041310_ItalianPedagogytrue1334586686108acckfpitalian, italy, academic, conference, italianistica, UNICOHofstra Conference, "For a Dangerous Pedagogy," Has Mission to Change Society's Teaching and Thinking of Italian and Italian American Culture April 14 to 17, 2010/Hofstra_Main_Site/Home/News/PressReleases/Archive/041310_ItalianPedagogyprpgse1271177703875prpgse1271263056093Press Release Sub TitlePress Release TitleHofstra Conference, "For a Dangerous Pedagogy," Has Mission to Change Society's Teaching and Thinking of Italian and Italian American Culture April 14 to 17, 2010Press Release Date2010/04/13Hofstra CategoriesHCLASCOMMUNITYDIVERSITYFACULTYCULTURALGinny GreenbergUniversity RelationsHofstra Hall(516) 463-6819TO REGISTER CALL (516) 463-5669prpgse@hofstra.edu/Conference Program/Itineraryhttp://www.hofstra.edu/pdf/Community/culctr/culctr_PedagogyFinal.pdf/Hofstra University, Hempstead, NY … For a Dangerous Pedagogy: A Manifesto for Italian and Italian American Studies is a conference with ambitious goals: to reinvigorate Italian and Italian American studies and  change the teaching and thinking of those cultures so as to engage the local, non-academic community.

This conference will be presented April 14 to 17, 2010, at Hofstra University. Co-sponsors are the Hofstra Cultural Center, The Italian Academy for Advanced Studies in America of Columbia University and Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimò of New York University.

The conference was conceived by Dr. Pelligrino D’Acierno, Hofstra’s inaugural Queensboro UNICO Distinguished Professor of Italian and Italian American Studies.  Participants are coming from across the United States and several countries, including Italy, The Netherlands and Scotland. Among them are:

•       Frank Lentricchia, who has been named Queensboro UNICO Distinguished Conference Scholar. He is one of America’s most renowned literary critics and a brilliant novelist whose most recent work is The Italian Actress.

•       Italian actor Vincenzo Amato
•       Pier Vittorio Aureli, considered the most militant architect on the current Italian scene.
•       Italy’s Remo Bodei and Achille Varzi, two of the leading philosophers on the current Italian scene
•       Francesco Durante, the author of Scuorno, the best-selling book on contemporary Naples
•       Annie Rachele Lanzillotto, actress, writer and current writer in Residence at the Santa Fe Art Institute.
•       Maria Laurino, American journalist, essayist  and memoirist.
•       Romano Luperini, the distinguished literary critics based at the University of Siena
•       Lucio Pozzi, one of Italy’s most important living painters and performance artists

Conference highlights include:

Wednesday, April 14, 7:30  p.m. Between Fable and Documentary: Screening Immigration and the Immigrant Experience – Nuovomondo Versus Pane Amaro, featuring director Gianfranco Norelli and his film Pane Amaro (2009).  This event is free and open to the public.

Thursday, April 15, 8:15 p.m. Perfidia: A Tale of Internment, a performance of Jo Ann Tedesco’s play on the internment of Italian Americans during WWII, directed by Bobby Funaro. This event is also free and open to the public.

Panel discussions throughout the four days include topics such as:

•    On Methodology: Rethinking Italianistica
•    Theory-Work: Dialogizing Italian American Studies/Italianizing the Curriculum For a Transitional Pedagogy: Italian and Italian American Categories
•    Oppositional-Work: Politicizing the Discipline and Deconstructing the American Social Imaginary
•    Memory-Work: Constructing a Counter-History of the Italian American Experience Dangerous Texts Cultural Studies: New Directions The Other Philosophy or Why Italian Philosophy Matters The Specters of Gramsci: Italian Culture After Postmodernism Global Culture or “Coma Culture?”
•    The New Italian Cinema
•    And many other presentations relating to Italian literature, culture, history and philosophy.

Events on Wednesday and Thursday, April 14 and 15, will take place at Hofstra University. Events on Friday, April 16, will take place at The Italian Academy for Advanced Studies in America at Columbia University (1161 Amsterdam Avenue in New York City). The final day of the conference will be hosted by Casa Italiana Zerilli- Marimò  (24 West 12th Street in New York City).

For more information on registration, fees and special conference events, call the Hofstra Cultural Center at (516) 463-5669 or visit hofstra.edu/culture. Conference events, with the exception of meals, are free to members of the Hofstra community upon presentation of a current HofstraCard.
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