Italian America: A Deserted Research Field

Martino Marazzi, University of Milan

Questioning the Traditionalism of Italian American Literature 

4:30-6:00 pm •  The View from History

Chair: Stan Pugliese, Hofstra University

Gerald Meyer, Emeritus, CUNY/Hostos Community College

The Road Not Taken: Cultural Pluralism and the Italian American Community

Stefano Luconi, University of Milan

Whiteness and Ethnicity in Italian American Historiography

6:30 pm. Refreshments

7:00pm • Keynote Lecture -  The Ice Margin - Robert Viscusi,  CUNY/Brooklyn College

Saturday, October 4

The John D. Calandra Italian American Institute

25 West 43^rd Street, Manhattan, NY 10036

8:30 am  - Coffee

9:00 am - Opening Comments

Welcome, James Muyskens, President, Queens College

Greetings, Frank Cannata, Past President, UNICO National

Introductory Remarks, Anthony J. Tamburri, Dean, John D. Calandra Italian American Institute

9:30-11:00am •     5. The View from Film and Cultural Studies

Chair:  David Aliano, College of Mount St. Vincent

Ben Lawton, Purdue University

What Is Italian American Criticism? The Obama Answer

Robert Casillo, Miami University

The Future of Italian American Film Studies

 11:00 am-1:00 pm – 6.  The View from Outside the Fold

Chair: Rowan Phillips, Stony Brook University

Djelal Kadir, Pennsylvania State University

Via The Margin of the Poetic

Gustavo Pérez-Firmat, Columbia University

Gendered Bilingualism

Renate Holub, University of California/Berkeley

Cultures in the United States 1968-2008

 1:00-2:30 pm - Lunch

2:30-4:00 pm •   7. The View from Women,  Race, and Identity Studies

Chair: Giancarlo Lombardi, CUNY/Graduate Center

Josephine Gattuso Hendin, New York University

Women, Ethnicity, and Assimilation

Francesca Canadé Sautman, CUNY/Hunter College & The Graduate Center

The (Dis)Comfort Zone: Gender and Race Reinvent Italian America

4:00-6:00 pm •  8.  The View from Interpretation Theory

Chair: Paolo Giordano, Florida Central University

Pellegrino D’Acierno, Hofstra University

Inside Out. Reading as an Italian American or: For a Hermeneutics of Removes

Donato Santeramo, Queen’s University

I Don’t Exist, Therefore….I am. De-categorizing Italian American Studies

Peter Carravetta, Stony Brook University

On the Hermeneutics of Hybridity

6:00  pm – Concluding Remarks