Immortalare l’immortale. La fotografia delle reliquie come strumento di costruzione della memoria collettiva

This article investigates the photographic representations of the relics linked to the Catholic cult by focusing on the photographic blog "All the saints you should know" by the American blogger Elizabeth Harper. The aim was to investigate, on the one hand, the different enunciation strategies used to immortalize the immortality of the relics and, on the other, the ability of these special forms of photographic representations to contribute to the construction of the collective memory linked to Catholic worship. The ultimate aim was to trace a possible modelling of the photographic representation methods of the relics in order to place the different shots in a continuum that goes from transparency (or complete visibility) to opacity (or complete concealment).L’articolo indaga sulle rappresentazioni fotografiche delle reliquie legate al culto cattolico e, concentrandosi sul caso del blog fotografico “All the saints you should know” della blogger americana Elizabeth Harper, nasce con l’intento di interrogarsi da un lato sulle diverse strategie enunciazionali utilizzate nell’immortalare l’immortalità delle reliquie stesse e, dall’altro lato, sulla capacità di queste particolarissime forme di rappresentazione fotografica di contribuire alla costruzione della memoria collettiva legata al culto cattolico. L’obiettivo di questa ricerca è quello di tracciare una possibile modellizzazione delle modalità di rappresentazione fotografica delle reliquie con l’obiettivo finale di collocare i diversi scatti in un continuum che vada dalla trasparenza (o completa visibilità) all’opacità (o completo nascondimento), senza tralasciare alcune interessanti posizioni intermedie

Dall’inspired by Africa al made in Africa: l’afro-couture vista da occidente

Vestimentary choices are vehicles of identity because they create (and influence) the mechanisms of self-representation. When such choices acquire a global dimension, both the will to represent (intentio autoris) and the will to represent oneself (intentio lectoris) take on a central role in the daily discourse of fashion by drawing from the wardrobe of an "other" culture. The case of the so-called “African Fashion" is illustrative in this sense and allows us to question the concepts of "colonialism" and "coloniality" by observing how, over the years, the two terms have been central in generating both a western perception and a western esthetic of Afro-couture.

Questioni di santità: prospettive semiotiche su Dante

Il numero raccoglie interventi di letteratura e di semiotica dantesca con lo scopo di scambiare idee, presentando lo stato dell’arte delle diverse discipline e facendo dialogare diversi studiosi. Una seconda intenzione è riproporre la riflessione su Dante alla semiotica di oggi, profondamente cambiata rispetto agli anni Settanta, Ottanta e Novanta del Novecento, quando i massimi esponenti della disciplina si sono occupati della Commedia. Allo stesso tempo, i semiotici intendono offrire nuovi stimoli all’interpretazione dantesca corrente.In 2021, the 700th anniversary of Dante's death is celebrated in Italy and around the world. This issue of Ocula pays homage to the Poet by renovating the rich tradition of semiotic studies devoted to his work and stimulating new reflections and directions of research. Indeed, the focus of this issue is the theme of holiness in Dante and its contemporary reception. We intend to promote and continue the dialogue between semiotics and literary and historical studies, following the example of the works by Maria Corti, Cesare Segre and D’Arco Silvio Avalle, which remain milestones in terms of the transdisciplinary approach and methodological cross-fertilization. We also recall the fundamental works by Umberto Eco on Abulafia which opened a perspective on the themes related to Jewish mysticism in Dante's work (Debenedetti Stow). Holiness represents an important part in the universe of the Comedy: not only do the saints populate Paradise, but we find a large number of miracles, hagiographies and self-hagiographies, references to intercession, and prayers also in Inferno and Purgatorio. Here the research topics we propose: - symbols of holiness, especially in Paradise; - the biography of the saint as a model for different forms of life (Fontanille); - representations of holiness (e.g. Benedictine, Franciscan, Dominican); - the language and rhetoric of holiness; - the importance of the Comedy in defining the Christian image of holiness; - the Comedy in the magisterium of the contemporary Church (for example the recent Apostolic Letter Candor Lucis Aeternae by Pope Francis); The idea for this issue of Ocula was born within the ERC project NeMoSanctI (New Models of Sanctity in Italy (1960s-2000s) - A Semiotic Analysis of Norms, Causes of Saints, Hagiography, and Narratives. University of Turin - principal investigator Prof. Jenny Ponzo