Transnationalism and Questions of Identity – New York: 1-3 November 2018

John D. Calandra Italian American Institute
25 West 43rd Street, Suite 1700
New York, NY 10036

“Transnationalism and Questions of Identity,” the second chapter of the international conference Diaspore Italiane – Italy in Movement, will be held in New York City, the backdrop for discussions that explore ideas of identity building, claiming, maintaining, and maiming in the 21st century.

Transnational contexts show cultural identities in motion as they react, adapt and develop in reciprocal contact in reaction to changing notions of the individual nation in the world today. Transnational subjects, who, within varying degrees of structural constraint, navigate, evaluate, and negotiate different cultural options, emerge as the potentially rational agents of these changes. In parallel, cultural identities emerge as historical constructs affected by contemporary acts and this-worldly constructs of the human imagination.

  • How do ideas of identities in motion compare with traditional ways of understanding cultural identities as fixed essences, typically anchored to metaphysical notions such as blood, the land, family or divinity?
  • What can be said about the creation of and challenges to generational concepts and constructions of identity?
  • What is the role of memory, both individual and collective, in the creation of senses of belonging to one culture or another?
  • How do migration, diaspora and colonial studies create, adapt, and challenge changing ideas of race, class, gender and ethnicity?
  • How do the arts and formal education affect individual and collective senses of be-longing or not to one culture or to many cultures?

Call for Papers is now closed.

Deadline for submission of single papers and panels was 30 April 2018.

Submission information: Must be done electronically

  • Abstract (250 words).
  • Short biography (100 words).
  • Due: 30 April 2018
  • Submit to: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
  • Acceptances will be notified on 1 June 2018
  • Individual papers: each presenter will have 20 minutes to present, followed by 15 minutes discussion.
  • Panel sessions: duration 60 minutes followed by 15 minutes discussion; may follow a discussion format or may have an allocated time for each panelist.