Subjects in transition : changing landscapes and shifting agencies

In recent years, Italian American studies have gone global, at least methodologically, recognizing the diasporic nature of Italian historic migrations, and more in general advocating for a wider inquiry of their manifold cultural and social phenomena. This poses a challenge that Italian literary studies should welcome and embrace – finally moving beyond old geo-historical fixations, and re-appreciating the pluralistic dynamism punctuating, oftentimes with dramatic energy, the canonical field of Italian creativity. In times of unprecedented complexity and renewed nation-centrism, Italian American studies and Italian studies can only benefit from more and more cross-fertilization. The presentation offers – mostly in chronological order – some revealing testimonies of such an uninterrupted dialogue.