International Women’s Day Celebration 2013
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Document Type
Presentation
Date of Original Version
2013
Abstract
For the International Women’s Day Celebration (2013) there were a total of 13 distinguished scholars, including Dacia Maraini, the URI Distinguished International Visiting Scholar, who spoke about the portrayal of women in literature and their standing in society today.
The first section contains a series of speeches by a variety of distinguished scholars about the treatment of women in literature. In her introduction, Dr. Elvira Di Fabio speaks about the significance of International Women’s Day and shares an original translation of Laura Marchetti’s poem La Mimosa. Then, Dr. Catherine Sama speaks about the importance of studying and teaching Italian women authors in the United States. Then, Dr. Susan Amatengelo analyzes the woman warrior within Dacia Maraini’s works. Dr. Stacy Giufre and Dr. Tommasina Gabriele discuss various aspects of Maraini’s La nave per Kobe (The Boat to Kobe). Dr. Giufre’s essay Defining Diversity considers the textual, temporal, and transnational spaces used to narrate within The Boat to Kobe. Dr. Gabriele further expands our study of this work, when she considers the motif of maternal desire. Dr. Anna Cafaro explores honor killing both as it occurs today and within the context of Saveria La Ruina’s drama. Dr. Mary Capello offers a reflection about Sicily, her ancestral homeland, as a point of departure and a point of return.
The second section of the work is designed to provide analysis of a variety of social issues which impact today’s women. Dr. Jody Lisberger explores the role of women within academia in her piece Crossing Borders. Dr. Ping Xu discusses the Gender Gap in China. Ms. Jeannie Solomon continues to reflect upon the status of women of Chinese heritage, providing a study of the Chinese-American Woman, from the middle of the nineteenth century to the present day. We then draw our study of today’s social issues to a close with Dr. Donna Hughes, who offers an explanation and statistics about slavery in the United States and around the world.