Author: martina

The festival “Festivabìlia – Theatre of Potential Abilities” officially opened on Thursday, 23 November, 2023, with the study day “Inclusion on Stage: A Comparison of Inclusive Theatre Experiences”, organized by Prof. Manuel Boschiero. This event, dedicated to inclusive theatre at both the Italian and international levels, will run from 23 November-19 December, 2023, at the Camploy Theatre in Verona and within university spaces.

The event explored various forms and realities of inclusive theatre, presenting experiences and projects that, from different perspectives and contexts such as disability, prison, and LGBTQI+ activism, use the language and potential of theatre as tools for inclusion and the enhancement of diversity.

Among the speakers were Claudia Olivieri with Theatres Without Borders: Inclusivity on Russian Stages, Marta Fossati with Shakespeare in Prison and Inclusive Theatre: The TYPUS Project Experience, and Marta Marchetti, Pisana Posocco, and Lucy Bell with SPAZIO DENTRO: Integrated Performative Practices for Occupying a Courtyard in Rebibbia Prison. The event concluded with a presentation by Paola Bellomi titled In the Dark Room: The LGBTQI+ Collective in the Current Spanish Theatre Scene.

6-13 November, Daniele Artoni and Giorgia Pomarolli, researchers in Slavic Studies at the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures – University of Verona, were guests of the Department of Translation Studies at Yerevan State University in Armenia. The University of Verona has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Yerevan State University and has activated Erasmus+ mobility exchanges.

The two researchers gave lectures on the Russian language and culture, with a focus on translation practices.

On 9-10 November, 2023, the conference “Desde los márgenes: retos, devenires, representaciones” took place in the Co-working room and room T.1. This research-sharing event focused on exploring the concept of the margin in its various forms—including geopolitical, cultural, and linguistic—in the Latin American context.

The conference, organized by Prof. Luca Salvi—an expert in Latin American Literature—and Sara Trentini, opened with a keynote lecture by Pablo Montoya, a renowned writer and professor of Literature at the University of Antioquia. Born in Colombia in 1963, Pablo Montoya has published several collections of essays and short stories, as well as novels such as La sed del ojo (2004), Lejos de Roma (2008), and Los derrotados (2012), which focuses on the wars of independence and the emergence of guerrilla warfare in his country. In 2015, he achieved sudden fame in Latin America by winning the Rómulo Gallegos Prize, one of the most prestigious awards for Spanish-language fiction (previously won by authors like Gabriel García Márquez, Carlos Fuentes, Mario Vargas Llosa, and Roberto Bolaño).

The conference, adopting an interdisciplinary approach, featured the participation of numerous experts in Latin American literature.

On 17-21 July, Prof. Tunde Ope-Davies from the University of Lagos (Nigeria) visited the Department of Foreign Languages and Literature. Prof. Tunde Ope-Davies teaches English, digital cultures, and discourse studies.

Tunde Ope-Davies is the founding director and principal researcher of the Center for Digital Humanities (CEDHUL) at the same university. He is a member of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, Germany. He has been a visiting researcher/professor at Westminster University in London, Chemnitz University of Technology in Germany, and the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, UK. Prof. Ope-Davies is also the founding president of the Digital Humanities Association of Nigeria (DHAN) and a member of the executive committee of the Global Outlook for Digital Humanities (GO::DH). His research interests include digital cultures, digital scholarship, new media and society, discourse studies, and sociolinguistics.

Ope-Davies’ visit led to the signing of an inter-university cooperation agreement and the planning of an intercontinental Summer School on the theme of Inclusive Humanities, set to begin in 2024.