Italian Exploration and Discoveries

About this event

October 13, 20, 27 (Tuesdays), November 2 (Monday) 9:30-11:30 a.m.

Attend in person at ISU’s Alumni Center, 1101 N. Main St., Normal

OR

Watch Online via Zoom

FEES:

$45 for Senior Professional members (includes all four sessions)

$55 for non-members (includes all four sessions)

For in-person participation, pricing is per person.

For Zoom participation, pricing is one registration per household.

Price includes:

Four 2-hour sessions (one Academy of Seniors class).

$15 single-session option available for in-person attendance (pay at door).

Register online at seniorprofessionals.illinoisstate.edu or call (309) 438-2160 with questions.

Zoom participants will receive a Zoom link a week prior to the start of the class(es) and again on the day of each session.

The Afterlife of a Roman Villa

Few scholars would disagree that the Roman Empire in the West ended in the fifth century, but contemporary texts offer conflicting accounts on relations between barbarian tribes and Roman provincials in the West. Scholars rely on ancient authors to generalize about what transformations looked like on a wide scale, but an excellent barometer for assessing the nature of change in the Roman empire is the Roman villa, a fundamental unit of the Roman economy. Through the archaeology of villas, understand how broader economic and social shifts manifested in the Roman landscape.

Kathryn Jasper, Professor of History and Chair of Latin in the Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures, ISU (October 13)

A Million Little Pieces: Unearthing the Past at Valle Gianni

At the archaeological site of Valle Gianni near Lake Bolsena, even the smallest fragments can reveal remarkable stories about the ancient past. This presentation will explore how archaeologists use broken pottery, mosaic tesserae, architectural remains and other “little pieces” to reconstruct the lives of the people who once inhabited this landscape. Drawing on recent excavations from the Northwest Bolsena Archaeological Project, the talk offers a behind-the-scenes look at archaeological fieldwork and the process of transforming scattered evidence into a richer understanding of one small part of Roman Italy.

Lea Cline, Professor of Art History, Wonsook Kim College of Fine Arts, and Fulbright Student Program Advisor, ISU (October 20)

Living Under Italian Fascism in Primo Levi’s The Periodic Table

No one has written about the Nazi concentration camps with more understated eloquence and moral clarity than Primo Levi, the Italian chemist and author who survived nearly a year in Auschwitz. In this lecture, Dr. Druker will discuss Levi’s The Periodic Table, an innovative memoir about his career in chemistry and his youth under Italian Fascism, including the years 1938-1943 when the antisemitic “Racial Laws” were in effect.

Jonathan Druker, Professor Emeritus of Italian, Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures, ISU (October 27)

From Gloom to Glam: How the Representation of Italy and Its Culture Changes in Italian American Narratives

How did Italy and its culture become “cool” in America? Today Italy is often associated with style, creativity, culinary excellence and cultural prestige, but for the first generations of immigrants early in the 20th century, their heritage was the mark of economic and social backwardness. This negative connotation persisted until post-WWII. Then, Italianness slowly, but steadily, turned from a stigma into a desirable cultural marker. This will provide the starting points for exploring the transition from gloom to glam in Italian American literature and film and later narratives of Americans of Italian descents who start reconnecting with their heritage and traveling to their ancestral homeland.

Francesco Ferrari, Instructional Assistant Professor of Italian, Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures, ISU (November 2)