Author: martina

On Wednesday, 17 January, recordings began for the first episode of Inclusioni, a podcast channel launched by the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures at the University of Verona, in collaboration with Fuori Aula Network. The podcast will serve as a platform for the department’s research, featuring interviews and short segments, with a focus on the digital world and the promotion of diversity.

The first episode, set to release in April, will be titled “The Screen Challenge”. Adriaan Van der Weel from Leiden University in the Netherlands, a professor of Book Studies and co-author of the Ljubljana Manifesto on the importance of higher-level reading, will engage in a conversation with Massimo Salgaro, a professor of German literature from the department.

Van der Weel’s research, which centres on the relationship between reading and digital technologies—particularly the differences between reading on printed paper versus screens—will be the main topic of discussion in the debut episode of the podcast.

The Digital Spritz 2024 initiative kicked off on Wednesday, 17 January, with a series of meetings focused on digital topics and Digital Humanities in the teaching and research of foreign languages and literatures. The guest for the first event was Prof. Adriaan Van der Weel from Leiden University, co-author of the Ljubljana Manifesto on the importance of higher-level reading, also known as deep reading.

His talk, titled “The Screen Challenge: Deep Reading in the Digital Age”, delved into topics related to reading on digital devices, contrasting deep reading—a slow, immersive experience rich in sensory and emotional details—with fast reading. He also explored the reading crisis and the connection between democracy and reading.

As a reminder, the next Digital Spritz will take place on Wednesday, 21 February, featuring Prof. Fabio Ciotti from the University of Rome Tor Vergata, who will present on “GPT as Model Reader: LLMs and Narrative Comprehension”.

Directed by Nicoletta Vicentini and Jana Karsaiova, the play is inspired by Edmond Rostand’s Cyrano de Bergerac and focuses on the unfortunate love triangle between Cyrano, Roxane, and Christian, as well as the many “triangles” formed by a non-conforming couple in a judgmental society. Through the character of Cyrano, with his perceived or real ugliness and his belief that he is unworthy of love, the play invites reflection on stereotypes and prejudices concerning love and disability.

While largely maintaining the original text, the performance shifts its focus to parallels with contemporary society, exploring how “diversity” is perceived and the right for all to a sexual and emotional life. The Teatro a Rotelle troupe approached Cyrano’s story with great enthusiasm, finding the theme immediately compelling. After discussions and exchanges, they developed a script that speaks of hopes, loves, disappointments, abilities, disabilities, and the gaze of a society steeped in judgment and prejudice. The evocative, poetic, and sharp language of the original text is blended with moments of more contemporary theatre, creating a multi-layered performance. The “triangles” in the play symbolize both romantic entanglements—a him, a her, and another—and the experience of a non-conforming couple in a judgmental society.

During the first visit of the Advisory Board for the Excellence Project, the winning design for the “Inclusive Humanities” logo was unveiled on Tuesday, 5 December. The logo was created by Cooperativa Yeah, a branch of the Social Cooperative QUID Onlus, which specializes in providing services for accessibility and the inclusion of people with disabilities. This cooperative also designed the graphic layout of the Inclusive Humanities website.

The logo, projected on a screen, was selected as the winning version from a set of designs created specifically by Cooperativa Yeah. It was voted on by the entire staff (faculty, technical and administrative staff, and PhD students) of the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures.

The visual identity of Inclusive Humanities centres on the letter “H”, the primary focus of the humanities, which encompass the various aspects of culture, society, and the human condition—including foreign languages and literatures. The “H” is composed of numerous “i”s, reflecting the initial letter of the word inclusive.

On 4-5 December, 2023, the first visit of the Advisory Board of the Excellence Project took place, marking an important step in the development of goals and the assessment of the progress of initiatives within the project “Inclusive Humanities: Development Perspectives in the Research and Teaching of Foreign Languages and Literatures” (2023-2027).

The Advisory Board (or AB for short) is a body established to supervise the progress of the project’s goals. It consists of external experts of outstanding international standing who provide scientific oversight for the project and ensure an effective and continuous system of monitoring and integrated evaluation. The members of the Advisory Board for Inclusive Humanities are:

• Prof. Elena Di Giovanni (University of Macerata),
• Prof. Anna Cardinaletti (Ca’ Foscari University of Venice),
• Prof. Shulamit Almog (University of Haifa, Israel),
• Prof. Gerhard Lauer (Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Germany).

Each year, the coordinators of the activities within the Excellence Project report to the members of the Advisory Board on the work carried out and receive their suggestions. This first meeting, held in the Co-working Room with the faculty of the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures present, was particularly significant as it represented the first in-person encounter with the AB members.

Over the course of the two days, all projects and sub-projects conducted within the framework of “Inclusive Humanities” in their respective areas of development were presented. The event concluded with a debate, offering an opportunity for exchange and useful feedback. There were also more “recreational” activities, such as a visit to the Biblioteca Capitolare of Verona and attendance at the theatrical performance “Con Voce Nuova_L’Inferno di Dante” by the Emit Flesti Company of Trento at the Camploy Theater, part of Festivabìlia, a theatre festival featuring companies connected to the world of disability, promoted by the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures of the University of Verona.