Unlearn

Part of the series
Race, Migration, Italy

Unlearn
Racialization and Italian Identity in Italy and the Italian Diaspora

A conversation with
Zoe Map, creator of Unlearn
Kristal Trotter, founder of Accento World

In ENGLISH

How do both Italians of multiple backgrounds and members of the Italian diaspora consider their place in the world, their various identities, and how they relate to one another? The UNLEARN series podcast, created by Zoe Map and produced in collaboration with Accento World, seeks to answer this question through a visual podcast. Each episode features a series of discussions with Italians of different backgrounds on topics like racialization in Italy and abroad, emigration from Italy and immigration to Italy, Italian colonialism, and, most recently, Italian fashion.

After a screening of excerpts from the UNLEARN series podcast featuring various guests, Zoe Map and Kristal Trotter, founder of Accento World, will talk about their experiences engaging in conversations about Italian identity within the context of the podcast. They will discuss how they make academic knowledge and information accessible to a broader public, what kinds of challenges and resistances they’ve faced in their work, and how Italians and others unlearn old narratives and create space for new ones while taking accountability.

Bios:

Zoe Map is an Italian multi-award winning artist based between Italy and New York City. Producer, director and editor, for the past sixteen years Zoe has worn many hats, from art curator, performer, to documentary filmmaker and music video director. Now, for her latest endeavor, she has taken on the role of producer of her own visual podcast series, UNLEARN in partnership with Accento World.

Kristal Trotter is an Afro-Italian writer based in North Carolina, and the founder of Accento World, an online platform that focuses on Italian diaspora through a global lens. Accento World is unexpectedly unpacking our individual humanity, and has become a bridge between institutions and the creatives whose content can enhance the learning experience of Italian culture in the classroom.

Race, Migration, Italy is a series of events (book discussions, theatrical performances, film screenings, lectures) sponsored by Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimò in collaboration with NYU’s Department of Italian Studies. It aims to promote conversations on the intersections of race and migration in Italy and in Italian diasporic communities. moment. Conceived in connection with courses taught in the Department of Italian Studies, Race, Migration, Italy revisits the format launched by Casa Italiana’s Virtual Salons: Discourses on Black Italia, held virtually during the pandemic, by bringing together artists and scholars in order to address questions about race and racialization across Italian history and multifaceted geography.