Francesco Cassata
Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, Centro Linceo Interdisciplinare "Beniamino Segre", Fellow in Residence
Francesco Cassata is Professor of Contemporary History at the University of Genoa. He is the author of "Science Fiction? 7th Primo Levi Lecture" (Einaudi, 2016); "Eugenetica senza tabù. Usi e abusi di un concetto" (Einaudi, 2015); "L'Italia intelligente. Adriano Buzzati-Traverso e il Laboratorio di genetica e biofisica di Napoli" (Donzelli, 2013); "Building the New Man. Eugenics, Racial Science and Genetics in Twentieth-Century Italy" (CEU Press, 2011); " 'La Difesa della razza'. Politica, ideologia e immagine del razzismo fascista" (2008); "Le due scienze. Il 'caso Lysenko' in Italia" (2008); "Molti, sani e forti. L'eugenetica in Italia" (2006); "Il fascismo razionale. Corrado Gini fra scienza e politica" (2006); "A destra del fascismo. Profilo politico di Julius Evola" (2003).
His main areas of interest include history of fascism; history of eugenics; history of genetics; history of molecular biology.
Address: Office:
Via Balbi 6, 16126 Genoa (ITALY)
His main areas of interest include history of fascism; history of eugenics; history of genetics; history of molecular biology.
Address: Office:
Via Balbi 6, 16126 Genoa (ITALY)
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Nell’affrontare criticamente queste argomentazioni dell’antirazzismo scientifico italiano, il saggio si articola in tre parti: nella prima sono descritte due campagne antirazziste — rispettivamente del 2008 e del 2014-2018 — condotte in Italia in larga parte da biologi e antropologi, e finalizzate a dimostrare l’ascientificità del concetto di “razza” e a promuovere l’eliminazione del termine “razza” dalla Costituzione; le due parti successive analizzano i limiti e le aporie di questo antirazzismo scientifico, sia in termini di destoricizzazione del razzismo fascista — individuato come principale bersaglio polemico — sia in termini di decontestualizzazione dello stesso rapporto tra scienza e antirazzismo nella seconda metà del Novecento. Le conclusioni avanzano sinteticamente alcuni suggerimenti metodologici che potrebbero contribuire al superamento dei limiti concettuali dell’antirazzismo scientifico italiano.
Problems (C.I.S.P.), headed by the world-renowned statistician and demographer
Corrado Gini, organized a number of field expeditions in order to empirically
verify the influence of the environment on the bodily changes of immigrants
(Albanian and Ligurian ‘colonies’ in Italy, and Italians in the U.S.). Based on original
archival sources, this article analyses, first, how the C.I.S.P. organized the demographic,
anthropological and medical investigations on the physical assimilation
of immigrants, by adopting a specific research model inaugurated in 1911 by
American anthropologist Franz Boas; secondly, it shows how C.I.S.P. research was
conceived, from the very beginning, as a fundamental contribution to the elaboration
of an alternative, ‘Latin’ eugenic agenda as well as a form of critical
distancing from the launch of the ‘Race Manifesto’, in July 1938.
This article will analyse, first of all, how the American experimental model of mutation breeding was translated into the Italian context, becoming instrumental for the establishment of plant genetics within the local academic system; secondly, it will describe how the sociotechnical imaginary embodied by the gamma field was part and parcel of this process of discipline-building and scientific demarcation.
Nell’affrontare criticamente queste argomentazioni dell’antirazzismo scientifico italiano, il saggio si articola in tre parti: nella prima sono descritte due campagne antirazziste — rispettivamente del 2008 e del 2014-2018 — condotte in Italia in larga parte da biologi e antropologi, e finalizzate a dimostrare l’ascientificità del concetto di “razza” e a promuovere l’eliminazione del termine “razza” dalla Costituzione; le due parti successive analizzano i limiti e le aporie di questo antirazzismo scientifico, sia in termini di destoricizzazione del razzismo fascista — individuato come principale bersaglio polemico — sia in termini di decontestualizzazione dello stesso rapporto tra scienza e antirazzismo nella seconda metà del Novecento. Le conclusioni avanzano sinteticamente alcuni suggerimenti metodologici che potrebbero contribuire al superamento dei limiti concettuali dell’antirazzismo scientifico italiano.
Problems (C.I.S.P.), headed by the world-renowned statistician and demographer
Corrado Gini, organized a number of field expeditions in order to empirically
verify the influence of the environment on the bodily changes of immigrants
(Albanian and Ligurian ‘colonies’ in Italy, and Italians in the U.S.). Based on original
archival sources, this article analyses, first, how the C.I.S.P. organized the demographic,
anthropological and medical investigations on the physical assimilation
of immigrants, by adopting a specific research model inaugurated in 1911 by
American anthropologist Franz Boas; secondly, it shows how C.I.S.P. research was
conceived, from the very beginning, as a fundamental contribution to the elaboration
of an alternative, ‘Latin’ eugenic agenda as well as a form of critical
distancing from the launch of the ‘Race Manifesto’, in July 1938.
This article will analyse, first of all, how the American experimental model of mutation breeding was translated into the Italian context, becoming instrumental for the establishment of plant genetics within the local academic system; secondly, it will describe how the sociotechnical imaginary embodied by the gamma field was part and parcel of this process of discipline-building and scientific demarcation.
EVENT OVERVIEW
While Primo Levi is mainly known for his painstaking and harsh books about his imprisonment in Auschwitz, he also wrote two collections of short stories that can be labelled as science fiction: 'Storie naturali' (1966) and 'Vizio di forma' (1971). A chemist by training, Levi wrote these stories at a time when science fiction was still perceived as unworthy of attention by Italian intellectuals—to the extent that 'Storie naturali' was initially published under a pseudonym. In both books, Levi uses science fiction to investigate the ethical implications of technological progress and probe its hidden and inherent flaws while adopting a tone that was only apparently light. The eerie effect reached by many of these short stories is due to a strong clash: the literary genre was considered superficial and disengaged by the vast majority of Levi’s contemporaries, and yet the writer addresses crucial existential questions in his narrations of clones, intelligent technologies, mutant animals.
By drawing attention to Levi’s contributions in science fiction, this one-day conference aims to contribute to reshaping the scholarly reputation of this genre within Italian Studies and to question Levi’s perception vis-à-vis his position within the hierarchy of genres. This event brings together some of the most renowned scholars who have explored the intersections between his work and science fiction. The speakers will dialogue with early-career researchers and established Levi scholars to foster the debate on this new area of research and explore it from an interdisciplinary perspective.