Italian American Studies Association Conference Proposals

Conference Theme: "Recorded, Reported, Projected, and Pixilated: Italian Americans in Mass Media"

Date:  November 3rd to November 5th, 2016

Location: California State University—Long Beach, Long Beach / Los Angeles, California

Site to submit proposals: https://italianamericanstudies.submittable.com/submit

Music, theater, film, multi-media, mass media and advertising, publishing, artistic renderings, science and technology, and the burgeoning digital humanities have characterized and are changing the way Italian Americans conceive of themselves  and how they re-conceptualize and re-signify their identities.  

In recognition of this powerful moment in the representation of ethnic American identities, the Italian American Studies Association is calling for contributions from scholars and writers in every field for its 2016 annual conference. 

Fittingly slated for a California venue where Hollywood and the Silicon Valley have led the charge in forming our media-driven lives, the conference will take place at California State University, Long Beach, November 3-5, 2016.

We invite full panels or individual papers as well as digital short films, digital projects, digital art, digital presentations, and creative writing.  Presenters are limited to presenting one paper/presentation of scholarship and one creative writing reading or one creative panel or scholarly presentation and one chair position.  Presentations are limited to 15-20 minutes based on the number of people in a panel.  If you are willing to serve as a chair, please indicate that willingness in your cover letter.  Please send us a brief one paragraph bio with your credentials and your abstract of 100-250 words detailing your thesis and indicating what type of presentation you will be presenting: a traditional scholarly paper, multi-media presentation (PowerPoint or Prezi), short film or digital artifact, digital art, original creative writing. Please note that the selection of panels will be a more competitive process than the selection of individual presentations.

Possible paper or panels might include but are not limited to:

·         Italian Americans and social media

·         Poetry & literature in the digital age

·         Scientific & technological Italian American innovation related to or represented through multi-media or mass media

·         Italian diaspora represented through mass media and multi media

·         Columbus Day and Italian American Heritage Through Social Media

·         Italian American representations in advertising or film

·         Italian Americans in recorded music

·         Italian American representation on Youtube,  blogs, MEMEs, and Vine, and other digital/ media platforms.

·         Deconstruction of the mob/mafia theme in multi-media

·         Analysis of Italian-American political figures.

·         The politics of co-opting and marketing Italian-American language, posturing, culture, and/or stereotypes for politics or products for political gain.

·         Italian American communication styles and patterns in social linguistics.

·         Italian American representations in African-American literature or film

·         Italian Americans and  comedy such as Key & Peele

·         Italian American female icons such as Madonna, Lady GaGa, Sophia Loren

·         The intersection of white privilege and historical discrimination as represented in multi-media

·         Uncovering Italian American history through digital archives

·         Italian  American artists and design aesthetics in modern culture

·          Italian American ancestry and the digital artifact

·         Exploring one of these topics through digital short film, documentary short, or other multi-media project including creative writing.

Deadline for Abstracts: May 1, 2016

Expressions of interest and inquiries can be sent to Dr. Alan Gravano at Alan.Gravano@outlook.com.