Visiting scholar

FLAVIA FULCO

Assistant Professor at Tohoku University in the International Institute of Disaster Science (Japan)

The focus of my research is on Cultural Memory of Disasters. Since 2011 I have been based in Japan where I conducted research on the practices of memory transmission in the aftermath of the Great East Japan Earthquake, more specifically focusing on how the experiences of the disaster are told and transmitted. During my visiting at the University of Catania (April 2021/May 2022), I will look at some Italian disaster experiences to analyze how the cultural memory was established, kept, and transmitted, focusing on the role that storytelling has in the process. Meanwhile, I will also take part in the interdepartmental project "Reverse. Responsible research, VERSatile Knowledge, Enviromental futures in action (Piano PIACERI 2020-2022) - coordinated  by Prof. Mara Benadusi

KATIANA LE MENTEC

Researcher in Anthropology
French National Center for Scientific Research (China, Korea, Japan Unit)

For the last sixteen years I have been doing research in the old sichuanese area, in West China. I mainly undertook fieldwork in two counties affected by severe territorial upheavals: the Three Gorges Dam reservoir formation and the Wenchuan earthquake. During my stay at the University of Catania, I will first finalise a book on religious and cultural tools (including legend, festival, heritage and museum) seized by the population and the local government to make sense, interpret (from praise or criticism), and deal with the forced migration induced by the Dam in Yunyang County. During the second semester, I will engage in a new research project on affected spaces and territorial upheavals focusing on their effects on the multifaceted relationships between a space and the people feeling related to it. The first focus will be on a theoretical reflection relying on the concept of anthropotopia. It will be based on first hand data from China and Sicily (in particular people living in Catania – including the Chinese community) as well as on second hand data from other cultural areas. At the department, I will work with Mara Benadusi and join the project she is coordinating (REsponsible research, VERSatile knowledge, Environmental futures in action). With Mara, Paolo Militello and Flavia Fulco, I will also participate to a collaborative project involving master students, on the topic of destroyed and relocated sites. This will allow me to develop a comparative reflection between Chinese and Sicilian data.