Gender and Sexuality in Critical Studies

On March 28-29 1996, the Università degli Studi di Bologna hosted the Symposium entitled "Gender and Sexuality in Critical Studies: An Interdisciplinary Symposium" sponsored by the Università di Bologna, the University of California, and the Centro di Documentazione delle Donne. The first day of the conference was held at the Accademia delle Scienze and the second day at the Facoltà di Lingue e Letterature Straniere Moderne. Participants were greeted by Professor Lucia Re (UCLA), Director of the University of California Education Abroad Program in Italy (1994-1996) and Professor Giovanna Franci (Bologna), University Representative for the Exchange Program between the University of California and the Università degli Studi di Bologna, who extended the greetings of the Magnifico Rettore, Professor Fabio Roversi Monaco. Conference participants were also welcomed by Professor Ottavio Barnabei, President of the Accademia delle Scienze, Professor Rosanna Scipioni, President of the Associazione Docenti Universitarie, Dr. Annamaria Tagliavini, Director of the Library of the Centro di Documentazione delle Donne, and Professor Vita Fortunati, Preside of the Facoltà of Lingue e Letterature Straniere.

The morning session, presided by Lucia Re included three speakers: Rosi Braidotti of the University of Utrecht, Adriana Cavarero of the University of Verona, and Mario Corona of the University of Bergamo. Braidotti's engaging presentation focused on the historical differences between feminist thought in Europe and the United States and in particular on her own convergence and divergence of opinion vis-à-vis the work of Judith Butler of UC Berkeley (who had been scheduled to attend, but was unable to do so). Cavarero's paper focused on the crucial role of the "récit" with reference in particular to Oedipus's own self-narration and finally, Corona's analyis focused on the representation of sexuality in a number of poems by Walt Whitman. Rita Monticelli of the University of Bologna, who was the respondent, opened the debate with a number of comments on Corona's reading of Whitman. A lively discussion followed between the speakers and members of the audience. Questions posed were particularly challenging due to the unusual interdisciplinary approach of the symposium and the debate was particularly stimulating. The audience included faculty and students of the University of California and Bologna as well as other institutions and study centers in Italy and Europe.

The afternoon session, which was chaired by Giovanna Franci, included two speakers: Frances Olsen of UCLA and Raffaella Lamberti, Director of the Centro di Documentazione delle Donne. Olsen's paper was entitled "Engendering the Body of the Law: Feminist Law and Transgender Jurisprudence" and Lamberti's paper "Individualità e pluralità femminile nella riflessione italiana." The session's respondents Cristina De Maria and Giulia Fabi of Bologna opened the debate with comments on the paper sent by Wendy Brown (UC Santa Cruz) entitled "The Desire to Be Punished." Participants were particularly intrigued by the U.S. data on transgender jurisprudence and its implications presented by Professor Olsen and the discussion that followed involved a large segment of the audience. Dinner for speakers and respondents was offered by the Università degli Studi di Bologna at the Hostaria di Palazzo Malvezzi and was attended by the Pro-Rettore Professor Mario Rinaldi and the Direttore Amministrativo Dr. Ines Fabbro.

The morning session on March 29th was presided by Patrizia Violi of the University of Bologna and included three speakers. Teresa de Lauretis of UC Santa Cruz presented a paper entitled "Freud's Nemesis" on the role of psychoanalysis in feminist criticism. Janet Bergstrom of UCLA analyzed a number of works by the Belgian filmmaker Chantal Akerman, in particular, "Saute ma ville" and "Jeanne Dielman," with the aid of video clips. Marco Pustianaz of the University of Torino/Vercelli presented an intriguing paper on the role of clothing entitled, "Clothed Identities: Queering the Agency in the Renaissance." Session respondents were Giovanna Grignaffini, Cristina Bragaglia and Giuseppina Muzzarelli of the University of Bologna. The discussion that followed involved speakers and participants of the various disciplines and the connections highlighted and ideas discussed spanned centuries and fields of study and a wide range of fields of study. Lunch was offered to conference speakers and respondents by the Associazione Italo-Americana of Bologna.

The last session of the Symposium was headed by Dr. Carlos Bakota of the United States Information Service of Florence. Speakers were Margaret Brose of UC Santa Cruz, incoming Director of the University of California Education Abroad Program in Italy (1996-1998), and Lucia Ferrante and Vita Fortunati of the University of Bologna. Brose presented a paper entitiled "Reading Dido by Gender and Trope" in which the figure of Dido was analyzed in a number of works from ancient to modern times. Ferrante presented an overview of the last ten years of the historiography of women in Italy referring in particular to the 1989 founding of the Società Italiana delle Storiche. Fortunati addressed the crucial question of the general lack of programs and the numerous difficulties encountered by those engaged in feminist and, in particualr, gender studies in the Italian academy. Respondents included Giovanna Franci and Niva Lorenzini of the University of Bologna, Valeria Russo of UNICEF/ Florence, and Adriana Cavarero of the University of Verona. The concluding session was particularly rewarding. After questions regarding individual presentations were answered, participants, including Raffaella Baccolini, Giuliana Muscio, and Paolo Prezzavento, and speakers declared their shared faith and commitment to the consolidation of ties across continents and fields of study among those engaged in feminist and gender studies.

A note regarding the language of the conference: four speakers presented papers in Italian and five speakers presented papers in English. Simultaneous translation from Italian to English was offered to the speakers from the University of California who requested it. Although English-Italian simultaneous translation could not be offered due to lack of funding, the questions and answers of speakers and participants were translated with great ease in both languages by the speakers and participants themselves, underscoring the truly bi-lingual nature of the conference itself.

The symposium was very well received and generated strong interest among speakers and participants. The Study Center of the University of California in Bologna has in fact already received over one hundred requests for copies of the papers presented. Due to this strong interest the organizers of the conference, Lucia Re (UCLA) and Professor Giovanna Franci (Bologna) are now evaluating the possibility of publishing the proceedings in Italian.

Peggy Kidney UC Bologna Staff

nƒ quattro-cinque, maggio 1996

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