News and Events

Event: Charles R. Ross Award in Transnational Italian Culture

Monday, April 20th, 4pm, IHC McCune Conference Room, HSSB 6020 

The 2026 Charles R. Ross Award in Transnational Italian Culture will be awarded to Mattea Fo, President of the Fo Rame Foundation, and actor Mario Pirovano for their combined roles in preserving and carrying forward the legacy of Nobel Prize-winning playwright Dario Fo and partner Franca Rame and their commitment to progressive forms of theater and social justice.

Congrats to Eric Prieto on his new book, Urban Informality and Narrative Form (2026)!

A hearty congratulations to Eric Prieto on his new book, Urban Informality and Narrative Form (Routledge, 2026)!

Screening + Q&A: "Toni, My Father" (2025) with Director Anna Negri

Friday, 3/13, 3pm, South Hall, 2nd Floor, Seminar Room 2635

The Center on Modern Culture, Materialism, and Aesthetics (COMMA), the Department of French and Italian, and the Department of Film and Media Studies are pleased to present filmmaker Anna Negri and the screening of her documentary Toni, My Father (2025), 110 mins.

Brown Bag Talk: "Humanity at the Very Center of Everything," Prof. Renan Larue (French & Italian, UCSB)

Wednesday March 4th, 12pm, 6206C Phelps Hall

Please join us for a Brown Bag talk by Prof. Renan Larue co-sponsored by the Comparative Literature Program and the Departments of French and Italian and German and Slavic Studies.

"Are Humans Really the Center of the Universe? A Brief Genealogy of Western Anthropocentrism"

Panel: Leap into Languages: Global Voices, Global Perspectives

Wednesday, 2/25, 4:30pm, UCSB Library, Room 1312

Why learn, minor, or major in language? Join faculty from UCSB language departments—including FRIT's own Lorenzo Giachetti—to learn how language studies provide unique academic and career opportunities. 

Conversation: "Deaf Gain & Absourdité: How did Méduses Turn into Jellyfish?" (Adèle Rosenfeld & Jeffrey Zuckerman)

Wednesday, 2/25, 12pm, Sarah Miller McCune Conference Room (HSSB 6020)

Prof. Claudio Fogu completes book tour in Italy

Congratulations to our colleague Claudio Fogu, who has just completed successful book tour in Italy launching L’immaginario mediterraneo nella storia dell’Italia (Pacini Editore, 2025), a translation of The Fishing Net and the Spider Web:

Brown Bag Talk: "Rebuilding St. Paul's Outside the Walls," Prof. Richard Wittman (History of Art & Architecture, UCSB)

Interdisciplinary Brown Bag Lecture Series

Wednesday, 11/19, 12-1pm, 6320 Phelps Hall

Co-sponsored by Comparative Literature, French & Italian, German and Slavic Studies, Graduate Center for Literary Research