Research into Italian cultures and Modern Languages awarded £1.8 million

The Arts and Humanities Research Council Research has awarded a £1.8 million grant to a project that will examine the development and influence of modern Italian cultures throughout the world.

Italian researchers at Warwick, Jennifer Burns and Loredana Polezzi, will be taking a central role in the research headed by the University of Bristol’s Professor Charles Burdett.

The research project will aim to set the precedent for future studies into modern languages hoping to emphasise linguistic and cultural interaction between differing nationalities.

Due to its history of migration, the Italian culture provides “an exceptionally rich example for any study of cultural and linguistic translation”, according to Professor Burdett.

Italian communities have been established all over the world from the UK to South America, thus ensuring a great deal of cultural variation for the researchers.

Warwick academics, alongside the Universities of Bristol, St Andrews and QMU, aim to assess the “linguistic and cultural translation” of these communities through publications and materials including journals, literature and photographs.

The creative responses of community groups living in bi-lingual or multi-lingual environments will also be examined to further understanding of cultural and linguistic interaction.

Overall, the project aims to identify the cultural associations formed by each Italian community in the various nations they’ve settled.

It will additionally seek to enhance public understanding of the role of modern languages and their cultures at both a localised and global scale.

Awarded by the AHRC under its Translating Cultures theme, the £1.8 million grant will also establish the project as a model for other languages to improve overall communications between varying cultures.

The results of the study will be shared in a series of books to be published, an online website and in a number of international conferences.