Symposium: Cultural Heritage Memory–Negotiating the Past in Order to Build on the Future.

This symposium will discuss the notion of cultural heritage and its relevance to today’s concept of Italian identity. Questions to be addressed include: How does one negotiate his/her knowledge of the past with today? How does a member of subsequent generations of an immigrant family reconcile his/her sense of self with his/her family history?

6:00-7:00
Opening comments
Anthony Julian Tamburri, Dean, John D. Calandra Italian American Institute, Queens College, CUNY

Presentations
Donna Chirico, York College, CUNY
“How Cultural Memory Builds a Narrative Past in Forming Individual Identity”
Fred Gardaphé, John D. Calandra Italian American Institute, Queens College “To Belong, or Not: Italicity and Myths of U.S. American Identity”
Maddalena Tirabassi, Centro Altreitalie “Multifaced italicity”

7:00-7:45
Hon. Piero Bassetti, author, Let’s Wake Up, Italics! (Calandra Institute, 2017) Amb. Sergio Vento, Former Italian Ambassador to United Nations / United States of America