Call for Papers

NeMLA Italian Studies has a blind reader policy, and the editorial staff will erase the personal information from the copy sent for evaluation to each of the readers. We encourage submissions by graduate students and by established scholars of all ranks.

Volume XLVI (2026)

Culture, History, and Memory of the Italian Seventies [1970: Cultura, storia e memoria degli anni Settanta in Italia]

Deadline: June 15, 2025

Editors: Sergio Ferrarese (William & Mary) and Judith Tauber (Cornell University)

The 1970s have often been described in reductive terms, reflecting a narrative diffused by politicians and controversial judicial rulings, both of which profoundly influenced public perception of this decade. Of these descriptions, the term “Years of Lead” is the most well-known, but also the most limited in its scope. In reality, Italy’s “long 1968” featured a complex, multifaceted kaleidoscope of social contestation from which emerged vibrant countercultures, revolutionary ideas, and innovative methods of self-organization. The period witnessed worker and student protests, the rise of feminism, the roots of the Italian LGBTQ+ movement, social reform, conservative backlash, changes in sexual norms, and much more.

The social contestation of the 1970s has been (re)elaborated through objects of memory, particularly in innumerable representations in literature, cinema, television, and theater. Given rising scholarly interest in the Italian 1970s in recent years, this bilingual special issue aims to highlight recent research related to the contestation of ideas, structures, and existing norms in the late 1960s–early 1980s, as well as responses to and cultural representations of those events. Issues to be addressed include—but are not limited to—the following: What radical ideas, events, and processes from the 1970s remain understudied and/or little known, and what impact have they had? What shape did public, state, intellectual, and media responses to this social contestation take? How has this activism been retold, and how might we add to or challenge these narratives? What might we learn from the 1970s for today?

We aim to foster interdisciplinary and intercontinental dialogue among scholars, so contributions from various disciplines and countries are encouraged.

We invite you to submit proposals related to individuals, groups, movements and collectives seeking to enact radical social change in Italy during the late 1960s–early 1980s, including but not limited to:

  • Feminists, the Fronte Unitario Omosessuale Rivoluzionario Italiano (FUORI), the Fronte di Liberazione Omosessuale (FLO), the Brigate Saffo, the Realtà Lesbica, and others addressing gender/sexuality-related concerns, including transsexuality;
  • Operaisti, autonomi, and others involved in workers’ struggles;
  • Students involved in contestation;
  • Individuals engaged in countercultural creative pursuits, such as Radio Alice, Radio Sherwood, Puzz or Il Male, among many others;
  • Individuals involved in the lotta armata;
  • Anti-Fascists;
  • And other entities demanding and/or enacting radical social change not listed here, especially if they are understudied.

We seek contributions regarding:

  • The history of late 1960s-early 1980s social contestation in Italy;
  • The countercultures (ideas, organizational structures, texts, music, art…) of groups and movements involved;
  • Public, state, intellectual, and media responses to this contestation;
  • As well as narratives and cultural representations (cinema, television, literature, theater, art, music…) of this period’s protests.

We ask that articles directly address (even briefly in the conclusion) what lessons or ideas can be drawn from these experiences.

Please submit a title, a brief proposal in Italian or English consisting of original and unpublished research (200–300 words), and a short biography (max. 200 words) to editors Judith Tauber (jmt349@cornell.edu) and Sergio Ferrarese (sferrarese@wm.edu) by June 15, 2025. The outcome of the selection process will be communicated shortly thereafter. Authors of the selected proposals will be invited to submit full-length articles (approx. 5,000 words, not including endnotes or works cited) in Italian or English and formatted in MLA style by December 15, 2025. These articles will be double-blind peer-reviewed and, if accepted, included in the next special issue of NeMLA Italian Studies, Volume XLVI.