Cornell University Presents: "Racial Justice and the Black Mediterranean"

Event Date: 

Friday, March 18, 2022 - 12:00am

Event Date Details: 

Event Location: 

  • ZOOM

This two-day virtual symposium explores the relationship between borders, captivity, and memory, and how it shapes the racialization of migration and the construction of national identity. Given Italy’s porous position as a Southern European nation with complex histories of internal migration, emigration, and immigration, Italy and the Mediterranean region are critical contexts for understanding how processes of migration, racialization, and transcultural mediation have shaped public and cultural discourse about identity and belonging from nineteenth century emigration and colonialism, to today's arrivals via the Mediterranean Sea. This symposium brings together scholars, writers, practitioners, activists, and students working in multiple fields and historical periods to explore questions of migration, incarceration, race, and memory in Italy and the Mediterranean in a transnational and transhistorical perspective.

Each of the symposium’s two thematic days (9:45am - 4:15pm ET) will feature two roundtable discussions, a keynote session, and reflection sessions for undergraduate and graduate students.
• Friday, March 18: “Racial Justice and the Black Mediterranean," including a keynote discussion with Camilla Hawthorne and Angelica Pesarini, moderated by Simone Brioni and Teresa Fiore (register below)
• Friday, April 8: "Language, Identity and Representation in Transnational Italy," including a keynote discussion with Amara Lakhous and Igiaba Scego, moderated by Ron Kubati and Loredana Polezzi (register to attend at [insert link])
This event is open to all, and we encourage student participation.