2022 CALL FOR CONFERENCE SESSIONS
The American Association for Italian Studies invites members to help shape the intellectual trajectory of the next annual conference by proposing panels and roundtables for AAIS 2022.
As we continue to contend with the global pandemic, the conference is proposed in two complementary formats, online May 12-15 and in person in Bologna from May 29-June 1, 2022. Let us return to a virtual environment that served us so well for AAIS 2021, capitalizing on the affordances of the platform, but let us at the same time recuperate the “liveness” of our in-person gatherings.
LINKING FORMATS, BRIDGING PLATFORMS
Panels and roundtables may be proposed for either single format (we will ask you to identify specifically the modes of participation), but we are especially interested in linking the two conference formats with creative bridging solutions.
This means that while the two modalities will occur approximately two weeks apart (May 13-15 virtual, May 29-June 1 Bologna), we aim to support ideas that will suspend the conversations that begin virtually, in order to resume them in person.
Some examples of this could include:
• Topically or thematically linked panels and/or roundtables in the different formats that provide time for substantive discussion linking both parts. Panels at the virtual conference could be followed by a face-to-face roundtable responding to the virtual presentations; a virtual roundtable on a specific topic could be followed by an in-person roundtable extending and furthering the discussion.
• Using the virtual platform as outreach to scholars in other learned societies who may not regularly attend the AAIS but whose contributions help bolster the academic network of the Association and advance the AAIS DEI initiatives. Please note the “new member” category designed to encourage scholars and practitioners from other organizations.
• Convening a panel/roundtable online that sets the agenda for an in-person response, discussion, and exchange; while the number of participants at the virtual presentation could be limited, the in-person convening could be attended by everyone; a moderator might be especially useful in this instance
• Identifying a formal respondent for panels/roundtables in both formats; identifying as many formal respondents for the in-person discussion as the number of papers presented in the virtual format (i.e., 3 on-line presentations followed by 3 respondents in person)
Please note: While members may attend and participate in both conference formats, the same rules governing limits of participation are in effect: members may deliver one panel presentation and participate in one roundtable.
EYE ON CONFERENCE CONTENT
Aligned with the mission of the AAIS, conference organizers invite members to propose sessions and roundtables—for the virtual event, the in-person event, or perhaps both—that approach Italian Studies through interdisciplinary and intersectional lenses representing a broad array of approaches and historical contexts.
We encourage participation from colleagues working in, but not limited to, fields like
African and African American Studies
Anthropology
Art & Art History
Architecture
Classics
Comparative Studies
Critical Race Studies
Environmental Studies
Gender Studies Film and Media
Geography
History and Intellectual History
Literary Theory
Medieval and Renaissance Studies
Music
Performance and Theater
Queer Studies
Women's Studies
We note that 2022 marks the birth centennial of Pier Paolo Pasolini and we are especially interested in proposals engaging with his work and legacy in light of recent disciplinary trends and methodologies.
Confirmed Keynote Presenters:
Dennis Looney, Modern Language Association (MLA), Professor of Italian, Emeritus, University of Pittsburgh
Sandra Ponzanesi, Professor of Media, Gender, and Postcolonial Studies, University of Utrecht, the Netherlands
Conference Laboratories (formerly workshops)
• Mentorship
• Transnational Italies
• Digital Italian Studies
• Dissertation Workshop
• Works in progress
Conference Awards
The Graduate Student Travel Award is open to all graduate students. Six awards of $500 will be awarded via an application process. Dates will be announced.
The 2022 AAIS Book Prize is already open for submissions. Awards are announced at the conference.
The Women’s Studies Caucus (WSC) Award is open to ABD doctoral students, postdoctoral researchers, and adjunct faculty members who will present their research on any aspect of women and gender studies at the annual AAIS conference.
Innovations, AAIS 2022
1. Executive Council Conference Series: “Broadening Perspectives, Intersections, Italies”
This series of panels, proposed, organized, and sponsored by the Executive Council, seeks to highlight expanded canonical parameters of recent research happening across myriad inter-related subfields, including Mediterranean studies, diaspora studies, Black Italy and more. We seek especially transhistorical considerations that bear on these perspectives and intersections. This series will take place across the different formats, virtually as well as online.
2. Guaranteed panel as part of the series of collaborations between the AAIS and the AATI. Both organizations understand the need to address issues revolving around research, teaching, service, and hiring practices concerning diversity, equity, and inclusion within Italian Studies. The guaranteed panels, one in Lucca and the other at the AAIS will take center on these issues. The AATI conference will take place in Lucca two weeks after AAIS 2022 online and the week preceding AAIS 2022 in person in Bologna.
3. AAIS 2022 “Inviati speciali.” We seek volunteers for a pilot program of five “inviati speciali” who can “cover” the conference as “reporters” and who take the pulse of what they hear, notice, and perceive of the conference proceedings. These reporters will write-up their impressions, drawing a portrait of either (or both) conference formats. “Special Correspondents’” reports will be published in the online AAIS Newsletter and participants will receive complimentary registration at AAIS 2023. Total limit of five ambassadors, optimally from varied ranks and institution types. An application process will be announced.
4. The 2022 AAIS Business Meeting will take place online between the two conferences. All members are invited to attend. Precise date TBA.
5. Following discussion and voting at the AAIS 2021 Business Meeting, and as part of the Association’s efforts toward greater inclusion, graduate students at the PhD level (not only ABD) are invited to participate. Different from previous editions of the conference, no supporting letter from the dissertation director will be required.
Registration
Your AAIS membership must be active and current in order to participate. There is a new schedule of fees for membership informed by the 2021 Business Meeting.
Registration fees for both the online and in person conference will be announced shortly.
Deadlines
December 15, 2021: Call for submissions and roundtables due. Completed panels and roundtables may also be sent at this time.
All calls for panels and roundtables due to conference committee for approval: conference.aais@gmail.com (please see Conference Guidelines for proper formatting). Once approved, calls will be posted to the AAIS website and will be included in the weekly newsletter, which will link to AAIS forums. Complete pre-formed panels and roundtables may also be submitted at any time until the final deadline indicated below.
January 31, 2022: Proposals due to Panel and Roundtable Organizers with title, brief abstract (150-200 words), and short bio. Any individual paper proposals must also be submitted to AAIS by this date.
February 15, 2022: All completed panels and roundtables due.
March 15, 2022: All participants must be current AAIS members.
Please consult Conference Guidelines for complete norms for organizers, chairs, and speakers for both conference formats.
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