November 23, 2018

Teresa Fiore Co-Edits and Contributes Article to Special Section on Migration Crisis in the Mediterranean for Journal of Modern Italian Studies

Posted in: CHSS News, Inserra, Italian News and Events, Teresa Fiore Research, World Languages and Cultures

Dr. Teresa Fiore, Associate Professor of Italian and Inserra Endowed Chair in Italian and Italian American Studies, contributed to the latest issue of the Journal of Modern Italian Studies (23:4, 2018 – Taylor and Francis/Routledge group) in two capacities: as author of an article and co-editor of a special section of the journal, with Dr. Ernest Ialongo. The result of a 2017 program held at Columbia University and Montclair State University, both the article and the section focus on the migrant “crisis” with specific reference to the case of Italy in the Euro-Mediterranean area, and challenge the fear-producing notion of “crisis” as unproductively used in political and media discourses.

The article, titled “From Crisis to Creation: The Early 21^st Century Mediterranean Crossing on Stage and Screen in Works by Teatro delle Albe and Andrea Segre” (pp. 522-42) offers a textual and socio-political reading of the migrant voyages as represented in film and theater, and argues for a reversal of the by now stagnant concept of “crisis” in the direction of an active denunciation via the perspective of the migrants themselves. The article analyzes two works – the film Like the Weight of Water by Segre and the play Noise in the Waters by the Albe Theater – that were presented on the Montclair University campus over the past few years.

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The journal’s section Dr. Fiore and Dr. Ialongo co-authored is the result of a co-sponsored program (panel of experts and film screening followed by Q&A with director Andrea Segre) they co-organized in April 2017. The two-day program at Columbia University and Montclair State University was also titled “Italy and the Euro-Mediterranean ‘Migrant Crisis’: National Reception, Lived Experiences, E.U. Pressures” and embraced scholars and artists (see VIDEO).

Overall, the program and publication combined constitute an example of how academic and cultural programming is an opportunity to enrich the experience of students, faculty, staff, and the community at large, while simultaneously fostering and solidifying the research agendas of the faculty involved in the design and implementation of these programs. An instance of fruitful collaboration across institutions that served a vast audience on both sides of the Hudson River in the NY metropolitan area, the overall project also included a teaching and applied learning component, which Fiore’s article duly registers: students at MSU developed the surtitles for Segre’s film Like the Weight of Water, one of the numerous audiovisual projects supervised by Dr. Marisa Trubiano (Associate Professor of Italian at MSU). Ultimately, this project broadens the notion of teacher-scholar to encompass a role with a tangible impact on several communities engaged in contemporary issues linked to Italy as well as the globalized world at large.