th
# 78 APRIL 18 , 2016
11th Conference
of Italian Researchers
in the World
which represents a useful
paradigm for success since it enables individuals
from different areas of
study and different backgrounds to become aware of each other’s work.
It also creates contacts
between researchers at
the beginning of their career and more established
and well-known scholars.
Furthermore, this year the
symposium, with its focus
on migrations, allowed a
more extended reflection
on the advantages and
challenges of a global
world view.
The organizers of the
symposium selected the
subject because it continues to be at the center
of world-wide political
debate and is subject to
prejudices and misinformation. Only a scientific
approach to the pheno-
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menon is able to orient
the general audience
as well as policymakers
towards a more thorough
understanding of the problem and towards enlightened solutions. In this
spirit, presenters framed
the discourse about migrations in an historical
and globally comparative
context, also emphasizing
an approach which recognized the complexities
of acculturation, the stages of intergenerational
assimilation, the specificities of particular waves
of migration, and the employment of old and new
technologies to conduct
research. For example,
with this in mind, Dr. Moira
Di Mauro-Jackson (Texas
State University, San Marcos) explored the work of
bilingual authors who opted to write in Italian. Dr.
Alberto Giordano (Texas
State University, San Marcos) used the tools and
methods of geographic
information science to
map the waves of migration produced by the Nazi-German occupation in
the 1940s in Italy. The contributions heard during
the symposium detailed
the many images of Italy
available today in the USA
through the Fine Arts–Dr.
Victoria Surliuga (Texas
Tech University, Lubbock),
Dr. Angela Lombardi (The
University of Texas at San
Antonio) and Dr. Alberto
Dambruoso (Accademia
of Foggia) discussed respectively the importance
of artists Ezio Gribaudo,
Renzo Piano, and Alberto
Burri—as well as in other
areas of interest. Dr. Riccardo Giumelli (University of Verona) reflected on
the meaning and implications of the “Made in Italy”