Center for the Humanities and Social Change

DirectorShaul Bassi

Scientific CommitteeTiziana LippielloSabrina MarchettiMassimo Warglien

Project ManagerBarbara Del Mercato

Partners

Member of the Consortium of Humanities Centers and Institutes and of the European Consortium for Humanities Institutes and Centers

The Center for the Humanities and Social Change at Ca’ Foscari is an interdisciplinary platform created by Ca’ Foscari University of Venice and the Humanities and Social Change International Foundation. Its mission is to draw upon the creative power of the humanities to develop responses to the world’s most significant and pressing challenges.

We live in an age of unprecedented movement of people across continents, provoked by the processes of decolonization, war, globalization of commerce and finance, climate change. Imagining how people can live together is an imperative that has led us to embrace cultural pluralism as our focus.

Bringing together Ca’ Foscari’s faculty, graduate students, fellows, visiting scholars in various disciplines, as well as public intellectuals and professionals in policy, journalism, and beyond, the Center promises to inspire meaningful dialogue and formulate practical solutions.

Summer School: Fact and Value in Public Life, June 2018

Three-year ResearchersFrancesco Della Puppa (Dipartimento di Filosofia e Beni Culturali - Department of Philosophy and Cultural Heritage, tutor: prof. Francesca Campomori)Social Innovation by Means of Artistic Media for Addressing Cultural Diversity: Coping With the Challenges of Young Second Generation Immigrants Starting from Educational System

Luigi Doria (Dipartimento di Studi Linguistici e Culturali Comparati - Department of Linguistic and Comparative Cultural Studies, tutor: prof. Francesca Coin)The Nature of Money And its Social Perception in Times Of Crisis

Fabiana Zollo (Dipartimento di Scienze Ambientali, Informatica e Statistica - Department of Environmental Sciences, Informatics and Statistics, tutor: prof. Agostino Cortesi) Misinformation: A Quantitative Analysis of Intolerance and Polarization

Andrea Drocco (Dipartimento di Studi sull’Asia e sull’Africa Mediterranea - Department of Asian and North African Studies, tutor: prof. Antonio Rigopolous)Language Rhetoric and

Linguistic Strategies of Religious Intolerant Discourses: The Case of South Asia

Post-DocsMarco Marrone (Dipartimento di Management - Department of Management, tutor: prof. Vladi Finotto)IT and the future of work: democracy vs. technocracy in the workplace

Luigi D’Amelia (Dipartimento di Studi Umanistici – Department of Humanities, tutor: prof. Antonio Rigo)Are texts innocent? Nourishing religious prejudice in the Middle Ages

Igiaba Scego (Dipartimento di Studi Umanistici – Department of Humanities, tutor: prof. Ricciarda Ricorda, Department of Humanities)“Afrodescendants” in Post- World War II Italy: Experiences and Representations (1944-1979)

Alan Del Piccolo(Dipartimento di Studi Linguistici e Culturali Comparati – Department of Linguistic and Comparative Cultural Studies)Digital Shakespeare – Shakespeare In and Beyond the Ghetto

Ph.D. Ilenia Pittui (Dipartimento di Filosofia e Beni Culturali - Department of Philosophy and Cultural Heritage, tutor: prof. Martina Frank)The Iconography of the Turk in the XVth and the XVIth century: a ‘wise knot’ between word and image

Francesca Massarenti (Dipartimento di Studi Linguistici e Culturali Comparati - Department of Linguistic and Comparative Cultural Studies, tutor: prof. Pia Masiero)The Stories that b(l)ind us: How Stories work, and how they Change the World

Laura Calvaresi (Dipartimento di Studi Umanistici - Department of Humanities, tutor: Antonio Montefusco)Building a language, rethinking an ethic: virtues of the Christian merchant between liberalitas and industria (1250-1350)

Giovanni Lapis (Dipartimento di Studi sull’Asia e sull’Africa Mediterranea - Department of Asian and North African Studies, tutor: prof. Massimo Raveri)Education to Interculturality through the Studies of Religions. The Problem of East Asian Religions

Our Fellows and their research projects

17 May 2017Aula Baratto, Ca’ FoscariOpening lecture: Amitav Ghosh: The Humanities and Climate Change

31 October 2017Auditorium Santa MargheritaEdmund De Waal: La strada bianca: poesia, porcellana, passione

24 November 2017Ca’ DolfinSymposium on Memories of Africa. Colonial Traces in Italian Culture

18 December 2017Aula Baratto, Ca’ FoscariMaurizio Ambrosini and Russell King: The migration-politics nexus in today’s Europe

16 febbraio-7 aprileBack to Life in Iraq

16 February-4 March 2018Oratorio San LudovicoInstallation and exhibition – with Associazione Nuova Icona

1 March 2018 Ca’ DolfinSalvatore Settis: Iconoclasm and Politics

16 March – 7 April 2018San Servolo IslandPaintings by Matti al-Kanun, reportage by Emanuele Confortin (exhibition)

16 March 2018San Servolo IslandBack to Life in Iraq: conferenceWith Matti al-Kanun, Abdoul Jabbar Mustafa, Carlotta Sami, Sara De Vido, Elisabetta Zendri, Vittorio Urbani

22 February 2018Seminar Shakespeare, Tolerance and the Digital HumanitiesDiana Henderson, Fabio Pittarello, Alan Del Piccolo

22 March 2018CFZ – Cultural Flow ZoneGloria Wekker: White Innocence

6 April 2018Auditorium Santa MargheritaNgugi wa Thiong’o at the Festival Incroci di civiltà Festival

15 May 2018Auditorium Santa MargheritaLaurie Anderson: Things that I have lost in the Flood (lecture)

18 May 2018Ateneo VenetoSerpil Bagcı Illustrated Ottoman Manuscriptsof Iskendernâme (Book of Alexander) and the Marciana Copy

4-9 June 2018Venice Seminars on The Fountainheads of Toleration (with Reset Foundation)Summer School and Seminars With Giuliano Amato, Seyla Benhabib, Homi Bhabha, Giancarlo Bosetti, and others

24-30 June 2018Ca’ FoscariSummer School with the fellows of HSC Santa BarbaraFact and Value in Public Life: Plural Cultures, Media, and the Academy Today.

Seminars with: Wanda Alberts, Sepil Bagcı, Imre Banga, Paolo Di Paolo, Lisa Iotti, Suranga Katugampala, Silvain Piron.

Our first year

International Center for the Humanities and Social Changehsc@unive.itwww.unive.it/ichsc

Memorie d’Africa. Tracce coloniali nella cultura italiana 15.00Introduzione di Vittorio Longhi, Alessandra Di Maio, Shaul Bassi, Elena Cadamuro

16.00Igiaba Scego e Rino BianchiColonialismo negato: percorsi postcoloniali nella città di Roma

17.30Maaza Mengiste e Francesca MelandriConversazione intorno al romanzo Sangue giusto di Francesca Melandri (Rizzoli, 2017)

20.30Spettacolo Acqua di Coloniadi Daniele Timpano ed Elvira FrosiniTeatro Ca’ Foscari, Dorsoduro 2137 - VeneziaInfo e prenotazioni: biglietteria.teatrocafoscari@unive.it

Venerdì 24 novembre 2017 Ca’ DolfinAula Magna S. TrentinDorsoduro 3825/D - Venezia

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Residenze letterarie e artistiche a Venezia

in collaborazione con

Please confirm your participation to eventi@unive.it by 15 May 2017Admission subject to availability of places.

Inaugural event of theCenter for the Humanities and Social Change at Ca’ FoscariOpening remarksMichele Bugliesi, Rector of Ca’ Foscari University of VeniceErck Rickmers, Chairman of Humanities and Social Change International Foundation

The Humanities and Climate ChangeAmitav Ghoshauthor ofThe Great Derangement: Climate Change and the Unthinkable(University of Chicago Press, 2016)La grande cecità. Il cambiamento climatico e l’impensabile (Neri Pozza, 2017) in conversation withShaul Bassi, Ca’ Foscari University of VeniceThomas Carlson, University of California at Santa Barbara

Wednesday 17 May 2017 h 16.30Aula Baratto Ca’ Foscari Dorsoduro 3246Venice

Back to Life in IraqArte, distruzione e rinascitaArt, destruction, regenerationDipinti/paintings: Matti al-KanunReportage: Emanuele Confortin

Installazione/InstallationOratorio San Ludovico Calle dei Vecchi, Dorsoduro 2552, Venezia16 febbraio - 4 marzo/16th February - 4th March 2018Apertura/Open 15.00-19.00/3 p.m. to 7 p.m. e su appuntamento per le scuole (hsc@unive.it) in collaborazione con/in collaboration with Associazione Nuova IconaInaugurazione/Opening: 16 febbraio/16th February, 18.00/6 p.m.

Conferenza/LectureCa’ Dolfin, Aula Magna S. Trentin Dorsoduro 3825/D, Venezia 1 marzo/1st March, ore 17.30/5.30 p.mSalvatore Settis: Iconoclastia e politica (in Italian)Introducono/Introduced by Giuseppe Barbieri & Shaul Bassi

Mostra/ExhibitionIsola di San Servolo16 marzo - 7 aprile/16th March - 7th April 2018Dipinti di/paintings by Matti al-Kanun, reportage di/by Emanuele ConfortinIn collaborazione con/in collaboration with San Servolo Servizi Metropolitaniorario 9.00-19.00/9 a.m. to 7 p.m.Inaugurazione della mostra/Opening 16 marzo/16th March 19.00/ 7 p.m.

Convegno/Conference Isola di San Servolo16 marzo/ 16th March ore 15/3 p.m.Back to Life in IraqEmanuele Confortin, Matti al-Kanun, Abdoul Jabbar Mustafa, Giancarlo Bosetti, Carlotta Sami, Sara De Vido, Elisabetta Zendri, Vittorio Urbani, Shaul Bassi

In collaborazione con

Con il patrocinio di:

L’arte come forma di resistenza alla violenza e come speranza di ritorno alla vita in Iraq. Il pittore cristiano siriaco Matti al-Kanun torna nella propria città da poco liberata dall’occupazione dell’Isis e riunisce la sua collezione di dipinti, incluse tre opere a tema cristiano, deturpate dai jihadisti. Al-Kanun decide di riparare gli squarci con dei semplici frammenti di tela, lasciando visibili le cicatrici. Un gesto dal duplice valore simbolico: il rifiuto per la violenza che da anni tormenta il paese e che divide i diversi gruppi che lo abitano; la speranza di poter presto tornare alla vita in Iraq. A Venezia gli studenti di restauro Ca’Foscari completano la sua opera. Back to Life in Iraq.

Art is a form of resistance to violence and a hope for a new life in Iraq. The Christian Syriac painter Matti al-Kanun returned to his city, recently liberated from Isis, and reassembled his collection of painting, including three works with a Christian theme that had been defaced by the Jihadists. Al Kanun decided to repair the gashes with plain strips of canvas, leaving the scars visible. This gesture has a dual symbolic value: the rejection of the violence that has plagued Iraq for years and divided its various resident groups; the hope to return soon to a normal existence. In Venice the conservation and restoration students complete the repair work. Back to life in Iraq.

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International Center for the Humanities and Social Change

Edmund de WaalLa strada bianca: poesia, porcellana, passione

Martedì 31 ottobre 2017 ore 17.00Auditorium Santa MargheritaDorsoduro 3689 – Venezia

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Incontro in lingua inglese con traduzione simultanea in italianoEvent in English language

Ingresso libero fino al raggiungimento della capienza della salaAdmission free

Info: eventi@unive.itwww.unive.it/ichsc

Sono un artista e uno scrittore. Non si tratta di due pratiche divergenti: ad accomunarle è l’ossessione per il modo in cui vediamo e leggiamo oggetti e testi. Con l’aiuto delle immagini vi racconterò i miei progetti recenti - a Vienna, Berlino, Los Angeles - e come le storie familiari si intrecciano con ciò che cerco di fare. Perché collezionare è importante? Perché il bianco è un colore difficile?Edmund de Waal - autore de La strada bianca (Bollati Boringhieri 2016)

Thursday, 7 June / 9.30 am – 5.15 pmFriday, 8 June / 10.00 am – 6.30 pmSaturday, 9 June / 9.30am – 1.30 pm

Speakers, Faculty and Participants Cengiz Aktar, Giuliano Amato, Karen Barkey, Enrico Biale, Shaul Bassi Seyla Benhabib, Homi Bhabha, Jacqueline Bhabha, Murat BorovalıGiancarlo Bosetti, Marina Calloni, José Casanova, Alessandro FerraraPasquale Ferrara, Pasquale Gagliardi, Simon Goldhill, Ahmet Insel, Volker KaulJonathan Laurence, Tiziana Lippiello, Stephen Macedo, Liav OrgadDavid Rasmussen, Massimo Raveri, Antonio Rigopoulos, Tatjana SekulicFederico Squarcini, Nayla Tabbara, Francesca Tarocco, Diego von VacanoPei Wang, Ida Zilio Grandi

Participation in the SummerSchool and the Seminars is free of charge

Please check our website for updates

Venice

www.resetdoc.orgevents@resetdoc.orgtel 0039 0283994280

Venice Seminars – Close Encounters Across all Divides

Fountainheads of TolerationForms of Pluralism in Empires, Republics, Democracies Giorgio Cini Foundation – Ca’ Foscari University of Venice

White Innocence Chair: Sabrina Marchetti, Ca’ Foscari

Keynote:

Gloria Wekker, Utrecht University Discussants:Annalisa Frisina, University of PaduaAngelica Pesarini, New York University Florence

Thursday 22nd of March 2018, 16.00-18.00CFZ – Cultural Flow ZoneFondamenta Zattere al Ponte Lungo 1392, Venezia

Dipartimento Di FilosoFia,sociologia, peDagogia e psicologia applicata

(Fisppa)Department of Philosophy and Cultural Heritage

Gloria Wekker is Emerita Professor of Gender Studies at Utrecht University and the author of several books, including The Politics of Passion: Women’s Sexual Culture in the Afro-Surinamese Diaspora. In this keynote lecture she will discuss her latest book White Innocence: Paradoxes of Colonialism and Race (Duke UP, 2016).

“White Innocence is a major contribution that provides us with new and distinct methods for investigating the cultural archives of colonialism” (Sarah Ahmed).

hsc@unive.itwww.unive.it/ichsc

The migration-politics nexus in today’s Europe Chair Sabrina Marchetti, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice

Russell King, Sussex UniversityAnd then came Brexit: EU migrant youth in London

Maurizio Ambrosini, University of MilanPorous borders? Irregular immigrationin Southern Europe

Discussants Daniela DeBonoEuropean University Institute/Malmö UniversityAnna Di BartolomeoCa’ Foscari University of Venice

Department of Philosophy and Cultural Heritage

Monday 18 December 2017 5 p.m. - 7 p.m.

Ca’ Foscari Aula Baratto, Dorsoduro 3246 Venice

“Ca’ Foscari firmly believes in this project in which, thanks to the support of the HSC International Foundation, scholars, researchers and PhD students will tackle current topics working in teams and collaborating with scholars from all over the world. Venice becomes the centre of a scientific activity that will investigate the social problems and cultural changes of our time”.

Michele BugliesiRector of Ca’ Foscari University of Venice

“Our mission is, first, to understand the nature of challenges to society in the 21st century; second, to develop visions and concepts that inspire improvement; and third, to actively promote and influence change.”

Erck RickmersChairman of the Humanities and Social Change International Foundation

Center for the Humanities and Social ChangeUniversità Ca’ Foscari VeneziaDorsoduro 323630123 Venezia

From March 2019:Ca’ BottacinDorsoduro 3911 30123 Venezia

hscif.org/venicehsc@unive.it

Upcoming events:

21-23 March 2019 Afropean Bridges

3-6 April 2019 HSC Session at Incroci di Civiltà Festival

23-25 May 2019 HSC & Reset Venice Seminars: Sources of Democracy

Lectures and events with:Andrea MostStefano De MatteisLuc SteelsAvedis HadjianEdward Wilson-LeeNakul SawneyFrank LondonMarjorie AgosinJoan Tronto

Check our updated calendar on: hscif.org/venice-events