Colloquium
at Villa Vigoni: German-Italian Relations after a Decade of European Crises
From 7 to
9 October, the colloquium "E la nave va? Perspectives on Germany, Italy
and the European Union after a decade of crises" took place at Villa
Vigoni on Lake Como. Our team was actively represented there. The doctoral
students Nils Sartorius and Lukas Brenner presented research projects dealing
with media representations of images of nations (Nils Sartorius) and of right-wing
populist parties in the European Parliament (Lukas Brenner & Nils
Sartorius). Mohamed Salhi, who is working on a doctoral thesis on discursive
narratives of the radical right in times of crisis, discussed initial results
of his work with a focus on Italy and Germany. The post-doctoral researchers
Baastian Bruinsma and Benedikt Bender each chaired a panel on questions of the
influence of the Covid pandemic on the behaviour of Germany and Italy in the EU
(Bastiaan Bruinsma) and on differences in socio-economic attitudes of Europeans
with a special focus on Germany and Italy (Benedikt Bender). The event was
initiated by Simona Piattoni (University of Trento), Luca Verzichelli
(University of Siena), Ton Notermans (Tallinn University of Technology) and
Claudius Wagemann (Goethe University Frankfurt am Main). The international and
interdisciplinary composition of the participants was also reflected in the
research contributions and debates in an explicitly productive way. We were
particularly pleased with the much-appreciated contributions of the student
assistants Alexander Mathewes and Nikolaus Freimuth who travelled with us. For
many of the participants, the conference was the first coming together after a
long academic conference break. The wonderful ambience of Villa Vigoni made
this 'reunion' in late summer temperatures a particularly pleasant experience,
which provided us all with a lot of energy for the start of the semester. A presto, Villa Vigoni!
