'Consuming Italy'. Consumption in Italy and the Consumption of Italy

Organisers: Jonathan Morris, Claudia Baldoli (University of Hertfordshire)

The 2006 ASMI conference will consider the history and practices of consumption in Italy, and the consumption of goods, products and services that have been encoded as 'Italian' outside the country itself. The conference will be open to papers on all aspects of consumption (broadly defined) in the 19th and 20th centuries, including those employing economic, social, cultural, theoretical and political approaches. Papers on consumption in Italy might discuss themes such as the transition to a consumer society, investigating areas such as advertising, fashion, retailing, sport and popular music; and the impact of consumption in processes such as identity formation, the construction of gender roles, the 'Americanisation' of daily life, and the conduct of politics. Papers on the consumption of Italy might deal with the transfer of commodities from Italy to overseas, consumer and material culture within the Italian diasporas, the encoding of 'Italianess' in the branding of products, and the uses and meanings constructed through the consumption of Italian goods.

The keynote speakers at the conference will be Donna Gabaccia (University of Minnesota) and Roberta Sassatelli (University of Milan). There will also be a presentation by the organisers on their research project 'The Cappuccino Conquests: A transnational history of Italian coffee' (www.cappuccinoconquests.org.uk)

The working language of the conference will be English. The organisers anticipate publishing a selection of revised conference papers either in a collected volume of essays or as a journal theme issue. Paper proposals of no more than one page, including a title, brief abstract, and statement of the proposer's status and affiliation, should be sent to the organisers via email.

Deadline: 31 March 2006.

Jonathan Morris j.2.morris@herts.ac.uk
Claudia Baldoli c.baldoli@herts.ac.uk