Research
Research projects
FED - Feeding, Educating, Dieting
A Transnational Approach to Nutrition Discourses in Children’s Narratives (Britain and Italy, 1850-1900)
FED is a medical humanities Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions project developed by Doctor Anna Gasperini at Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, under the supervision of Professor Laura Tosi. It compares British and Italian representations of child mal/nutrition in children’s literature from the mid-to-late nineteenth and early-twentieth century, reading them against child nutrition advice and children’s food recipes appearing in popular child health texts and cookbooks. The analysis reveals how underlying class, gender, and cultural assumptions about the relationship between children and food emerge in a strikingly similar way in the two geographical areas considered, both in terms of instructions provided to mothers and carers and of literary representations of child hunger and gluttony, moderation and feeding.
MadLand – Madness in Fairy Land
(Re)Imagining Deviance in the Age of Psychiatry 1820-1900
MadLand is a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions project developed by Dr Alessandro Cabiati at Ca’ Foscari University of Venice (Italy) and Brown University (USA) under the supervision of Professor Laura Tosi. This interdisciplinary, transnational study combines medical humanities and comparative literature to explore the connection between fairy tales and psychiatry in the 19th century. Comparing French, English, and North American texts, Cabiati examines representations of psychological deviance in children’s literature and medical texts to reveal connections, influences, and contrasts between them.
Children’s Literature and National Identities
Children’s Literature and National Identities [ITA] is a research group based at Ca’ Foscari University of Venice composed by Professor Emeritus Peter Hunt (Cardiff University) and Professor Laura Tosi (Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia). The group has developed comparative studies of nineteenth-century Italian and British children’s fantasy literature. The main object of research were Carlo Collodi’s Le avventure di Pinocchio and Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, which are studied in their role as core texts of the respective countries’ literary traditions, both form a national (that is, “local”) viewpoint that considers the two texts’ respective historical and literary contexts, and a transnational perspective, which considers those traits that are typical of fantasy literature and are able to transcend national boundaries. The research group also has focused on the comparative study of national stereotypes in British and Italian society, language, and culture, analysing the differences, but also the reciprocal interest that characterises the two nations and cultures. Tosi and Hunt’s work in this area culminated in the publication of the book As Fit as a Fish (Patrician Press, 2015). See “Publications” section for information about this text.
If you know about a children’s literature project being developed at an Italian institution, or a project about Italian children’s literature, do let us know! Send us an email at childrenslititaly@unive.it
Links and resources
Fondazione Tancredi di Barolo - MUSLI, Turin
The Tancredi di Barolo Foundation is a not-for-profit organization based in Turin (Piedmont, Italy) aimed at preserving, producing, and disseminating knowledge about the history of school and of the children’s book in Italy. Its initiatives take inspiration from the pedagogic charity work developed by the Marquis and Marchioness Barolo in the 19th century, part of which are realized through the MUSLI – Museo della Scuola e del Libro per l’Infanzia (the School and Children’s Book Museum). The Foundation’s Archive also represents a resource of immense importance for the Italian cultural patrimony, preserving a vast amount of rare and precious children’s books and schoolbooks in its rooms. Its collection started with a generous donation of materials made by the founders, Marilena and Pompeo Vagliani, in 2002, and currently includes exquisite specimens of core Italian and international children’s literature texts.
Contact: info@fondazionetancredidibarolo.it
Resources
- Watch the online exhibition “Books You Will ‘Eat with Your Eyes’ …”
- Watch the online exhibition “Libri da ‘mangiare con gli occhi’ …”
- Materials related to POP-APP 2021 [ITA] – International conference on interactive books and links to online exhibitions
- Materials on the Foundation’s activities related to the author Emilio Salgari [ITA]
Fondo Sergio Silva
This precious collection of picturebooks was donated to the school library of the I.C. Salvo d’Acquisto in Parma (Emilia Romagna, Italy) by Maurizio Silva, brother of lawyer and book collector Sergio Silva. The collection, which is preserved by volunteer staff with the support of the Fondazione Cariparma, consists of 900 picturebooks that have competed for the Graphic Prize of the Mostra Internazionale dell’illustrazione di Bologna [Bologna International Illustration Exhibition] between 1973 and 1983. It includes some of the best picturebook specimens produced during that decade in English, French, German, and it even includes a small, important selection of Persian texts. Significantly, some of the texts attest to former historical and geographical configurations of Europe: they are picturebooks from the German Democratic Republic, Yugoslavia, and the Czeck Republic.
Contact: info@fondosergiosilva.org
If you know about a resource, an event, or an organization that would fit into this section, do let us know! Send us an email at childrenslititaly@unive.it