The Italian Academy for Advanced Studies in America
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COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY The Italian Academy for Advanced Studies in America Annual Report 2014–2015 | b The Mission of The Italian acadeMy Founded in 1991 on the basis of an agreement between Columbia University and the Republic of Italy, the Academy sponsors advanced research in all areas relating to Italian history, science, and society; presents distinguished examples of Italian culture and art; and promotes academic, cultural and scientific exchange at the highest level. abouT The acadeMy At the core of the Italian Academy’s work lies its Fellowship Program. Fellowships are open to scholars at the postdoctoral level who wish to devote a semester or a full academic year to innovative work in any field relating to culture, cultural memory, and the relations between culture, the sciences, and the social sciences. Fellows are chosen by a jury of experts in the relevant fields. The most advanced part of the Fellowship Program is the Academy’s ongoing Humanities and Neuroscience Project, in which scholars in both the humanities and the sciences work together in assessing the significance of the latest developments in genetics and the neurosciences for the humanities – and vice versa. The Academy also serves as the chief reference point in the United States for all links between the worlds of higher education in Italy and the United States. Thanks to its prestige and its location in New York, the Academy has become a critical site for meetings between distinguished members of the Italian and American business and political communities. Its theater, library, and other public spaces offer important locations for a variety of conferences, concerts, films, and exhibitions. Funding for the Academy came from an endowment established at Columbia in 1991 by the Republic of Italy; since then, numerous foundations and private donors have provided other endowments and gifts. Columbia University The Italian Academy for Advanced Studies in America Annual Report 2014 –2015 New York 2015 conTenTs Governance of the Academy 6 Board of Guarantors 7 Senior Fellows 8 Staff 10 Director’s Report 11 Fellows’ Projects and Seminar Presentations 23 Public Events 28 Advanced Program of Ancient History and Art 34 Premio New York 36 Compagnia di San Paolo / Italian Academy Distinguished Visiting Professorship 38 Fellows’ Reports 41 Governance of Governance of The acadeMy The President of Columbia University serves as President of the Academy; the post of Honorary President is held by the Presi- dent of the Republic of Italy. The Chairman of the Board is the Provost of Columbia University. The Director is the Head of the Academy. The Board of Guarantors, comprised of distinguished representatives of Italian and American cultural, academic and business life, is selected by Columbia University and by the Government of Italy; it advises the Director on the management of the Academy. Honorary President of the Academy GiorGio NapolitaNo President of the Republic of Italy From February 2015: SerGio Mattarella President of the Republic of Italy President of the Academy lee C. Bollinger President of Columbia University, Seth Low Professor of the University Director of the Academy DaviD FreedberG Pierre Matisse Professor of the History of Art at Columbia University Chairman of the Board of Guarantors JohN h. CoatSworth Provost of Columbia University, Professor of International and Public Affairs and of History | 6 Board of Guarantors Mark AnderSoN Professor of German, Columbia University ClauDio BiSogniero Ambassador of Italy to the United States JoNathaN Cole Provost and Dean of Faculties Emeritus; John Mitchell Mason Professor of the Uni- versity, Columbia University ira katzNelSoN Ruggles Professor of Political Science and History, Columbia University Mark a. Mazower Ira D. Wallach Professor of History; Director, Heyman Center for the Humanities, Columbia University otto NauMann President, Otto Naumann, Ltd. kathariNa piStor Michael I. Sovern Professor of Law, Columbia University Umberto vattaNi President of Venice International University 7 | Senior Fellows QaiS al-awQati Jay Meltzer Professor of Nephrology and Hypertension, Robert F. Loeb Professor of Medicine and Professor of Physiology and Cellular Biophysics, Columbia University EnriCo arBarello Ordinario di Geometria, Sapienza – Università di Roma riCharD axel Nobel Laureate and University Professor, Columbia University teoDolinda BaroliNi Da Ponte Professor of Italian, Columbia University liNa BolzoNi Ordinario di Letteratura Italiana, Scuola Normale Superiore, Pisa Maria luiSa CatoNi Professor in Ancient Art History and Archaeology, IMT Institute for Advanced Studies Lucca viCtoria De Grazia Moore Collegiate Professor of History and Director of the Blinken European Institute, Columbia University paolo Galluzzi Direttore del Museo Galileo, Firenze Carlo GiNzBurG Ordinario di storia delle culture europee, Scuola Normale Superiore, Pisa Anthony GraFtoN Henry Putnam University Professor of History, Princeton University DeNiS hollier Professor of French at New York University eriC kandel Nobel Laureate and University Professor, Kavli Professor of Brain Science, Columbia University Francesco pellizzi Editor of Res and Research Associate in Middle American Ethnology at the Peabody Museum at Harvard University | 8 Edmund S. phelpS Nobel Laureate and McVickar Professor of Political Economy, Columbia University reNzo piaNo Renzo Piano Building Workshop, Genoa and Paris; Senatore a vita GiaCoMo rizzolatti Direttore del Dipartimento di Neuroscienze ed ordinario di Fisiologia, Università di Parma Salvatore SettiS Già Direttore della Scuola Normale Superiore ed ordinario di Storia dell’arte, Pisa horSt l. StörMer Nobel Laureate and I. I. Rabi Professor Emeritus of Physics, Professor Emeritus of Applied Physics, Columbia University NaDia urBiNati Kyriakos Tsakopoulos Professor of Political Theory and Hellenic Studies, Columbia University MariNa warNer, DBe Professor of English and Creative Writing at Birkbeck, University of London hoNorarY Fellow DaNiele BoDiNi Ambassador to the United Nations for the Republic of San Marino 9 | sTaff DaviD FreedberG Director Pierre Matisse Professor of the History of Art, Columbia University Achille C. varzi kareN DeGraffeNreiD Acting Academic Director Business Manager 2014–2015 NiCk BuoNincoNtri BarBara Faedda Operations Coordinator Acting Director 2014–2015 kira StoCkDale alliSoN JeffreY Administrative Coordinator Assistant Director riCk whitaker AbiGail Asher Theater Manager Communications and Development Officer STUDeNt aSSiSTANtS (PART-TIMe) Amarilys Bernacet Ellis Jeter Ariana Branchini Morgan Ashley Miller Nicolas Camacho (Graphic Designer, Spring) Maria Dimitropoulos Brandon Mitchell Sena Samerah Filsoofi Madeline Polanco (Graphic Designer, Fall) Ushma Thakrar Andrea Hazday Ione Wang | 10 direcTor’s reporT nce more the Academy hosted an outstanding group of Fellows. Areas of concentration were ones in which we have by now es- otablished a clear reputation for deep and innovative research: the humanities (especially history, archeology and the histories of art, architec- ture and music), the sciences (notably nanotechnology and neuroscience), and political science, philosophy, and social science (especially sociology and social theory). This year we had twenty-one Fellows. The quality of the over two hun- dred applications we received from candidates around the world was such that we could easily have taken more—had sufficient funds been available. Our Fellows’ contribution to their host laboratories is widely acknowledged throughout the University, and. As in the case of the other areas in which they work, they continue to make a substantial and positive impact on Columbia’s global reputation. Likewise, the high demand for our Fellows to speak at other institutions while they are in residence here testifies to the nationwide standing of our program. Three of our current Fellows have just been offered distinguished positions: at Grinnell College; at the Archaeo- logical Institute of America (as Kress Lecturer); and at the University of Bielefeld in Germany (as Niklas Luhmann Guest Professor) As always, the Academy is grateful to those departments and institutes which contribute to the funding of our Fellows. This year, Sarah Goler’s Fellowship was funded by the Columbia Center for Integrated Science and Engineering—Nanoscale Science and Engineering Center Program. Once more we are grateful to Prof. James Yardley, whose vision has helped us bring some of the greatest young nanotechnologists in the world to work at Columbia though the Academy’s Fellowship Program. Dr. Goler’s project may stand for what the Academy has sought to achieve in terms of genuine cross-disciplinary work: her research on the use of nanotechnology to date and explore ancient inks straddles several fields. Based at the Academy, she worked in a team consisting of Professors Yardley (at Columbia), Roger Bagnall (Director of NYU’s Institute for the Study of the Ancient World), and Alexis Hagadorn (head of the Conservation Lab at Columbia’s Butler Library); and she came to us from the Scuola Normale of Pisa (where she worked with another of our ex-Fellows, Vittorio Pellegrini). 11 | Professor Elena Esposito, from the University of Modena–Reggio Emilia, was co-sponsored by iNCITE, Columbia’s Interdisciplinary Center for Innova- tive Theory and Empirics. Once again we wish to thank Professor Peter Bear- man, Director of iNCITE, for helping bring Prof. Esposito to us. Over the years the Alexander Bodini Foundation has subsidized