Posts By :

Barbara Del Mercato

Republics and Republicanism: Theory and Practice. Heritage / Present and Future Perspectives 910 720 Barbara Del Mercato

Republics and Republicanism: Theory and Practice. Heritage / Present and Future Perspectives

The Venice Center for the Humanities and Social Change supports this conference on “Republics and Republicanism” organized by the Venice International University: 

Venice (San Servolo), 3-5/05/2019 

The aim of the conference is to discuss Republicanism in a broad, multidisciplinary and worldwide perspective, and to initiate a series of such meetings to be held in Venice every two years.

During recent decades, Republicanism has become a central concern in political theory and history. This body of thought emerged as the main alternative to Liberalism, when Marxism lost this role after the fall of the Berlin Wall. There is a renewed interest today, while searching for solutions to mounting populism and personalization of power; the issue of inequality and the crisis of democracies….

Continue reading on conference website

Venice International University

Isola di San Servolo
30133 Venice,
Italy

–
phone: +39 041 2719511
fax:+39 041 2719510
email: viu@univiu.org

The event is in English

Admission free

Dummy Image
Joan C. Tronto – Caring democratically: A response to neopopulism 724 1024 Barbara Del Mercato

Joan C. Tronto – Caring democratically: A response to neopopulism

The Venice Center for the Humanities and Social Change presents:  Joan C. Tronto (Department of Political Science, University of Minnesota) – Caring democratically: A response to neopopulism. Chair: Giulia Garofalo Geymonat, Discussant: Beatrice Gusmano

Venice, 13/05/2019 at 11 a.m.

Recent neopopulist ideas have gripped democracies around the globe. They have brought with them new forms of tribalism, hatreds of outgrips (religious groups and migrants) anti-feminist and anti-women regressive policies. But to defeat these powerful forces requires a proper analysis of their attraction. First, we need to understand that neopopulism is a reaction to neoliberalism and the damage it has wrought. Neopopulism, while reactionary and nostalgic for an imagined past, also contains a *discourse of care *that explains its appeal. This discourse of care is paternalistic and rests on fear of imagined, threatening, others. Defeating neopopulism requires more than a critique of neoliberal economics, it also requires addressing specifically the racist/ xenophobic and masculinist appeals of neopopulism. A democratic care ethics provides a convincing way to address these concerns.

prof. Joan Tronto teaches at the University of Minnesota.

“‘It is important to realize that we are receivers as well as givers of care, acted upon as well as agents. This is a difficult position to understand politically, but strength and human cooperation can arise from our recognition of our mutual interdependence.” J. Tronto

Aula Magna Silvio Trentin
Ca’ Dolfin (map)
Dorsoduro 3825/D, 30123 Venezia

The event is in English

Admission free

HSC Venice Lecture Series: Michael Taussig 655 491 Barbara Del Mercato

HSC Venice Lecture Series: Michael Taussig

Michael Taussig

with Franca Tamisari and Valentina Bonifacio

Monday April 15th

5 p.m. – 7 p.m.

Aula B Ca’ Bottacin, Dorsoduro 3911, Venice

Michael Taussig

in conversation with Franca Tamisari and Valentina Bonifacio

Presents November, by Berlin-based artist Hito Steyerl, (Germany 2004, DV, 25min).

This short film is both a hommage to Steyerl’s Kurdish friend Andrea Wolf, killed at 18 in a battle against the Turkish state, and a reflection on popular film, on feminism and revolution.

This event is in English.

In collaboration with the Department of Humanities

Michael Taussig, Adjunct professor at Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, is an Australian anthropologist, born in Sidney of German and Czech/Jewish ancestral parents. He earned a medical degree from the University of Sidney, received his PhD. in anthropology from the London School of Economics and is a professor at Columbia University. Although he has published on medical anthropology, he is best known for his engagement with Marx’s idea of commodity fetishism, especially in terms of the work of Walter Benjamin.

Hito Steyerl, November, 2004
Maja Lunde at Incroci di civiltà Festival in Venice 800 800 Barbara Del Mercato

Maja Lunde at Incroci di civiltà Festival in Venice

The Venice Center for the Humanities and Social Change supports the presence of  Maja Lunde at the literary festival Incroci di civiltà

Venice, 06/04/2019 at 2.00 p.m. 

Ocean Space, Chiesa di San Lorenzo, Campo San Lorenzo, Venice

Born in 1975, Maja Lunde lives in Oslo with her husband and their three children. A novelist and TV-screenplay writer, after numerous children’s books she became internationally known with her first novel The History of Bees (2015), which has been published in 32 countries. An international best-seller, The History of Bees won the Norwegian Booksellers’ Prize, becoming the first debut novel to receive the prize. Blue (2017) is the second book of the anticipated tetralogy on climate change.

(from the page of Incroci di civiltà. See full program here)

Maja Lunde will converse with

Sara Culeddu — Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia

Boris Ondreička — TBA21-Academy

Bibliography in Italian

La storia dell’acqua, trad. di Giovanna Paterniti, Marsilio, 2018;

La storia delle api, trad. di Giovanna Paterniti, Marsilio, 2017.

The conversation will be English (simultaneous translation available); free admission, booking required.

This event is sponsored by Center for the Humanities and Social Change, NORLA – Norwegian Literature Abroad, TBA21-Academy and Marsilio

In collaboration with Dipartimento di Studi Linguistici e Culturali Comparati

Maja Lunde
Afropean Bridges 2019. Identity, Representation, Opportunities 1024 768 Barbara Del Mercato

Afropean Bridges 2019. Identity, Representation, Opportunities

Afropean Bridges is an international workshop aimed at opening a discussion about the identity of Europeans of African origin and about the post-colonial relationship between European and African countries. The event officially supports the International Decade for People of African Descent. This is its second edition

Venice, 21/03/2019 (3-6 p.m.) and 22/03/2019 (10 a.m.-6 p.m.)

Afropean Bridges 2019

Africa and Europe: Identity, representation, opportunities

PROGRAM

March 21st

Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia, Aula 10B, Campus San Giobbe, Cannaregio 873 (map)

15.00-18.00

Welcome remarks: Giacomo Pasini (Rector’s Delegate for Cooperation and Development, Ca’ Foscari University), Vittorio Longhi (journalist, founder of Afropean Bridges), Shaul Bassi (Director, Center for the Humanities and Social Change)

  • Anco Marzio Lenardon (Uniafrica)
  • Mario di Giulio, Organization for the Harmonization of Business Law in Africa (OHADA)
  • Antonio Calò, European Citizen of the Year 2018 for a migrants’ hosting model
  • Roberta Borgotti (International Career Services,  Ca’ Foscari University)

March 22nd

Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia, Aula Baratto, Dorsoduro 3246 (map)

 10.00-13.00 

15.00-18.00

  • Melesse Gelaneh Alemu, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice
  • Igiaba Scego, writer, Center for the Humanities and Social Change.
  • Alessandra Di Maio, University of Palermo
  • Minna Salami, journalist and blogger (MsAfropolitan)

Afropean Bridges

March 21st, 2019
Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia, Aula 10B, Campus San Giobbe, Cannaregio 873 (map)

3 p.m – 6 p.m.

March 22nd, 2019
Ca’ Foscari University of Venice
Aula Baratto (2nd Floor)
Dorsoduro 3246, Calle Larga Foscari (map)

10 a.m. – 6 p.m.

The event is in English and Italian – translation available

With the support of Uniafrica

Report on the 2019 edition on Ca’ Foscari University’s website here

Program of the 2018 edition of Afropean Bridges here

Ph. Johny Pitts
(c) Johny Pitts

Johny Pitts

(interview by Sofia Pistore, editing Francesca Gastoldi)

Esther Elisha

(interview by Sofia Pistore, editing Francesca Gastoldi)

Minna Salami

(interview by Sofia Pistore, editing Francesca Gastoldi)

Luc Steels: The Role of Artificial Intelligence in a Changing Society 1024 576 Barbara Del Mercato

Luc Steels: The Role of Artificial Intelligence in a Changing Society

The Venice Center for the Humanities and Social Change presents:  Luc Steels, The Role of Artificial Intelligence in a Changing Society. With HSC Fellow Marco Marrone as discussant.

Venice, 13/02/2019 at 3.30 p.m.

Artificial Intelligence is in the news. Although the techniques, methods and software components of AI have been under development for decades, it is only recently that the deep potential of AI for transforming many aspects of society is beginning to be felt. This talk first clarifies what Artificial Intelligence is, including what its limits are. It then discusses various areas of activity where there is currently a very active exploration of AI, more specifically in media, work, science and the arts. I will also raise some questions in relation to the ethical and legal issues of AI.
Institute for Advanced Studies (ICREA), Barcelona
Visiting Professor at Ca’Foscari University of Venice
Marco Marrone is a post-doc Fellow of the Venice Center for the Humanities and Social Change
Aula Saraceno
Department of  Management Ca’ Foscari University of Venice
Fondamenta San Giobbe 703, Venice

The event is in English

Admission free

A documentary by Nakul Singh Sawhney 500 300 Barbara Del Mercato

A documentary by Nakul Singh Sawhney

The Venice Center for the Humanities and Social Change presents the screening of the documentary “Muzaffarnagar eventually”, by Nakul Singh Sawhney. Followed by a discussion with the author and with Stefano Beggiora, Massimo Warglien, Andrea Drocco

Venice, 05/02/2019 at 5.15 p.m.

In September 2013, Muzaffarnagar and Shamli districts of Western Uttar Pradesh, India, witnessed one of India’s worst ever anti-Muslim pogrom since Indian Independence. What triggered it, what happened?

‘Muzaffarnagar Baaqi Hai…’ (Muzaffarnagar eventually…) tries to find anwers by speaking to a cross-section of people. While looking at the immediate violence and its repercussions, it takes a journey around the many facets of the massacre. In the midst of gloom, the film narrates the tale of a continued and growing resistance.

A film by Nakul Singh Sawnhey, English subtitles, 130 mins., India 2015

CFZ, Zattere al Ponte Lungo, Dorsoduro 1392

Admission free
Documentary with English subtitles, discussion is in English

Venice HSC Lecture Series: Edward Wilson-Lee and The Catalogue of Shipwrecked Books 1024 576 Barbara Del Mercato

Venice HSC Lecture Series: Edward Wilson-Lee and The Catalogue of Shipwrecked Books

The Venice Center for the Humanities and Social Change in collaboration with Bollati Boringhieri presents Edward Wilson-Lee in conversation with Maria Del Valle Ojeda Calvo and Igiaba Scego about his latest book, The Catalogue of Shipwrecked books (published by William Collins in the U.K, Scribner in the U.S.A and recently in Italy by Bollati Boringhieri)

Venice, 24/01/2019 at 5.30 p.m.

THE CATALOGUE OF SHIPWRECKED BOOKS tells the scarcely believable––and wholly true––story of Christopher Columbus’ bastard son Hernando, who sought to equal and surpass his father’s achievements by creating a universal library that would harness the vast powers of the new printing presses and bring every book in the world together in his library in Seville. (…) But the library he produced was much more than just an information-crunching machine: it was an artefact moulded by his life and the age in which he lived. During his immensely eventful life (…) he also amassed the largest collection of printed images and of printed music of the age, started what was perhaps Europe’s first botanical garden, and created by far the greatest private library Europe had ever seen, dwarfing with its 15,000 books every other library of the day. This first major modern biography of Hernando––and the first of any kind available in English––tells an enthralling tale of the age of print and exploration, a tale with striking lessons for our own modern experiences of information revolution and Globalisation.

(More on Edward Wilson-Lee’s website)

Il catalogo dei libri naufragati, translated by Susanna Bourlot, Bollati Boringhieri 2019

CFZ, Zattere al Ponte Lungo, Dorsoduro 1392

Admission free
Event in English, with Italian translation

A review of the event (by Andrea Carboni, in Italian) here

Mediterranea: civil society in defence of human rights 1024 724 Barbara Del Mercato

Mediterranea: civil society in defence of human rights

Alessandra Sciurba (University of Palermo) and Lucia Gennari (lawyer, ASGI) discuss with Sara De Vido (Ca’ Foscari University of Venice) and Shaul Bassi (HSC Venice) about the genesis and development of the Mediterranea project. 

Venice, 30/11/2018 at 8.45 a.m.

Mediterranea-Saving Humans is a project, network, and “Non Governmental Action” created to monitor and report from the central Mediterranean, defying the silence surrounding the migrants’ death toll at sea. Which principles animate Mediterranea? How does it work? What is the legal framework sustaining its action? How was it possible to buy a ship and operate it? The event is in English, hosted by a class of international students. Everybody is welcome.

Admission free
Event in English

Rai3 Veneto news broadcast on Mediterranea hosted by HSC Venice

Short interviews to Shaul Bassi, Sara De Vido, Lucia Gennari and Alessandra Sciurba on Ca’ Foscari University’s website

Venice HSC Lecture Series: Stefano De Matteis 500 300 Barbara Del Mercato

Venice HSC Lecture Series: Stefano De Matteis

The Venice Center for the Humanities and Social Change presents Stefano De Matteis, Le false libertà. Verso la postglobalizzazione. A dialogue with Franca Tamisari and Francesco Della Puppa

Venice, 20/11/2018 at 3 p.m.

Aula Geymonat, Malcanton Marcorà, Dorsoduro 3484/D

Admission free
Event in Italian