Archives and memory, sources and cultural heritage: comparing research and valorization experiences
The conference "Archives and Memory, Sources and Cultural Heritage: Comparing Research and Enhancement Experiences" is organized by the University of Turin (Department of Foreign Languages, Literatures and Modern Cultures, Department of Humanities, and Department of Historical Studies) on Thursday, June 19th in the Terracini Degree Hall in Palazzo Nuovo (Via Sant'Ottavio, 20; from 9:00 am to 6:00 pm) and on Friday, June 20th in the Degree Hall of the Aldo Moro Complex (Via Giuseppe Verdi, 41; from 9:00 am to 6:00 pm).
The event aims to bring together scholars who, from different perspectives, engage with the scale and space of archives and representatives of organizations dedicated to the preservation and safeguarding of various types of archival collections.
Archival sources represent a cross-disciplinary research focus (history, art history, linguistics, musicology, demo-anthropology, sociology, ethnology, etc.) and are of enormous importance for understanding and enhancing the region and its cultural heritage. From an interdisciplinary perspective, the discussion will focus on the various practices for promoting archives, reflecting on themes such as historical and oral memory, the valorization of cultural and popular heritage, and the practices of restitution of materials to communities, from the perspective of museums and sustainable tourism.
The conference will develop by comparing the experiences of several archives that, due to their multiple value, lend themselves to interdisciplinary research: the archive of the Fondazione Istituto Piemontese "Antonio Gramsci," which contains over 200 archival collections containing diverse materials, primarily related to the history of the Turin labor movement and associations, but also the personal archives of individual scholars; The Nuto Revelli Foundation archive, which preserves and promotes over a thousand hours of recordings, recently restored and digitized, as well as over 50 linear meters of photographs, letters, and testimonies from World War II, the struggle for liberation from Nazi-fascism, the Alpine troops in Russia, and the rural world; the CREO (Ethnomusic and Oral History Research Center) archive, which houses field recordings of traditional oral music and singing, as well as political and social singing; and the ABACVM (Waldensian and Methodist Cultural Heritage and Activities Archive) information system, a digital platform developed to catalog, disseminate, and promote the Methodist and Waldensian cultural heritage online.
In addition to offering an opportunity to introduce the various archives and their specificities to the scientific community, the event will also provide visibility to the organizations involved in the preservation of these materials, with the aim of proposing new visions and perspectives for their protection, promotion, and restitution. The conference will present the developments of research conducted by numerous members of NODES - Spoke 3 Tourism and Culture Industry from various Northwestern universities involved in the project (UniTo, UniVDA, UPO, UnInsubria).
The two-day conference will consist of four thematic sessions, each opening with an invited presentation. The first is dedicated to archival sources from the perspective of historical research, and will open with a presentation by Alessandro Casellato (Ca' Foscari University of Venice) entitled "Oral Archives and Historical Research: A Range of Opportunities." The second focuses on the study of archives for linguistic research, and will be introduced by a presentation by Silvia Calamai (University of Siena) entitled "Why Can't Linguistics Ignore the Oral Archives of the Past?". The third section focuses on archives of popular heritage and oral memory for ethnographic and anthropological research, opening with a joint presentation by Piercarlo Grimaldi (University of Gastronomic Sciences of Pollenzo) and Davide Porporato (University of Eastern Piedmont "Amedeo Avogadro"), entitled "From Orality to Digital: The Granaries of Memory." Finally, the fourth section focuses on experiences in leveraging archival sources for the promotion of the local area, opening with a joint presentation by Stefania Cerutti and Stefania Benetti (University of Eastern Piedmont "Amedeo Avogadro"), entitled "Catalyst of Innovation: TOEP as a Digital Archive for Creative Projects."
Participation in the conference is free.
