Chloe Kofman’24 is a current TAM student who studied overseas in Bath and Siena. This summer, she received funding to attend the American Association for Italian Studies (AAIS) conference in Italy. Please read about her experience below. Chloe plans to pursue her PhD in Italian at UNC-CH starting this August.
You know those moments where you think: I can’t believe I’m really here…? From June 6-9, 2024, I attended the annual conference of the American Association for Italian Studies (AAIS), this year held in Sorrento, Italy. It was my first in-person conference as part of a professional organization and from the second I was handed my little name badge, those wondrous moments began to come to me.
Each morning, I caught the commuter train (the Circumvesuviana) from Pompeii – the station is just outside the famous ruins – to Sorrento with locals and other tourists alike. Countless languages and accents can be heard on that rumbly old train; it is a microcosm of the world itself. It was about a 40-minute ride and then a quick walk to Sorrento’s Sant’Anna Institute, a language school for both Italians and foreigners. I didn’t present any research this time, but I must say that UNC was well-represented! UNC Romance Studies doctoral students Valentina Graziuso and Claudia Lombardo both shared original papers; professor Serenella Iovino served as chair for a panel related to climate change in Italy. Topics of other panels included women activists in Italy, literary and media representations of the city of Naples, and LGBTQ+ representation in the Renaissance. I had originally been hoping to attend panels related to Italian Jewish history, as they would have related to my thesis on modern antisemitism and protection of Jewish life in Italy (and Germany), but they didn’t end up on the schedule, so I gladly rearranged my plans in favor of UNC colleagues and friends while also making connections from other universities and institutions.
When the panels and discussions finished, there were other things to look forward to, such as a joint keynote presentation entitled “Diasporic Italies, Diasporic Italians” by authors Claudia Durastanti and Ubah Cristina Ali Farah. (I’ve read Durastanti’s book La Straniera and was very excited to see her speak!) It was a fascinating multilingual presentation by both authors. After that, there was an aperitivo hour on a balcony with a lovely view of the water. And the volcano. Let’s be honest, it’s not every day that you can take photos with a volcano in the background. Each time I see Vesuvius, it sparks the same awe that it did the first time.
The conference ended in the early afternoon on June 9, and my UNC colleague Claudia and I spent the rest of the day as tourists in Sorrento before meeting up in Naples the next day for a walk in the city center (and one of the best margherita pizzas either of us had ever tasted).
The whole conference experience was very rewarding. I was able to catch up with one of my former professors and learn a bit more about networking and approaching people in a professional setting. I also got to take notes and explore possibilities for future research.
I am so grateful to UNC and the TAM program for the support of my attendance at this conference and I hope to be able to attend again (and maybe present some of my own work!) in the future. Even now, several days after returning to my current home in Siena, I find myself incredulous.
Yes, I was really there.