I wanted to thank all participants to the discussion had last Thursday.
Thanks for all comments and suggestions but in particular for the comment as far as the 'old' character of tools chosen to tackle subjects that are arguably new.
As far as the urgency to work on aspects of Italian society, my intention with Rarestance2009 is by no means to infer that such topics as berlusconism should represent a research imperative for scholars operating in Italy, but, rather, to recognize a field of study and to point out the interesting difference between the Australian recent experience and the Italian one.
I had no chance to discuss some aspects - important to me- about notions of embodiment and embodied ethics but elaborating on this it would take far too long here.
I very much look forward to another opportunity to hopefully hear more of your ideas about all we discussed around notions of Sexuality Media and Power in Italy today.
27 February, 2010
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RARESTANCE 2009 TEMPORARY COLLECTIVE-English Version
The growing collective, formed last October 2009, aims at organizing a trans-institutional network of intellectuals, scholars, artists and other members of the interested public to develop a substantial, scientifically rigorous interdisciplinary debate as well as a body of research and knowledge surrounding contemporary Italian society, culture and politics.
The intention is to propose a constructive analysis of the Italian situation not just at a discussion level but also with the outcome of possible publication(s ) .
The topics we wish to investigate will grow and should change with everyone's input ( please email rarestance at gmail.com to find out about the specific topics we will be working on).
Here the assumptions is that in Italy itself a debate with the described characteristics is absent. Current debates are restricted to media promoted journalistic and current affairs exercises where the wide public is given very little room or chance to respond. Interestingly, academics outside Italy are often writing about Italian matters whilst few Italian scholars are.
Another interesting Italian phenomenon over the last 15 years, culturally, politically and socially, is the arguable influence that berlusconism, defined here not only as a cultural agent, but as an epistemology, has established in Italy over the last 15 years.
Unlike what has happened in US , or Australia for example, where various scholars and artists have voiced their views and expressed visions and interpretation of the impact of the Clinton or Bush political presidencies in US for example or of the Howard decade in Australia, in Italy there is a very small body of research concerning contemporary society.
The scarce existing literature concerns not just berlusconism but also various issues, widely considered by scholars and artists in their countries elsewhere, such as gender in contemporary Italian society, sexual identity, just to name a few.
We found it necessary that a socio-political critique of this kind was undertaken in Italy, possibly free from the constraints of institutional pressures or confinements.
Please check this blog for events dates or projects outlines.
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