Curriculum Vitae - Portale della Didattica

Curriculum Vitae
INFORMAZIONI PERSONALI
Nome
ALESSANDRA
Cognome
DI MAIO
E-mail
[email protected]
AMBITI DI RICERCA
CURRICULUM VITÆ
EDUCATION
Ph.D. 2006
Comparative Literature, University of Massachusetts at Amherst
Doctoral dissertation: Wor(l)ds in Progress. A Study of Contemporary Migrant Writings.
Dottorato di Ricerca
Literary Sciences, Universities of Bari and Pavia
1995
Doctoral dissertation: The Short Novel as a Modern Narrative Form. James, Conrad, Achebe.
Laurea 1990
Humanities, Foreign Languages and Literatures, cum laude (English major; German and
Italian double minor), University of Palermo
Thesis: V. S. Naipaul. A Citizen of the World in Search of His Own Centre.
ACADEMIC POSITIONS
December 2015-present
Associate Professor, Letteratura inglese (L-LIN 10)
Dipartimento di Scienze Umanistiche, Università degli Studi di Palermo.
March 2002-Dec. 2015
Ricercatore, Lingua e traduzione inglese (L-LIN 12, tenured since March 2005)
Dipartimento di Scienze Umanistiche, Università degli Studi di Palermo.
Sept. 2014- April 2015
2012-2013
Visiting Associate Professor, Smith College (USA).
Visiting Endowed Chair in Women's Studies and Associate Professor of English
CUNY (City University of New York) Brooklyn College (USA).
Spring 2010
Visiting Professor, Master’s in Anglophone Postcolonial Translation Studies
Department of Languages and Literatures, University of Pisa.
2006-2009
Andrew W. Mellon Fellow and Visiting Professor
(one semester per year)
Departments of Comparative Literature and Italian, University of California at Los Angeles (USA).
Fall 2005
Visiting Assistant Professor
Center for the Study of Ethnicity and Race, Columbia University (USA).
2002-2003
Visiting Professor, Master’s in Euro-Mediterranean Studies
CERISDI Palermo and University of Bologna, Italy.
2001-March 2002
Visiting Professor, Department of Philological and Linguistic Sciences, University of Palermo.
1999-2001
Assistant Professor, Smith College (USA).
1998-1999
Assistant Professor, Department of Foreign Languages, Regis College (USA).
1997-1998
Assistant Professor, Department of Classics and Italian, Mount Holyoke College (USA).
Fall 1996
Visiting Assistant Professor, Department of Foreign Languages, College of the Holy Cross (USA).
1995-1998
Teaching Instructor and Fulbright Fellow, Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures, University
of Massachusetts at Amherst (USA).
TEACHING ACTIVITY - University of Palermo
COURSES TAUGHT
2001-2002
• Lingua e traduzione inglese I (9 CFU)
(docenza a contratto sino al 28 febbraio 2002, per affidamento dal 1 marzo 2002)
Facoltà di Lettere e Filosofia
Corsi di laurea: Lingue e Culture Moderne; Lingue e Letterature Straniere (V.O.)
• Lingua e traduzione inglese (6 CFU, docenza a contratto sino al 28 febbraio 2002, per
affidamento dal 1 marzo 2002), Facoltà di Lettere e Filosofia
Corsi di laurea: Lettere Classiche; Filosofia della Conoscenza e della Comunicazione;
Filosofia e Scienze Etiche; Discipline della Musica; Scienze e Tecnologie dell’Arte, dello Spettacolo e della Moda
2002-2003
• Lingua e traduzione inglese II (9 CFU, docenza per affidamento)
Facoltà di Lettere e Filosofia
Corsi di laurea: Lingue e Culture Moderne; Lingue e Letterature Straniere (V.O.)
• Lingua e traduzione inglese – terza lingua (3 CFU, docenza per affidamento)
Facoltà di Lettere e Filosofia
Corso di laurea: Lingue e Culture Moderne
• Laboratorio di Letterature dei Caraibi Anglofoni (3 CFU, docenza attività F integrativa)
Facoltà di Lettere e Filosofia
• Lezioni svolte nell’ambito del corso di Letterature dei paesi di lingua inglese (titolare cattedra: prof. Cappuzzo)
2003-2004
• Lingua e traduzione inglese I (9 CFU, docenza per affidamento)
Facoltà di Lettere e Filosofia
Corsi di laurea: Lingue e Culture Moderne; Lingue e Letterature Straniere (V.O.)
• Lezioni svolte nell’ambito dei moduli di Letterature dei paesi di lingua inglese (titolare
2004-2005
• Lezioni svolte nell’ambito dei moduli di Letterature dei paesi di lingua inglese (titolare
cattedra: prof. Cappuzzo)
cattedra: prof. Cappuzzo)
2005-2006
• Lingua e linguistica inglese II (9 CFU, docenza per affidamento)
Facoltà di Lettere e Filosofia
Corso di laurea: Lingue e culture moderne
• Lingua e traduzione inglese I (9 CFU, docenza per affidamento)
Facoltà di Lettere e Filosofia
Corso di laurea magistrale: Lingue e letterature euro-americane
2006-2007
• Lingua e linguistica inglese II (9 CFU, docenza per affidamento)
Facoltà di Lettere e Filosofia
Corso di laurea magistrale: Lingue e letterature euro-americane
2007-2008
• Lingua e linguistica inglese I (9 CFU, docenza per affidamento)
Facoltà di Lettere e Filosofia
Corso di laurea magistrale: Lingue e letterature euro-americane
2008-2009
• Lingua e linguistica inglese I (9 CFU, docenza per affidamento)
Facoltà di Lettere e Filosofia
Corso di laurea: Lingue e culture moderne
• Lingua e linguistica inglese II (6 CFU, docenza per affidamento)
Corso di laurea magistrale: Lingue e letterature euro-americane
2009-2010
• Lingua e linguistica inglese II (9 CFU, docenza per affidamento)
Corso di laurea: Lingue e culture moderne
• Lingua e linguistica inglese II 6 CFU, docenza per affidamento)
Corso di laurea magistrale: Lingue e letterature euro-americane
• Letteratura Inglese II A-L (6 CFU, docenza per concorso/bando)
Corso di laurea: Lingue e culture moderne
2010-2011
• Lingua e linguistica inglese III (9 CFU, docenza per affidamento)
Corso di laurea: Lingue e culture moderne
2013-2014
• Lingua e Traduzione inglese II (9 CFU; 6 CFU, docenza per affidamento)
Corso di laurea magistrale: Lingue e letterature euro-americane
2014-2015
• Letterature di Paesi di lingua inglese (6 CFU, docenza per affidamento)
Corso di laurea: Lingue e culture moderne
SUPERVISION THESES
• COMITINI, Loredana - "Dalla parola alla cultura: teorie contemporanee della traduzione" (CdL Lingue e letterature straniere, 16/7/2004)
• FERLISI, Maria Rita - "L'altra faccia dei Caraibi nella narrativa di Olive Senior, con un esempio di traduzione" (CdL Lingue e letterature straniere,
21/12/2004)
• CANNIZZARO, Stefano - "Ai margini della storia. Per una storia dei gruppi sociali subalterni" (CdL Lingue e culture moderne, 19/12/2005)
• PISCIOTTA, Ivana - "Relazioni di potere in Disgrace di J.M. Coetzee" (CdL Specialistica in Lingue e letterature moderne euroamericane,
15/12/2009)
• LA SPISA, Grazia Maria - "L'inglese nell'era di internet e delle nuove tecnologie" (CdL Specialistica in Lingue e letterature moderne
euroamericane, in 28/7/2010)
• INTORCIA, Pietro - "L'uso del Nigerian Pidgin nelle opere di Wole Soyinka" (CdL Specialistica in Lingue e letterature moderne euroamericane,
21/12/2010)
• DI MITRI, Roberta - La scrittura femminile somala in lingua inglese (CdL Specialistica in Lingue e letterature moderne euroamericane, 16/3/2011)
• SICILIANO, Serena- "Le Maddalene, dal fenomeno storico al testo. Eclipsed di Patricia Burke Brogan" (CdL Lingue e letterature straniere,
18/7/2014)
• SCHIRÒ, Letizia - "Il trauma della diaspora in Caryl Phillips" (CdL Lingue e letterature moderne, Mediazione linguistica e Italiano come lingua
seconda, 8/10/2015)
• BILLARDELLO, Carla - "Principali differenze tematiche e interpretative tra il Foe di Coetzee e il Robinson Crusoe di Defoe" (CdL Lingue e
letterature moderne, Mediazione linguistica e Italiano come lingua seconda, 9/10/2015)
TUTOR STUDENTI (2010-2015)
• Di Stefano, Roberta (Comune Castellammare del Golfo, 1/10/2011-30/11/2011)
• Traina, Maria Carmela (Direzione Didattica Garzilli, 7/11/2011-20/1/2012)
FELLOWSHIPS, GRANTS and HONORS
2014-2015
Curator of the "Black Italia" Series, La Pietra Dialogues, NYU Florence.
2012-2013
Visiting Scholar, NYU Africana Studies Program, New York University.
2012-2013
Endowed Chair in Women's Studies, CUNY Brooklyn College.
2011-2012
With Nobel Laureate Prof. Wole Soyinka: Italian Consultant and Co-Organizer, of the Lagos
2012 Black Heritage Festival (Nigeria). Theme: “The Black Mediterranean”.
2009-2010
UCLA International Institute Faculty Research Grant
Project: “Global Islands: Contemporary Literature and the Transnational Encounter”.
2006-2008
UCLA Andrew W. Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow
Mellon Program in the Humanities “Cultures in Transnational Perspective” (directors:
Lionnet and Shu-mei Shih). Project: “The Narration of Immigration”.
2005-2006
profs. Françoise
MacArthur Research and Writing Grant
Program on Global Security and Sustainability. Project: “Narratives of Immigration. Migrants, Refugees and Asylum
Seekers in Italy’s Legal and Literary Texts”.
2005
Fellow, Italian Academy for Advanced Studies in America, Columbia University
Project: “Black Italia: Narration and Representation of Blacks in Contemporary Italy”.
2004-2006
International Scientific Collaboration Grant, University of Palermo and Smith College
Project: “Translating Italia: Immigrant Women Voices in Italy Today”.
2001-2002
Kahn Institute Faculty Fellow, Smith College. Project: “Other Europes/Europe’s Others”.
1993-1998
Summer 1997
1993-1995
Fulbright Scholar, University of Massachusetts at Amherst.
Visiting Fellow, W.E.B. Du Bois Institute, Harvard University.
1996-1997
Fellow, Institute for Advanced Study in the Humanities, UMass Amherst.
1996-1997
Independent Research Abroad Scholarship, University of Palermo, Italy (18 months).
Vinciguerra Scholarship, Institute for International Education (IIE), New York.
1991-1994
Doctorate National Scholarship, Ministry of Education, Italy.
Summer 1993
Fulbright English Language Program Scholarship, University of Pennsylvania.
Spring 1991
University of Edinburgh Scholarship, Scotland.
Summer-Fall 1989
SOAS and Birkbeck College Scholarship, University of London, England.
PUBLICATIONS
BOOKS (authored and/or edited)
· Co-editor (with Wole Soyinka and Jahman Ankulapo) of Migrations/Migrazioni: An Afro-Italian Night of the Poets.
Photographs and Poems. Lagos and Los Angeles: Bookcraft and Loyola Institute Press, 2013.
· Dedica a Wole Soyinka (editor, translator and contributor). Pordenone: Edizioni Dedica, 2012.
· Wor(l)ds in Progress: A Study of Contemporary Migrant Writings. Milan: Mimesis, 2008.
· Editor and translator of Wole Soyinka’s memoirs Sul far del giorno. Milan: Frassinelli, 2007 (Original title: You Must Set Forth at Dawn,
2006).
· Editor (with an essay) of An African Renaissance. Palermo: Eurografica, 2006.
· Editor (and translator, with an introductory essay titled “Una nazione di narrazioni”, A Nation of Narratives)
of Nuruddin Farah’s non-fiction text Rifugiati: Voci della diaspora somala. Rome: Meltemi, 2003 (Original title: Yesterday,
Tomorrow. Voices from the Somali Diaspora, 2000).
· Editor (with an essay) of Quaderno 19 – Lingua, Cultura e Traduzione (ed.). Palermo: Istituto di Lingue e Letterature Straniere, Facoltà
di Lettere e Filosofia, Università degli Studi di Palermo, 2003.
· Tutuola at the University: The Italian Voice of a Yoruba Ancestor. Rome: Bulzoni, 2000 (postface by C. Gorlier)
· Il romanzo breve come forma narrativa moderna. Biblioteche Nazionali di Roma e Firenze, 1996.
ARTICLES and CHAPTERS in BOOKS/JOURNALS/PERIODICALS
· “New World Tribes”, in B. Ledent (ed.), Caryl Phillips: 25 Years of Writing. Amsterdam: Rodopi , 2013,
249-263.
• “Lampedusa und das 'Schwarze Mittelmeer'. Die Migrationsrouten im Jahrtausend der Globalisierung", Zibaldone. Zietschift fur italienische
Kultur der Gegenwart, Special Issue (Schwerpunkt): "Kleine Inseln", n. 56, Spring 2013, Stauffenburg Verlag, pp. 17-31.
· “Salah Methnani’s Immigrato: Portrait of a Migrant as a Young Man", Expressions Maghrébines, vol 11, n. 2 (Winter 2012), p. 89-105.
· “The Mediterranean, or Where Africa Does (Not) Meet Italy: Andrea Segre's A Sud di Lampedusa (2006)”, in S. Schrader and D. Winkler (eds.),
Italian Migration & International Cinema, Cambridge: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2012.
· "Mediterraneo Nero. Le rotte dei migranti nel millennio globale", in G. De Spuches (ed.), La città cosmopolita. Altre narrazioni. Palermo: Palumbo,
2012, 142-163.
· “Canti della Diaspora", in Il Sole 24 Ore, Domenica 8 aprile 2012, p. 31.
· “Pearls in Motion”, Preface to Cristina Ali Farah’s novel Little Mother (original title: Madre piccola), Bloomington, Indiana
University Press, 2011.
· “Beyond Lampedusa: Africa Meets Europe” (en face Chinese and English), in the catalogue of the photo exhibition Africa: See You, See Me! ,
curated dy Awam Amkpa, Bejing, China, April 2011.
· “Perle per il mondo: origine ed evoluzione della diaspora postcoloniale”, in S. Bassi e A. Sirotti, Gli studi postcoloniali. Un’introduzione, Firenze,
Le Lettere, 2010, pp. 79-100.
· “Black Italia. Contemporary Migrant Writers from Africa”, in D. Clark Hine, T. Keaton, and S. Small (eds.), Black Europe and the African Diaspora
. Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 2009.
· “Il suono del sangue: Foglie rosso sandalo di Wole Soyinka”, in Il Tolomeo, Venice: Studio LT2, Fall 2009.
· “Changing Landscapes, Transforming Histories: A Reading of Caryl Phillips’ A Distant Shore”, in Englishes, vol. 12, n. 34, 2008.
· “Weak Postcolonialism? Somali Italian Writers”, in M. Carbone (ed.), Identità migranti, Milan: Mimesis, 2007.
· “Le voci dell’Africa nelle lettere italiane”, in Nuova prosa (Special Issue: Il testo, la voce, ed. G. Rimondi), 2007.
· “A Poetics of Passage: The Prose of Ubax Cristina Ali Farah”, in Metamorphoses. A Journal of Literary Translation (Special Issue: Other
Italies/Italy’s Others, ed. T. Pandiri), vol. 14, numbers 1-2, Spring and Fall 2006.
· “Where the Present is Absent: Farah’s Portrait of Contemporary Somalia”, in A. Di Maio (ed.), An African Renaissance, Palermo: Eurografica, 2006.
· “The Mystery of Origins: Migratory Patterns in Caryl Phillips”, in F. Cattani, A. Nadalini, The Representation of Literary Landscapes. Venice:
Cafoscarina, 2006.
· “Migrazioni letterarie”, in NAE. Trimestrale di cultura, vol. 5, n. 15, 2006.
· “Una scrittura che vive. Un’intervista con Buthaina Al Nasiri”, in El Ghibli, vol. 2, n. 11, March 2006.
· “L’arte dell’olio di palma. La trilogia africana di Chinua Achebe”, in Lo Straniero, n. 65, November 2005.
· “Tempi anomali per la Somalia di Farah”, in Lo Straniero, n. 60, June 2005.
· “Translating the Caribbean: Cristina Garcia’s Cuban Dream”, in D. Corona, G. Costa Ragusa (eds). Il multilinguismo. Aspetti letterari, linguistici e
culturali. Palermo: Flaccovio, 2004.
· “Refugees as Postcolonial Subjects: Nuruddin Farah’s Yesterday, Tomorrow”, in A. Contenti, M. P. Guarducci, P. Splendore (eds). Step Across This
Line. Come si interroga il testo postcoloniale. Venice: Cafoscarina, 2004.
· “Studi Subalterni”, in Dizionario degli studi culturali. Rome: Meltemi, 2004
(also on-line: http://www.culturalstudies.it/dizionario/lemmi/subalternstudies.html).
· “The English Continuum. Systematizations, Usage and Multiculturalism”, in Quaderno 19: Lingua, Cultura e Traduzione. Palermo: Istituto di
Lingue e Letterature Straniere, Facoltà di Lettere e Filosofia, Università degli Studi di Palermo, 2003.
· “Gli Studi Culturali in India. Il collettivo Subaltern Studies e il discorso postcoloniale da Said a Spivak”, in Culture (Milan), vol. 17, 2003.
· “Another Art Altogether: Heart of Darkness e la forma del romanzo breve”, in Africa, America, Asia, Australia, vol. 23. Rome: Bulzoni, 2002.
· “Naipaul a oltranza. Retrospettiva di un Nobel”, in Iperstoria (Letterature), 2002,
on-line: http://centri.univr.it/iperstoria/rubriche/intersezioni/letterature/letterature33.htm.
· “Immigration and National Literature. Italian Voices from Africa and the Diaspora”, in R. King (ed). The Mediterranean Passage. New Migrations
and Cultural Encounters in Southern Europe. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 2001.
· “The Cynical Sonnet: an Analysis of G. M. Hopkins’s The Shepherd’s Brow”, in Englishes (Rome), vol. V, n. 15, 2001.
· “Diasporan Voices in Caryl Phillips’ Crossing the River”, in H. Wylie e B. Lindfors (eds). Multiculturalism and Hybridity in African Literature.
Lawrenceville, N J: Africa World Press, 2000.
· “Beyond Postcoloniality”, in RLA - Romance Languages Annual. West Lafayette, IN: Purdue Research Foundation, vol. XI, 1999.
· “‘Sinking Hopeful Roots into Difficult Soil’. Caryl Phillips’ Crossing the River”, in I. M. Zoppi (ed). Routes of the Roots. Geography and
Literature in the English-Speaking Countries. Rome: Bulzoni, 1998.
· “Gordimer’s Short Novel The Late Bourgeois World. Elisabeth, a Woman in the Interregnum”, in C. Gorlier e I. M. Zoppi (eds). CrossCultural Voices. Investigations in the Post-Colonial. Rome: Bulzoni, 1997.
SELECTED TRANSLATIONS
· Caryl Phillips, A Venezia, nel ghetto (original title: “In the Ghetto”, from The European Tribe) in Lo Straniero, anno XV, n. 137,
November 2011, pp. 82-84.
· Nuruddin Farah, I veri colpevoli della tragedia (original title: In Somalia, New Famine Born out of old Failures), in Internazionale, 26
August-1 September 2011, n. 912.
· Chris Abani, Lo scrittore e la capra (original title: The Writer and the Goat), in Internazionale, 15-21 April 2011, n. 893.
· Revision of Cristina Ali Farah’s novel Little Mother (original title: Madre piccola), Bloomington, Indiana University Press, 2011.
· Wole Soyinka, Foglie rosso sandalo (radio drama, broadcast by RAI Radio 3, Italy, 16 October 2009), in Il Tolomeo, Fall 2009 (original title:
Camwood on the Leaves).
· Wole Soyinka, Conversazione telefonica (original title: Telephone Conversation) and I figli di questa terra (original title: The Children of This Land
), in Semicerchio, n. 38, 2008 (read with the Author at Mantua Festivaletteratura, September 2007).
· Wole Soyinka, Sul far del giorno (original title: You Must Set Forth at Dawn). Milan: Frassinelli, 2007.
· Ubax Cristina Ali Farah, Entirely (original title: Interamente) in Metamorphoses. A Journal of Literary Translation, Special Issue: Other
Italies/Italy’s Others, vol. 14, numbers 1-2, Spring and Fall 2006.
· Nuruddin Farah. Rifugiati. Voci della diaspora somala (original title: Yesterday, Tomorrow. Voices from the Somali Diaspora). Rome:
Meltemi, 2003
· Gayatri Spivak. “La politica delle interpretazioni” (original title: “The Politics of Interpretations”), in C. Bianchi, C. Demaria, S. Nergaard (eds).
Spettri del potere. Rome: Meltemi, 2002.
SELECTED BOOK REVIEWS
• Ubah Cristina Ali Farah, Il comandante del fiume (Rome: 66thAND2nd), in L'Indice dei libri del mese, April 2015.
• Lola Shoneyin, Prudenti come serpenti (Rome: 66thAND2nd), in L'Indice dei libri del mese, December 2012, p. 20.
• Caryl Phillips, Sotto la nevicata (Milan: Mondadori, 2011), in L'Indice dei libri del mese, January 2012, p. 23.
· Nuruddin Farah, Legami (Milan: Frassinelli, 2005), in Lo Straniero, June 2005.
· Okey Ndibe. Arrows of Rain (Oxford: Heinemann, 2000), in Wasafiri, n. 32, Autumn 2000.
· Sante Matteo, Stefano Bellucci. Africa Italia. Due continenti si avvicinano (Santarcangelo di Romagna: Fara, 1999), in Italian Culture, Vol. XVIII,
n. 1, 2000.
· Sirad Hassan. Sette gocce di sangue (Palermo: La Luna, 1996); Tahar Ben Jelloun. Dove lo stato non c’è (Turin: Einaudi, 1991), in Wasafiri, n. 31,
Spring 2000.
INVITED LECTURES (selected)
• "Mare Nostrum: Burning the Mediterranean in the Global Millennium", Lewis Global Studies Center, Smith College, University of Massachusetts,
February 2015.
• "Imperfect Postcolonialism: Rapping from the Land of Punt", November 2014; "A Nation of Migration: Visions
and Voices from Africa", October 2014. NYU La Pietra Dialogues on "Black Italia", NYU Florence.
• "Mediterranean Encounters: Migration and Revolution in the Digital Millennium", University of Hong Kong,
November 2013.
• "Migrant Literature", University of Hong Kong, November 2013.
• "Wavin' Flag: Tradition and Transnationality in Somali Literature", UCLA University of California Los
Angeles, March 2013.
· "The Black Mediterranean: Migration and Revolution", UCSD University of California San Diego, May 2012.
· "An/Other Mediterranean: Postcoloniality in Our Sea", UCLA University of California Los Angeles, May 2012.
· "African/Italian American Social constructions: Madonna's Half-Time Performance at the 2012 Super Bowl", CUNY Brooklyn College, February
2012.
· “Wherever I Lay My Hat: case e culture in movimento nell'opera di Igiaba Scego”, University of Cork, Ireland, October 2011.
· “Postcolonial Italy: Minor Voices from the Somali Diaspora”, University of Leeds, UK, October 2011.
· “Mediterranean Burnings”, University of Southern California, February 2011.
· “Scrivere l’immigrazione”, University of Genoa, Italy, May 2010.
· “Italy, Europe, Somalia: A Mediterranean Encounter”, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin, Germany, November 2009.
· “Transnational Italy: Cultural Politics in Contemporary Literature and Cinema”, University of Texas at Austin, February 2009.
· “Translating Soyinka” (keynote), AISLI (Italian Association of Postcolonial Studies) Summer School, University of Venice, Italy, September 2008.
· “Voices from Minor Italy”, UCLA, May 2008.
· “Transnational Voices, Postcolonial Intersections”, University of California at Berkeley, April 2008.
· “L'Africa in Italia. Voci dalla postcolonie”, Columbia University, February 2008.
· “Postcolonialismo debole? A partire da Madre piccola di Cristina Ali Farah”, University of Milan, Italy, December 2007.
· “Black Italia: Contemporary Migrant Writers from Africa”, UCLA, March 2007.
· “Identità migranti”, University of Milan, Italy, September 2006.
· “What the Fuss? Performing the African Diaspora” (keynote), AISLI (Italian Association of Postcolonial Studies) Summer School, University of
Venice, Italy, September 2006.
· “Documenti o monumenti? Migrazione e letteratura in Italia”, Unidee Donna, Università delle Idee, Cittadellarte Fondazione Pistoletto, Biella, Italy,
June 2006.
· “Una nuova Italia? Il racconto della nazione nella scrittura migrante contemporanea”, followed by a conversation with Ubax Cristina Ali Farah,
Columbia University, December 2005.
· “Migrant Voices from Africa” (keynote), MigrantVoicesVisions Festival, Brown University, November 2005.
· “The Art of Palm Oil. Achebe’s Fiction”, AISLI (Italian Association of Postcolonial Studies) Summer School, University of Venice, Italy,
September 2005.
· “Translating Somalia. Moving Across a Nation through its Colonial Languages”, Five-College Faculty Seminar on Literary Translation, Smith
College, April 2005.
· “Black Italia. Migrant Voices from Africa and the Diaspora”, Italian Academy for Advanced Studies in America, Columbia University, February
2005.
· “Black Soul”, AISLI Summer School (Italian Association of Postcolonial Studies), University of Venice, Italy, September 2004.
· “Music from the Black Atlantic”, AISLI (Italian Association of Postcolonial Studies) Summer School, University of Venice, Italy, September 2003.
· “Imperfect Colonialism: Somalis Narrate Italy”, Smith College, March 2003.
· “Mediterraneo Nero. Immigrazione e Postcolonialismo in Italia”, University of Bologna, Italy, January 2001.
· “The Black Mediterranean”, Smith College, November 2000.
· “Letteratura dell’immigrante”, Harvard University, August 1999.
· “Italian Voices from Africa and the Diaspora”, Harvard University, March 1999.
· “The New Literature of Immigration in Italy”, Barnard Forum on Migration, Barnard College, Columbia University, December 1998.
CONFERENCES, FESTIVALS, CULTURAL EVENTS
(selected)
· Organizer, chair and presenter of the event “Una questione di accento”, with writers Okey Ndibe and Antonio Manzini, Festivaletteratura, Mantua,
Italy, 9 September 2015.
· "Lampedusa's Burning: Black Corpses, White Sheets", Conference “Black Portraiture II: Imaging the Black Body and Re-Staging
Histories”, NYU Florence and Harvard University, May 28-31, 2015.
· "From Africa with Love: Colonial Photo Journals" Conference "Worlding the Minor: Poetics of Distant Relation", UCLA, March 13-15,
2015.
• "Currents Trends in Mediterranean Studies", Five College Symposium, Mount Holyoke College, December 2014.
• "The Sea-In-Between: Burning the Mediterranean" Conference “How Migration Makes Meaning: Slavery and
Abolition in the Atlantic and Indian Oceans”, NYU Abu Dhabi, March 31-April 2, 2014.
• "Mezzogiorno postcoloniale: Prospettive dall'isola", Giornata di Studi "Il Postcoloniale in Italia", University of
Padua, Italy, June 2014.
• "Migrazioni: Italy Through Postcolonial Eyes", University of Venice Ca' Foscari, ottobre 2013.
· "Burning the Borders: Libya, Italy, and the Politics of Mediterranean Migration", Crossroads in Cultural Studies, Paris, Sorbonne
Nouvelle, 2-6 July 20012.
· "Mediterraneo Nero: Migrants' Routes in the Global Millennium" (keynote), Lagos Black Heritage Festival Symposium, University of Lagos, April
2012.
· “Sea-Tears: Identity and Subjectivity before, during and after the Crossing”, International Conference “After the Tears: Victimhood and Subjectivity
in the Melodramatic Mode”, University of St. Gallen, Switzerland, 11-12 November 2011.
· Organizer, chair and presenter of the event “Pilgrimages: Diario dalle Metropoli d’Africa”, with writers Alain Mabanckou and Uzodinma Iweala,
Festivaletteratura, Mantua, Italy, 9 September 2011.
· “Italy in Black & White, or: The Mediterranean, Where Africa Does (Not) Meet Italy”, International Conference “Figurations of Italian Migration in
International Cinema”, University of Innsbruck, Austria, April 2011.
· Co-organizer of the International Symposium “Globalized Islands: Contemporary Arts and the Transnational Encounter”, University of California at
Los Angeles (presentation: “Sea Crossings: Lampedusa/s”), April 2010.
· “Writing Migration” (roundtable with the author Caryl Phillips), University of Massachusetts, Amherst, April 2010.
· “Creole Narratives in Italian”, American Comparative Literature Association Conference, University of Louisiana, New Orleans, April 2010.
· RAI Radio 3 Suite (Italy’s national radio program), interview as project curator of Radio Africa at Teatro Baretti, followed by live broadcasting of
Wole Soyinka’s radio drama Foglie rosso sandalo (original title: Camwood on the Leaves), 16 October 2009.
· Organizer, chair and presenter of the Wikiafrica Letteratura roundtables “Circolazione dei Saperi” (with writers Gaston Kaboré, Igiaba Scego, Sami
Tchak) and “Generazioni a confronto” (with writers Nuruddin Farah, Abdourahman Waberi, Cristina Ali Farah, Igiaba Scego), Festivaletteratura,
Mantua, Italy, September 2008.
· Co-organizer and presenter of the Second Annual Mellon Conference “TransNations”. Introduction of keynote speaker, writer Nuruddin Farah.
Presentation: “Global Somali Literature”, UCLA, May 2008.
· “Somalia Italia: Transnational Narratives from the Postcolonial Younger Generation”, EACLAS (European Association for Commonwealth
Literature and Language Studies) Conference “Try Freedom: Rewriting Rights In /Through Postcolonial Cultures”, Universities of Venice and Padua,
Italy, March 2008.
· Conversation with author Cristina Ali Farah, Incontri di Civiltà Festival, Libreria Feltrinelli, Mestre-Venice, Italy, March 2008.
· Conversation with Nobel Laureate writer Wole Soyinka, readings from Sul far del giorno and miscellaneous poems, Festivaletteratura, Mantua,
Italy, September 2007.
· Reading from Wole Soyinka, Sul far del giorno, Festival del Mediterraneo, University of Rome La Sapienza, Italy, July 2007.
· Co-organizer and presenter of the First Annual Mellon Conference “Migration, Empire and Transformation”. Presentation: “Weak Postcolonialism?
Somali Italian Writers”, UCLA, May 2007.
· Chair of the AAIS (American Association for Italian Studies) Women’s Studies Caucus roundtable “Crossing Identities: Italian-American and
African-Italian Women Writers”; chair of the panel “Misleading Translations: The Consequences of Linguistic/Cultural Misinterpretations in Film
and Literature”, AAIS Conference, Colorado College, May 2007.
· October 2007: “Yoruba Cosmogony in Nigerian Fiction: Tutuola and Soyinka”, University of Trieste, Italy.
· Roundtable participant: “Esili interni. Voci femminili nella letteratura italiana postcoloniale”, Ateneo Veneto, Venice, Italy, March 2007.
· Roundtable participant: “Eredità del colonialismo nella cultura italiana oggi”, Centro Culturale Candiani, Mestre, Italy March 2007.
· “New Tribes in Caryl Phillips’ A Distant Shore”, Caryl Phillips 25 Years of Writing Conference, University of Liège, Belgium, December 2006.
· Roundtable organizer and chair: “Italia Migrante. Scrittori e studiosi in dialogo”, AAIS (American Association for Italian Studies) and AATI
(American Association Teachers of Italian) Conference, University of Genoa, Italy, May 2006.
· “Black Italia: Migrant Voices from Africa”, Black Europe and the African Diaspora Conference, Northwestern University, April 2006.
· Roundtable participant: “Culture e letteratura della migrazione. Paesaggi migratori”, University of Ferrara, Italy, April 2006.
· “The Narration of Immigration in Italy. A Dialogue between Literature and Law”, 7th Mediterranean Social and Political Research Meeting, Robert
Schuman Center for Advanced Studies, European University Institute, Florence, Italy, March 2006.
· “Black Italia: Africa Meets the World in the Bel Paese”, Challenging Europe. Black European Studies in the 21st Century Conference, University of
Mainz, Germany, November 2005.
· “The Mystery of Origins. Migratory Patterns in Caryl Phillips’ A Distant Shore”, The Representation and Transformation of Literary Landscapes
Conference, University of Lecce, Italy, June 2005.
· Organizer and presenter of the International Symposium “The African Renaissance”, University of Palermo, Italy. Presentation: “Where the Present
is Absent: Farah’s Portrait of Contemporary Somalia”, October 2004.
· “Il rifugiato come soggetto postcoloniale. Yesterday, Tomorrow di Nuruddin Farah”, AISLI (Italian Association of Postcolonial Studies)
Conference, University of Rome III, Italy, November 2003.
· “Music from the Black Atlantic: The Caribbean”, AISLI Summer School, University of Venice, Italy, September 2003.
· “Cristina Garcia: A Cuban Dream in New York City”, The Caribbean in New York and Paris Conference, The Rockefeller Foundation, Bellagio,
Italy, August 2003.
· Symposium organizer and chair: “Oltre l’Oceano. L’influenza italiana nell’inglese nord-americano”, University of Palermo, Italy, June 2003.
· “Traiettorie di sguardi: in/tolleranza e narrazione nell’Italia multiculturale”, AAIS (American Association for Italian Studies) Conference,
Georgetown University, March 2003.
· “Palermo, Italy, October 1990. Tutuola at the University”, ALA (African Literature Association) Conference, University of California at San Diego,
April 2002.
· Panel organizer and chair: “Post/Colonial Italy”, AAIS (American Association for Italian Studies) Conference, University of Pennsylvania, April
2001.
· “Beyond the Color Line. Nassera Chohra’s Volevo diventare bianca and the Nomadic Subject”, Writing Europe 2001 International Conference:
Migrant Cartographies, Cultural Travellers and New Literatures, Universities of Leiden and Amsterdam, Holland, March 2001.
· “Immigration and the Dis/United Colors of Italy”, ICLA (International Comparative Literature Association) Congress, University of South Africa,
Pretoria, South Africa, August 2000.
· Panel organizer and chair: “In and Out of Italy: Immigration and National Identity”, AAIS (American Association for Italian Studies) Conference,
New York University, April 2000.
· “Beyond Postcoloniality”, Purdue University Annual Conference on Romance Languages, Literatures and Film, October 1999.
· “Toward a Multicultural Italian Literature”, AAIS (American Association for Italian Studies) Conference, University of Oregon at Eugene, April
1999.
· “An Exceptional Storyteller: Tahar Ben Jelloun’s Pietro/Moha”, ACLA (American Comparative Literature Association) Conference, Montreal,
Canada, April 1999.
· “I Wanderjahre italiani di Salah Methnani”, AAIS (American Association of Italian Studies) Conference, Loyola University, Chicago, April 1998.
· “Amos Tutuola, a Yoruba Ancestor Writing in English”, ACLA (American Comparative Literature Association) Conference, University of Texas at
Austin, March 1998.
· “Diasporan Voices in Phillips’ Crossing the River”, ALA (African Literature Association) Conference, University of Texas at Austin, March 1998.
· “Metaphors in Il postino (di Neruda). A Poem of Politics and Love”, Writing Italia Conference, Columbia University, April 1997.
· “Beatrice from Dante to Troisi: Evolution and Representation of the Italian Woman”, Entralogos Conference, Cornell University, February 1997.
· “Gordimer’s Short Novel The Late Bourgeois World”, Twentieth Century Literature Conference, University of Louisville, Kentucky, February 1996.
PROFESSIONAL SERVICE and AFFILIATIONS
· Editorial Board Member of the literary journal Il Tolomeo: Le nuove letterature (University of Venice Ca' Foscari, Italy); co-responsible of the
section “Critical Perspectives”
· Advisory Board Member of the journal de genere: Journal of Literary, Postcolonial and Gender Studies (University of Napoli L'Orientale)
· Board Member of AISCLI (Associazione italiana di studi culturali e letterari in inglese); co-editor of the AISCLI Newsletter
· EACLALS (European Association for Commonwealth Language and Literature Studies), Member
· MLA (Modern Language Association), Member
· ALA (African Literature Association), Member
· ICLA (International Comparative Literature Association), Member
· ACLA (American Comparative Literature Association), Member
· IAUW (International Association of University Women), Member
· AAIS (American Association Italian Studies), Member
· Served on various national and international Ph.D. committees as specialized external member (University of l'Aquila, University of Venice Ca'
Foscari, Brown University, University of California at Los Angeles)
· Referee for journals Textus, Lingue e Linguaggi, Metamorphoses: Literary Translation, and California Italian Studies