The Viterbi Program in Mediterranean Jewish Studies at UCLA
Thursday, November 17, 2011
Italian Cultural Institute of Los Angeles
Conference | “Italy Made! Passions and Projects”
The Role of Jews in the Unification of Italy
Jews have lived in Italy from Roman times and played a critical role in shaping Italian identity. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, Jews were one of the most fervent nationalist groups in the nascent Italian State as they hoped unification and liberalism would lead to equal rights and to a redefinition of the notion of citizenship. Italy was one of the last countries in Europe to eliminate the ghetto with the liberation of Rome in 1870.
Scholars will reflect on the role played by the Jews of Venice in the 1849/50 revolution; the self-representation of Italian Jews from 1860 to 1918; and the role of music and opera composed and performed by Jews in cultivating national identities.
Conference organizers also include the Network of Italian Scholars Abroad (NISA) and the Italian Institute of Human Sciences (SUM and Fondazione SUM) with support from the Viterbi Family Program in Mediterranean Jewish Studies, the UCLA Italian Department and the Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies.
1 PM • Opening Remarks
Alberto Di Mauro (Director, Italian Cultural Institute in Los Angeles)
Giulio Terzi di Sant’Agata (Italian Ambassador to the U.S.)
Gian Ludovico De Martino di Montegiordano (Italian Ambassador to Australia)
1:15 PM • Welcoming Remarks
Todd Presner (Director, UCLA Center for Jewish Studies)
Andrew Viterbi (USC &UCSD), Giulia Sissa (President, NISA), Mario Citroni (Director, SUM), Serafina Hager (Georgetown)
2 PM • Italy Made! Passions & Projects
A Unified Italy: the End of a Story?
Ernesto Galli della Loggia (SUM) and Aldo Schiavone (SUM)
Melodramatic Emotions in the Italian Risorgimento
Carlotta Sorba (University of Padova), Mary Ann Smart (UC Berkeley)
Out of the Ghetto, Into the Revolution: The Jews of Venice in 1848-49
Simon Levis Sullam (Ca' Foscari, Venezia)
Representing Jewish Patriotism: A Look at Italian Jewish Periodicals
Carlotta Ferrara degli Uberti, IHMC (CNRS/ENS)
Waiting for Unity: The Hopes and Disappointments of Exile
Remo Bodei (UCLA)
Thursday, February 2, 2012 • 314 Royce Hall • 4 PM
Cross-Cultural Dialogues in Early Modern Europe: A Textual Seminar
Anthony Grafton (Princeton University) & David Ruderman (University of Pennsylvania)
There are several dialogues at stake here simultaneously: A dialogue between long-standing friends and colleagues; a dialogue with antiquity in the spirit of the “Renaissance,” a dialogue between contemporary readers and pre-modern texts, and finally a dialogue between Christians and Jews in early modern Europe. Texts under discussion will include those of the Italian Jews Judah Messer Leon (c. 1420-c. 1497) and Simone Luzzatto (1583-1663), and those of the Protestants Johannes Buxtorf (1564-1629) and Joseph Scaliger (1540-1609)
April 25th, 2012
Andrew Berns (UCLA Visiting Viterbi Professor)
Early Modern Jewish History; European Intellectual History 1300-1600; Medieval and Modern Jewish History
10/5/11
The Viterbi Family Program in Mediterranean Jewish Studies is the first of its kind at a university. Endowed by Erna and Andrew Viterbi and their three children, the program builds on a trend in historical studies to look beyond traditional boundaries in order to understand transnational commercial and intellectual connections between different groups of people. Each year the Viterbi program brings a distinguished scholar to campus for one quarter of instruction.
The endowment also funds quarterly seminars on Jewish communities in Italy, France, Spain, the Balkans, North Africa, Egypt or Israel.
Viterbi Professor Committee
UCLA Center for Jewish Studies
302 Royce Hall, Box 951485
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1485
For more information contact cjs@humnet.ucla.edu
