2025

“Débats sur le débat”

Thursday, March 20 at 3PM CET We are delighted to welcome Claudia Coppola & Andrea Rocci (University of Italian Switzerland, Lugano), Marcin Koszowy (Warsaw University of Technology) for a session on Linguistics and Polarisation. Thursday, March 20 at 3PM CET • Claudia COPPOLA & Andrea ROCCI (University of Italian Switzerland, Lugano): “Reasons of the Others: The Ecology of Counteargumentation and Concessions in Polylogical Online Discussions” • Marcin KOSZOWY (Warsaw University of Technology): “The Language of Polarisation: Issues, Mechanisms, Tendencies” Moderation: Paola Pietrandrea (University of Lille, STL & IUF) Zoom link [fr.zoom.us/j/91230895992?pwd=MxgrXruiRJiVF0XvZuN4lBxUkxpAJN.1]fr.zoom.us/j/91230895992?pwd=MxgrXruiRJiVF0XvZuN4lBxUkxpAJN.1Facebook Live at fb.olindinum/com

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The GenDJus Final Conference – (DE)CONSTRUCTING GENDER IN INTERNATIONAL JUDICIAL DISCOURSE: ACTORS, NORMS AND PRACTICES

16 – 17 October 2025 SSLMIT/IUSLIT, University of Trieste Call for Papers Key information • Conference date: Thursday 16 and Friday 17 October 2025 • Venue: SSLMIT/IUSLIT, University of Trieste, via Filzi 14, Trieste • Registration fee: none • Languages: English, Italian, Spanish • Submission deadline: 7 May 2025 • Notification of acceptance: 23 May 2025 The Department of Legal, Language, Translation and Interpreting Studies (IUSLIT) of the University of Trieste hosts a two-day international conference to explore gendered discursive practices in international judicial language and their consequences on the scope of human rights protections. The conference is the final event of the interdisciplinary research project “Rights and Prejudice: Linguistic and Legal Implications of Gendered Discourses in Judicial Spaces (GenDJus),” financed by the Italian Ministry of Education and the European Union (Next Generation EU funding scheme) [www.gendjus.it]. In the era of polarisation of debates, anti-gender movements, and populist anti-rights rhetoric, the power of language is clearer than ever. Sex, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, and sex characteristics are among the most salient themes in those contexts, especially where these substantiate claims for individual protection. To this end, international human rights law constitutes one of the possible devices that societies deploy to ensure egalitarian values. But what does it mean to deal with gender through the language of human rights? How do international legal norms understand gender, and its connected categories? To what extent can international and EU legal actors, including judges, speak the language of human rights despite their possible personal prejudices, stereotypes and biases? How can gendered judicial discourse impact on the enjoyment of human rights? More broadly, what can make gender an analytical category to understand discursive constructions in international and EU judicial decisions? The conference will explore these and other questions about the premises and effects of gendered language in the practices of international and EU judicial actors. It will gather scholars working on gender in legal discourse across areas as diverse as linguistics, translation, law and, more generally, social sciences. Themes and topics We welcome abstracts addressing topics including, but not limited to, the following: – The reproduction of gender norms in judicial discourses – Exclusionary judicial narratives on gender and their impact on human rights – Peripheral existences and mainstream gender-related judicial interpretations – Prejudices, stereotypes and biases as enshrined in judgments on sexuality, reproduction, and parenthood – Anti-gender movements and theories in (and against) international and EU case law – Human rights rhetoric versus gender protections in international and EU decision-making – Legal silence and gender ‘outlaws’ in international and EU case law – Gender stereotyping in the language of human rights courts and judges – Constructions of gender identities in judicial discourse – Corpus linguistics approaches to gender stereotypes in judicial discourse – Queer linguistics approaches to human rights discourse – Critical discourse analysis applied to gender and human rights law – Gender bias in legal translation – The role of legal translation in conveying gendered narratives Submission guidelines Abstracts could be written in English, Italian and Spanish. They should not exceed 250 words and must be sent to info@gendjus.it, giovanna.gilleri@units.it and chiara.sarni@units.it by 7 May 2025 with the subject line “GenDJus Final Conference – Abstract proposal”. All abstracts should include a title, authors’ name, affiliation, short biosketch of the author(s), email address, five keywords and references (if relevant). Acceptance of papers will be notified to the presenting author(s) by 23 May 2025. Contact details For more information, please contact Giovanna Gilleri (giovanna.gilleri@units.it) and Chiara Sarni (chiara.sarni@units.it). Visit www.gendjus.it and follow us on Instagram (@gendjusproject). Organising and Scientific Committee Marco Balboni (University of Bologna), Emanuele Brambilla (University of Trieste), Carmelo Danisi (University of Bologna), Giovanna Gilleri (University of Trieste), Erika Miyamoto (University of Bologna), Giuseppe Pascale (University of Trieste), Katia Peruzzo (University of Trieste), Gianluca Pontrandolfo (University of Trieste), Francesca Ragno (University of Bologna), Chiara Sarni (University of Trieste). This conference is the final event (milestone 12) of the interdisciplinary research project “Rights and Prejudice: Linguistic and Legal Implications of Gendered Discourses in Judicial Spaces (GenDJus)” [P2022FNH9B / CUP J53D23017220001] financed by the Italian Ministry of Education and the European Union (Next Generation EU funding scheme); Piano Nazionale di Ripresa e Resilienza (PNRR) – Missione 4 “Istruzione e ricerca” – Componente 2 “Dalla ricerca all’impresa” – Investimento 1.1, Avviso Prin 2022 PNRR indetto con Decreto Direttoriale n. 1409 del 14 settembre 2022. https://www.gendjus.it/

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Reading di poesie di Pat Parker e Grace Nichols

venerdì 21 marzo 2025, ore 19.00,CUT – Centro Universitario Teatrale (Piazza Università 13)Università di Catania In occasione della Giornata Mondiale della Poesia, venerdì 21 marzo 2025, alle ore 19.00, al CUT – Centro Universitario Teatrale (Piazza Università 13), si terrà Parole potenti di poete nere – Reading di poesie della poeta afroamericana Pat Parker (1944-1989) e della poeta guyanese Grace Nichols (1950-), per la prima volta tradotte in italiano. A cura di Stefania Arcara, Giovanna Buonanno e Nicoleugenia Prezzavento Coordinamento artistico – Nicoleugenia Prezzavento Voce – Sofia Caristia Suoni – Dario Sanguedolce L’evento è organizzato dal Centro Studi di Genere “Genus” del Dipartimento di Scienze Umanistiche, a conclusione delle Giornate di studio Genere / Testo / Performance nelle culture anglofone dagli anni ’70 a oggi (Disum, 20-22 marzo), nell’ambito del progetto PRIN “Between Text and Performance”. Ingresso libero fino a esaurimento posti. ENGLISH: On the occasion of World Poetry Day, on Friday 21 March 2025, at 7 p.m., at CUT – Centro Universitario Teatrale (Piazza Università 13, Catania), you can listen to Parole potenti di poete nere – Reading of poems by the African-American poet Pat Parker (1944-1989) and the Guyanese poet Grace Nichols (1950-), translated into Italian for the first time. Curated by Stefania Arcara, Giovanna Buonanno and Nicoleugenia Prezzavento Artistic coordination – Nicoleugenia Prezzavento Voice – Sofia Caristia Sound – Dario Sanguedolce The event is organised by the Centre for Gender Studies ‘Genus’ of the Department of Humanities at the University of Catania, at the conclusion of the Conference Genere / Testo / Performance nelle culture anglofone dagli anni ’70 a oggi (20-22 March). The event is part of the PRIN project ‘Between Text and Performance’.

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Giornate di studio su Genere / Testo / Performance nelle culture anglofone dagli anni ’70 a oggi

20-22 marzo 2025Aula 268, Monastero dei BenedettiniUniversità di Catania Giovedì 20 marzo 2025, alle 15.30, nell’Aula 268 del Monastero dei Benedettini, avranno inizio le Giornate di studio su Genere / Testo / Performance nelle culture anglofone dagli anni ’70 a oggi, organizzate dall’Unità di ricerca di Catania del progetto PRIN “Between Text and Performance. Race and Gender in Anglophone Literatures and Cultures (1970s-today)” e dal Centro Interdisciplinare Studi di Genere “Genus” del Dipartimento di Scienze Umanistiche. La relazione di apertura, dal titolo “Nominare, svelare, agire. Perché le categorie sociologiche di sesso, genere e razza disturbano tanto?” sarà tenuta dalla sociologa Sara Garbagnoli (Parigi). A seguire, gli interventi di angliste e americaniste provenienti dalle Università di Bologna, Modena e Reggio Emilia, Palermo, Roma Tre, Roma La Sapienza, e del Disum. L’evento ha il patrocinio dell’AIA – Associazione Italiana di Anglistica e dell’AISNA – Associazione Italiana di Studi Nord-Americani. Comitato scientifico e organizzativo: Stefania Arcara, Giovanna Buonanno, Salvatore Marano, Daphne Orlandi, Floriana Puglisi. ENGLISH The conference Genere / Testo / Performance nelle culture anglofone dagli anni ’70 a oggi will open on Thursday 20 March 2025, at 3.30 p.m., in Room 268 at Monastero dei Benedettini (Piazza Dante 32, Catania). The conference is organised by the Catania Research Unit of the PRIN project ‘Between Text and Performance. Race and Gender in Anglophone Literatures and Cultures (1970s-today)’ and by the Interdisciplinary Gender Studies Centre “Genus” of the Department of Humanities at the University of Catania. The opening paper, entitled ‘Naming, Unveiling, Acting. Why do the sociological categories of sex, gender and race disturb so much?’ will be given by sociologist Sara Garbagnoli (Paris). This will be followed by papers by scholars of English and American literature from the Universities of Bologna, Modena and Reggio Emilia, Palermo, Roma Tre, Roma La Sapienza, and Catania. The event has the patronage of the AIA – Italian Association of Anglistics and the AISNA – Italian Association of North American Studies. Scientific and organizing committee: Stefania Arcara, Giovanna Buonanno, Salvatore Marano, Daphne Orlandi, Floriana Puglisi.

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#CallforApplications: Summer School in “Digital Humanities and Digital Communication: Integrating traditional and innovative tools”

University of Modena and Reggio EmiliaJune 3rd-6th, 2025 We are happy to announce the 7th edition of the Summer School in Digital Humanities and Digital Communication, which will be hosted by the Department of Studies on Language and Culture of the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, in collaboration with the Fondazione Marco Biagi and with the patronage of AIA. As part of the Doctoral Programme in Human Sciences, the Summer School aims to provide PhD students and young researchers with methodological tools for the study of digital communication and data analysis. This year’s focus is on challenges and opportunities of integrating traditional methods with innovative tools, with topics ranging from digital resources for research in the humanities to the use of new information technologies for data analysis. The programme combines lectures by invited speakers and workshops where young researchers can present their work and get feedback from the invited speakers. Abstract submission deadline: March 28thNotification of acceptance: April 11th Date: June 3rd-6th, 2025Location: Modena, ItalyRegistration fee: € 100,00 Further information can be found here:https://www.summerschooldigitalhumanities.unimore.it/2025-edition/

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2 borse di studio per AIA Seminar “Breaking Barriers: Empowering Interactions in Language, Literature, and Culture”Università di Bari, 14-15 maggio 2025

L’AIA mette a disposizione n. 2 borse di studio di 300€ l’una per dottorande/i e giovani studiose/i che vogliano partecipare al Seminario AIA  Breaking Barriers: Empowering Interactions in Language, Literature, and Culture”, che si terrà presso l’Università di Bari il 14-15 maggio 2025. Requisito fondamentale: iscrizione all’AIA. Le borse saranno attribuite a dottorande/i senza borsa e a studiose/i, previa presentazione del modello ISEE.  Si invita chi abbia intenzione di partecipare a scrivere all’indirizzo aiasegreteria@unito.it entro il 20 marzo 2025. Per accedere al sito del seminario AIA:

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Debating debate Seminar

Friday, March 7 at 3PM CET For the next session of the ✳︎Debating debate✳︎ Seminar, we are delighted to welcome Giuseppe BALIRANO (University of Naples L’Orientale), Selenia ANASTASI (University of Genoa and La Sapienza), Simo K. MÄÄTÄ (University of Helsinki) for a session on Linguistics and Gender Hate Speech. Moderation: Giuditta Caliendo (Université de Lille, STL) To participate on Zoom: https://univ-lille-fr.zoom.us/j/99763746323?pwd=K9rlUiI924ej1haQ4IQM2BFaDyKXDn.1

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CALL FOR PAPERS: Migrants’ voices in discourse: between top-down and bottom-up perspectives on migration

Dipartimento di Scienze Politiche, Università La Sapienza, Roma, 30th May 2025Workshop Organizer: Prof. Franco Zappettini CDS literature has long scrutinised how migration is discursively constructed and to what societal effect. Research foci have extensively ranged from discrimination and racialisation to the increasing politicization and mediatization of moral panic and resentment towards migrant groups or individuals (van Dijk,2017: Krzyżanowski, Triandafyllidou, and Wodak, 2018). These different strands of scholarship have provided extremely valuable insights into the discourses of top-down, institutional actors (e.g. government, politicians and mass media) and, only to a lesser degree, bottom-up perspectives by advocate organisations (Lampropoulou and Johnson, 2023) and migrants themselves (Bennett, 2018). As worldwide migratory patterns increase – sustained by economic, social, and environmental pushes – migration (management) continues to be a highly mobilised topic in public discourses. In particular, issues of (political) representation and (lack of) agency remain key concerns in discursive practices around migration which call for close scrutiny. In this one-day workshop we strive to account for the interplay between discourses and social hierarchies, highlighting power asymmetries between actors andexclusion dynamics engendered by discursive practices on migration. We depart from mainstream top-down approaches, focusing instead on bottom-up perspectives. We highlight migrants as actors, emphasizing the situated subjectivity of their lived experiences and any opportunities to have their voices heard. Methodologically we privilege affective and ethnographic approaches to discourse, welcoming interdisciplinary contributions (including from the civil society and outside academia) that take a critical perspective to the issues outlined. Rather than focusing on one single geographical context, we try to capture the overarching dynamics of different transnational and transcultural realities of migration including, but not limited to, the effect of diasporas on migrants’ politically awareness and the political mobilisation of their social capital. We welcome contributions that broadly speak to the workshop themes including working papers. Please send abstracts to franco.zappettini@uniroma1.it by 30th March(max 300 words including bibliography). Bibliography Bennett, S. (2018) Constructions of migrant integration in British public discourse: Becoming British. Bloomsbury:LondonKrzyżanowski, M., Triandafyllidou, A., & Wodak, R. (2018). The Mediatization and the Politicization of the “Refugee Crisis” in Europe. Journal of Immigrant & Refugee Studies, 16(1–2), 1–14.Lampropoulou, S., P. Johnson (2023) ‘[P]aying back to the community and to the British people’: Migration as transactional discourse in curated stories by UK charity organisations’. Discourse & Society Vol. 34, Issue 5, Pages 598-616van Dijk, T. (2017) Discourse and Migration. In E. Yalaz and R. Zapata-Barrero (Eds.), Handbook of Qualitative Research in European Migration Studies. Berlin: Springer.

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CALL FOR PAPERS Pseudo-Silence in Early Modern Theatre

June 16th-17th 2025, Naples In his misogynist pamphlet The Arraignment of lewd, idle, froward, and unconstant women (London: 1615), Joseph Swetnam comments, “[i]f thou marriest a still and a quiet woman, that will seem to thee that thou ridest but an ambling horse to hell” (F2r). This seemingly uncommon relation between female wickedness and silence reflects a broader shift in the perception of this linguistic attitude, which began at the turn of the century. The rising popularity of Ramus’ philosophy, which valued rhetoric as inferior to the abstract silences of thought, as well as of neo-Platonist and Puritan thought, lent new emphasis to the role of silence in the individual’s life. However, the growing presence of political dissidents in Tudor England reframed silence from a desirable linguistic practice, especially in women, to an “antisocial, multivalent and profoundly subversive–as, in short, ‘inscrutable’ and thus potentially ungovernable” attitude (Luckyj 2002, 26). As Robert Burton noticed in the revised edition of his The Anatomy of Melancholy (1651), “pauciloqui”, that is, being “of few words, and oftentimes wholly silent”, could also be a sign of repressed anger as much as aggressive speech (Aa3v). In this context, the early modern connotation of silence swings “from foolish impotence to forms of androgynous wisdom or dissent” (Montironi 2020, 40). The conference seeks to reconfigure the multifaceted role of silence in early modern English drama (16th–17th century), freeing it from its binary opposition with speech and unveiling its linguistic power as a deliberate, performative choice to express reticence, resistance, or dissimulation. The interest in this topic and its manifold declensions in the macro-areas listed below has been particularly spurred by two research projects: “Pseudos. Declinazioni del dis/valore tra testimonianza e falsificazione” [Pseudos: Degrees of dis/value between testimony and falsification] (Unior) and “SENS – Shakespeare’s Narrative Sources: Italian Novellas and Their European Dissemination” (Univr). As often happens, the study of distinct, seemingly unrelated topics led to engaging with silence from a synergic perspective that transcends its conventional interpretation by unearthing its dissimulative, subversive use in early modern drama. Potential topics include, but are not limited to: – Female Speech and Gender Studies: how does silence or reticence function as a form of resistance or empowerment for female characters or authors in early modern drama? How do playwrights encode female silence as a response to or subversion of patriarchal linguistic structures? – Political/Religious Discourse: how do political figures employ silence as a means of control, manipulation, or protest within early modern plays? Is silence employed solely as an act of devotion and spiritual contemplation, or does it also constitute a form of resistance against religious persecution or dogma? – Linguistic Perspectives: how do early modern playwrights manipulate language to create moments of verbal absence that carry significant meaning? What linguistic patterns and practices highlight the pragmatic, stylistic, rhetorical and communicative functions of silence? How do certain linguistic behaviours, such as reticence or the silencing of others, contribute to characterisation? – Digital Humanities: how do digital archives, databases, or editorial choices in digital projects repair or reveal “silences” in early modern plays? How might new digital tools or methodologies reintroduce or expose previously overlooked silences? – Censorship and Editorial Silence: how do editorial practices, both historical and contemporary, “silence” texts (through non-publication or restricted circulation in manuscript form) or, indeed, how may editorial intervention give voice to previously overlooked textual silences? How may such editorial choices reflect broader social, political, or religious concerns (e.g. avoidance of censorship)? – Adaptations and Translations: what is lost or transformed in the process of translation or adaptation of an early modern play? How are the elements of the sources and resources of a play silenced by the playwright? How does the absence of certain elements reshape the original? – Performance History: how has silence been performed or reinterpreted on stage? What role does physical silence (such as pauses, gestures, or non-verbal cues) play in performance, and how does it contribute to the meaning of the play? Plenaries: – Jon R. Snyder (Research Professor Emeritus, Comparative Literature, UC Santa Barbara, USA); – Maria Elisa Montironi (Associate Professor, English Literature, Università degli Studi di Urbino, IT). Submission Guidelines: Please submit a 300-word abstract along with a brief bio by 20/03/2025. Selected papers will be published in an edited collection in 2026. Submissions and inquiries should be sent to abeville@unior.it and beatrice.righetti@univr.it. We look forward to your contributions to this exciting conversation on the performative power of pseudo-silence in Early Modern theatre. Select References: Aebischer, Pascale. ‘Silence, Rape and Politics in “Measure for Measure”: Close Readings in Theatre History’. Shakespeare Bulletin 26, no. 4 (2008): 1–23. Beville, Aoife. ‘Strategies of Silence in All’s Well That Ends Well and Measure for Measure’. In Taboo Language and (Im)Politeness in Early Modern English Drama, edited by Fabio Ciambella, 79–102. UniorPress. 2024. Bigliazzi, Silvia. ‘Linguistic Taboos and the “Unscene” of Fear in “Macbeth”’. Comparative Drama 52, no. 1/2 (2018): 55–84. Continisio, Tommaso, and Bianca Del Villano, eds. Queens on Stage: Female Sovereignty, Power and Sexuality in Early Modern English Theatre. I edition. Scritture d’Oltremanica 17. Canterano (RM): Aracne editrice, 2018. Coussement-Boillot, Laetitia, and Christine Sukič, eds. ‘Silent Rhetoric’, ‘Dumb Eloquence’: The Rhetoric of Silence in Early Modern English Literature. Paris: Université Paris Diderot, 2007. Culpeper, Jonathan. Language and Characterisation: People in Plays and Other Texts., New York: Routledge, 2001. Hadfield, Andrew. ‘Literature and the Culture of Lying Before the Enlightenment’. Studia Neophilologica 85, no. 2 (2013): 133–47. https://doi.org/10.1080/00393274.2013.850952. Jaworski, Adam. Silence: Interdisciplinary Perspectives. Berlin/Boston, GERMANY: De Gruyter, Inc., 1997. http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/uniorit-ebooks/detail.action?docID=935552. Kalpin Smith, Kathleen. 2013. “Women’s Speech in the Age of Shakespeare”. Literature Compass 10(3):260–8. Kamaralli, Anna. 2012. Shakespeare and the Shrew, Performing the Defiant Female Voice. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. Luckyj, Christina. ‘A Moving Rhetoricke’: Gender and Silence in Early Modern England. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2002. ———. ‘“A Moving Rhetoricke”: Women’s Silences and Renaissance Texts’. Renaissance Drama 24 (January 1993): 33–56. https://doi.org/10.1086/rd.24.41917294. McGuire, Philip C. Speechless Dialect: Shakespeare’s Open Silences. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1985. Mendelson, Sara, and Patricia Crawford.

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