Thomas J Puleo - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Books by Thomas J Puleo

In this ﬁrst of the Franco Fasiolo Novels, we meet the eponymous forensic botanist who lives in a... more In this ﬁrst of the Franco Fasiolo Novels, we meet the eponymous forensic botanist who lives in a relict greenhouse in Furmentùn, a small village in the Italian Alps. We just catch him as he heads to Davos to give a speech at the World Economic Forum. Disdainful of automobiles and most other forms of transportation, and a great walker at heart, Franco sets out on foot, and clariﬁes his thoughts as he makes his way to the meeting. He has some encounters along the way that help him formulate his talk, and yet others that complicate the task. Eventually he arrives at the forum and makes his presentation, which receives a mix of reactions from his colleagues and new acquaintances. After the conference, Franco ﬁnds renewed inspiration and insight on his trip home, especially with a visit to a museum in Bolzano and then in a sudden and unexpected encounter on the road. Upon returning home, Franco ﬁnds the plants he lives with, particularly the beans, Phaseolus vulgaris, to be at the center of an intriguing occurrence, while his neighbor, Giovanna Squercia, ﬁlls him in on other happenings.

In this second book of the series, Franco is hired to research the origins of a Malvasia vineyard... more In this second book of the series, Franco is hired to research the origins of a Malvasia vineyard in northwestern Istria. Catia Piagenti joins him and the pair carries out its work by examining the vines that they ﬁnd on the property, moving from one parcel to another as they were planted over time. As they do, they ﬁnd that the vines reveal stories from the period in which they were planted, as well as those from previous periods that were passed down to them, including their origins in Greece and their long voyage to Istria. Initially expecting to write a routine report, Franco and Catia eventually ﬁnd themselves to be the recipients of a story that is at turns adventurous, funny and heartrending. Contained within a single ﬁeld, the investigative team uncovers a record of a long history of a single variety of the story’s true protagonist, Vitis vinifera. The insight they gain into the lives and histories of the vines instills in the partners a new empathy for them.

Franco Fasiolo lives in a relict and repurposed hothouse in the Italian Alps. As a plant expert h... more Franco Fasiolo lives in a relict and repurposed hothouse in the Italian Alps. As a plant expert he gets pulled into many situations across the Alpine Arc and around the Adriatic, and sometimes throughout the world, and thus has become a reluctant cosmopolitan. Some of his character traits fuel this reluctance while others push him past it. Reclusive and introverted by nature, almost to the point of misanthropy, he prefers to remain secluded in his greenhouse with his botanical companions. His devotion to plants, as well as his love for diﬀerent languages and cultures, however, spur a gregariousness and curiosity that ﬁnds fulﬁllment in his travels across geographical and social borders. In each story, he is called in to solve a problem that involves a plant. He is a botanical forensic scientist, but a somewhat unwilling one. While he solves plant-involved mysteries in places throughout the world, he must also tend to unruliness that arises at home among his many plant companions while he is away. Here is where he engages his fascination with plant social dynamics, with plant ecologies, which he views in terms usually associated with human collectives. Events inevitably bubble on the human social front, leaving Franco to deal with a number of relationships with others who he knows and encounters through his work and at his home.

Global in scope and transdisciplinary in method, this work examines the process through which loc... more Global in scope and transdisciplinary in method, this work examines the process through which local historic landscapes become global heritage sites. The Valtellina, a valley in the Italian Alps, is known for being unusually fertile for its elevation and latitude, and for the dry stone terraces on its steep hillsides that make this fertility possible. ProVinea, a local nonprofit, has applied to UNESCO to inscribe these landscapes onto its World Heritage list, representing the construction and use of the terraces as the heroic transformation of barren slopes into fertile fields. Drawing on Michel Serres’ theory of serial parasitism, this study demonstrates how ProVinea discursively and materially remakes the landscapes by culling the advantageous, eliminating the detrimental, and assembling the dispersed. A casualty of this process is a more complex and complete truth, one that this book aims to restore, while also acknowledging the validity of World Heritage’s efforts to build a global culture and ProVinea’s desire to connect to it.

Journal Issues by Thomas J Puleo

Geographical Review, Oct 2013

A catastrophe is a sudden upheaval. While the connotation of the original Greek word has always b... more A catastrophe is a sudden upheaval. While the connotation of the original Greek word has always been negative (κατά means “down”), later uses of the term have emphasized its revolutionary quality (στρέϕειν means “turn”), to describe, for example, a sudden twist in plot at the end of a play, one that was unsettling and transformative but not necessarily undesirable. Catastrophes therefore have often been understood as ambivalent in nature, particularly when an immediate destruction is viewed against an eventual recovery that developed over time. From this perspective, the sudden disruption of the order of the existing place seems horrible, but the establishment of a new order in the resulting place appears as a distinct turn for the better.

Journal Editorial Matter by Thomas J Puleo

Geographical Review, Oct 2013

A catastrophe is a sudden upheaval. While the connotation of the original

Journal Articles by Thomas J Puleo

This study examines the ways in which residents in the United States perceive Sicily as a tourist... more This study examines the ways in which residents in the United States perceive Sicily as a tourist destination based on representations of the island encountered through commercial cinema. Twelve participants viewed trailers or clips of twelve feature films and then rated their impressions of the people, places, activities, and moods of each piece. They then responded to an open-ended question about whether what they saw made them want to go to Sicily. Next, I reviewed each participant’s responses with them to investigate their perceptions further. I mix the findings of this process with insights gleaned from the literature on film-induced tourism as well as from analyses of the films themselves.

Environment and Planning A, Nov 2014

Abstract. Building upon discourses on trauma, art, and architecture, this work examines how the d... more Abstract. Building upon discourses on trauma, art, and architecture, this work examines how the design and construction of buildings mediate the cultural, social, and political changes that occur after a catastrophe. It takes as its case study the reconstruction of Sicily’s Val di Noto following an earthquake in 1693 and the role that the Baroque architectural style played in it. In this study, Sicilian Baroque building decoration emerges as a medium that facilitated the reconciliation of tensions that inhered among survivors of the earthquake and their social and material milieus.

Progress in Human Geography, Jan 23, 2014

The study investigates how the arts and humanities facilitate the recovery of places following ca... more The study investigates how the arts and humanities facilitate the recovery of places following catastrophe. It contends that personal engagements with humanistic activities enable place-making by helping to restore relations among mind, body, and environment at an individual scale while also producing forms that circulate to help reinstate place at collective scales. Evidence from research conducted in and on Haiti following its 2010 earthquake supports the argument.

Geoforum, Mar 1, 2013

The work of Michel Serres has received recent attention in geographic scholarship, particularly h... more The work of Michel Serres has received recent attention in geographic scholarship, particularly his concept of the parasite. In this article I use this model to investigate an area of geographic study that has remained until now unexamined under this lens: the production of heritage landscapes. Through an engagement with a case from the Valtellina, a valley in the Italian Alps, I demonstrate the logic of the parasite that is evident in the actions of a local nonprofit organization that narratively and materially analyzes (culls), paralyzes (eliminates), and catalyzes (combines) local agricultural terraces in an application to UNESCO’s World Heritage list. I do this by parasitizing the terraces and the application myself as I analyze, paralyze, and catalyze them to render a still partial but fuller representation of the valley’s historic terraced landscapes. Parasites are ambivalent agents, abusive in some ways but useful in others. Keywords: heritage; landscape; parasite; Michel Serres; UNESCO.

Geographical Review, Jan 1, 2010

Two earthquakes, nearly three centuries apart, provide the basis for an interpretation of events ... more Two earthquakes, nearly three centuries apart, provide the basis for an interpretation of events following the two tremors. After the 1693 earthquake, local inhabitants rebuilt their towns in a version of Baroque architecture that is unique to the region. After the 1990 quake, their descendents mounted a campaign to restore the crumbling landscapes, and then years later to unite in opposition against an oil company that threatened the newly restored sites. Michel Serres' theory of the parasite informs a reading of the earthquakes and the events that followed them as agents that disrupt the flow of relations among humans and the environment to produce hybridized landscapes and political alliances. In this way the Sicilian Baroque is both a style of architecture and a mode of social and political mobilization. Keywords: architecture, Baroque, earthquake, politics, Sicily.

Book Chapters by Thomas J Puleo

Italics Magazine , 2021

Something is happening to the stone pines of Rome, and Franco is asked to discover exactly what i... more Something is happening to the stone pines of Rome, and Franco is asked to discover exactly what it is.

Italics Magazine, 2021

Something is happening to the stone pines of Rome, Pinus pinea, and Franco is asked to discover e... more Something is happening to the stone pines of Rome, Pinus pinea, and Franco is asked to discover exactly what it is. On holiday in the city with Catia, Franco is reluctant to trouble his visit or delay his return home, so he initially dismisses the case as a police matter and politely declines the city’s request for help. Something that Giovanna tells him leads him to reconsider his decision, however, and Catia’s unplanned and sudden departure leaves him little choice but to agree to take on the project. He delivers his account in a series of reports to the Planning Department, a narrative that on its surface reveals a complex set of relations among a city, its humans and its plants, but also the thick skein of relations that have long existed between Franco and Giovanna, as well as those that are rapidly developing between him and Catia. Central to the report are the pine trees themselves, and their long and tangled history, both before and after their arrival in the Eternal City.

Italics Magazine , 2019

In this second novel of the series, Franco is hired to research the origins of a Malvasia vineyar... more In this second novel of the series, Franco is hired to research the origins of a Malvasia vineyard in northwestern Istria. Catia Piagenti joins him on the job, and the pair carries out its work by examining the vines that they find on the property, moving from one parcel to another as they were planted over time. As they do, they find that the vines reveal stories from the period in which they were planted, as well as from previous periods that were passed down to them, including their origins in Greece and their long voyage to Istria. Initially expecting to write a routine report, Franco and Catia instead find themselves to be the recipients of a story that is at turns adventurous, funny and heartbreaking. The investigative team finds, contained within a single field, the record of a long history of a single variety of the novel’s true protagonist, Vitis vinifera, and the insight they gain into the lives and histories of the vines instills in the partners a new empathy for them, for the place in which they are grown, and for the humans who cultivated them.

Italics Magazine , 2019

Italics Magazine, 2019

Italics Magazine , 2019

Geographical Review, Oct 2013

A catastrophe is a sudden upheaval. While the connotation of the original

Environment and Planning A, Nov 2014

Progress in Human Geography, Jan 23, 2014

Geoforum, Mar 1, 2013

Geographical Review, Jan 1, 2010

Italics Magazine , 2021

Italics Magazine, 2021

Italics Magazine , 2019

Italics Magazine, 2019

Italics Magazine , 2019

In this first of the Franco Fasiolo Novels, we meet the eponymous forensic botanist who lives in ... more In this first of the Franco Fasiolo Novels, we meet the eponymous forensic botanist who lives in a relict greenhouse in Furmentùn, a small village in the Italian Alps. We just catch him as he heads to Davos, Switzerland, to give a speech at the World Economic Forum. Disdainful of automobiles and most other forms of transportation, and a great walker at heart, Franco sets out on foot, planning to clarify his thoughts as he makes his way to the meeting. He has some encounters along the way that help him formulate his talk, and yet others that complicate the task. Eventually he arrives at the forum and makes his presentation, which receives a mix of reactions. Leaving the conference behind him, he finds renewed inspiration and insight on this trip home, especially with a visit to a museum in Bolzano. While Franco is away, the plants he lives with set an intriguing set of circumstances for his return, after which a neighbor fills him in on other happenings.

Italics Magazine , 2019

Modern Subjetivities and World Society: Global Structures and Local Practices, 2018

Recent scholarship reveals that plants exhibit qualities that are analogous to those possessed by... more Recent scholarship reveals that plants exhibit qualities that are analogous to those possessed by humans and other animals, and sometimes argues that they should be regarded not as property but as agents, and in some cases granted personhood. This chapter explores this argument within the relation between modern subjectivities and world society. It starts by engaging discourses on subjectivity and personhood, first generally and then with regard to nonhuman beings, specifically primates who are used as objects in scientific research. It then outlines a conception of world society that includes nonhuman subjectivity within it. It next shifts attention to plants to examine a comparable reasoning, relying on studies of plant ontology and ecology to inform a substitution of plants for animals in a global system of social relations. The chapter finds that claims for plant subjectivity and personhood have merit, and remain valid on the global scale, especially within the contours and exigencies of the Anthropocene, the emerging geological era that calls for a reformation of human– environment relations. It concludes that a reanimated understanding of plants as subjects and persons calls for a model of world society that is universally inclusive, extending beyond conceptualizations of the social that are exclusively human.

Percorsi di Geografia: Tra Cultura, Società e Turismo, 2011

Enduring Questions, World Geography Database, Nov 2011

The Wiley-Blackwell Encyclopedia of Globalization, Mar 27, 2012

Landscapes are assemblages of objects and spaces arrayed on the surface of the earth. As influe... more Landscapes are assemblages of objects and
spaces arrayed on the surface of the earth. As
influenced by Dutch landscape painters of the
sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the term
came to mean the scenic aspect of an area,
particularly as it was viewed from a single
vantage point. In a global context, landscapes
are the material and symbolic sites of agglomerated
economic, political, social, cultural, and
environmental phenomena that functionally
and symbolically mediate global processes.

The Wiley-Blackwell Encyclopedia of Globalization, Mar 27, 2012

Place is a specific engagement with space.Where space is general, place is particular. Where spa... more Place is a specific engagement with space.Where
space is general, place is particular. Where space
is objective, place is subjective. Where space is
abstract, place is experienced. Place is material
and cognitive. Old places are remembered and
new places are imagined even as they occupy
the same space as the present place. Place, real
and imagined, exists at multiple scales, including
the globe, the nation, the city, the body, and
all points beyond or in between. The world is a
place, as is Mars, ancient Rome, Camelot, or
one’s backyard.

The Wiley-Blackwell Encyclopedia of Globalization, Mar 27, 2012

Space is one of the two fundamental dimensions of reality, the other being time. As a concept i... more Space is one of the two fundamental dimensions
of reality, the other being time. As a
concept in global studies, space informs discourses
on the changing scalar contexts and
locational conditions of a wide range of economic,
political, social, cultural, and environmental
phenomena. Although the idea of
space is universally applicable, some disciplines
have long put space at the center of their
field of study, most notably architecture, art,
geography, geometry, philosophy, planning,
and topology.

In this paper, I discuss to what extent plants can and should be considered as persons, in philos... more In this paper, I discuss to what extent plants can and should be considered as persons, in philosophical as well as physiological terms. My aim is similar to that of animal activists who claim a parallel status for nonhuman creatures, particularly primates and other mammals. I first outline conceptual understandings and practiced engagements with personhood, as derived from work in the arts and humanities, and the social and natural sciences, as well as from pieces in popular, industrial and professional media publications. I then draw upon the research of plant scientists, scholars and advocates to assess and ultimately argue in favor of plants being granted a form of personhood. I conclude my intervention by raising a number of ethical and legal issues that such a radical shift in thinking and acting would elicit for members of modern industrialized societies, and provide some possible solutions that would necessarily be both metaphysical and practical in nature. My overall purpose is to present an enhanced understanding of place by blurring the line between the categories of habitant and habitat, and to highlight new insights into the nature of plants, the most populous and critical consumers of water on the planet, and the hardiest and most productive agents of climate, in an effort to view them less as resources to be exploited and more as fellow creatures to be understood, accommodated and respected.

Geographical Review, 2013

Italics Magazine , 2021

Let’s start this discussion with one salient fact: I speak Italian better than Stanley Tucci does... more Let’s start this discussion with one salient fact: I speak Italian better than Stanley Tucci does, and he spent summers in Tuscany when he was a kid, which is not something that I did.

Italics Magazine , 2021

Every once in a while a controversy will arise that inflames the sensibilities of some Italian Am... more Every once in a while a controversy will arise that inflames the sensibilities of some Italian Americans. Maybe it is a threat to remove a Christopher Columbus statue from a public location. Maybe it is an engagement with the Super Mario Brothers characters or another macaronic figure. Maybe it is a reference to a mafia type, the kind that constantly tries to loosen his stiff neck while saying ‘dese’ and ‘dose’ and other words that owe more to the dialects of the eastern seaboard than to one found in Italy. “We are not like that,” Italian American advocates cry. “Why are we the only ones who can still be caricatured while all other forms of ethnic stereotyping have long since been eradicated from the media?”

Italics Magazine , 2021

Farinata is a kind of chickpea pancake or frittata that you can find in Genova. You can find some... more Farinata is a kind of chickpea pancake or frittata that you can find in Genova. You can find something very similar in Palermo, where they are called ‘panelle’. Essentially you are talking about chickpeas that have been dried and ground into flour, which is then mixed with water and salt to form a batter, which is then baked or fried to make a flat, thin, nutty and wholesome slice of deliciousness. Whichever place you are in or whichever form you encounter, you will most likely have it served between the top and bottom of a sliced roll as a kind of sandwich, but they are highly versatile and can be served in a number of ways.

Italics Magazine , 2021

Congratulations! It is always good to win and God knows Italy can use a check in this column, no ... more Congratulations! It is always good to win and God knows Italy can use a check in this column, no matter how they get it, but as things stand, a win in the Eurovision contest is about as good as it gets. I mean, there are other ‘wins’ that would be more important: an end to the pandemic, a strengthening and diversifying economy, a cleaner and healthier environment, a rising fertility rate, a reduction in poverty and an expansion of the middle class, an overall more equitable distribution of the goods and bads of a modern society, but you take whatever fate deals you.

Italics Magazine, 2021

Every so often a phrase will come into my head and I will play with it until it becomes something... more Every so often a phrase will come into my head and I will play with it until it becomes something real, call it a theory in search of a case study, an idea in search of evidence that it does exist as something real and is not just a figment of my imagination. One such phrase, the ‘comity of commerce’ came into my head one day while I was in Haiti, trying to formulate what might be needed to restore that beautiful country to a more functional state following its devastating earthquake in 2010. While I was there I did see evidence that this socio-economic pairing was starting to appear in instantiations here and there — a shoe vendor with his wares spread out beneath a tree, a water seller with a basket of bags balanced atop her head as she worked her route — bursts of activity that appeared like poppies springing up within a field or butterflies flitting over a meadow — as those remarkable people took the first steps toward recovery, reweaving an economy from an ecology that had been torn and scattered by a major event of nature.

Italics Magazine , 2021

I cannot tell you how many times I have descended onto one of the platforms at Milano Centrale, a... more I cannot tell you how many times I have descended onto one of the platforms at Milano Centrale, always stiff, hungry and dehydrated from a long journey, typically returning from a trip to the Alps or, at times, on the outbound leg of a round trip between the mountains and the city, passing by the glorious lakes somewhere in the middle, and always with some luggage in hand or slung over my shoulder: a big pack or maybe just a small backpack, often a carryon that had a shoulder strap and could also be converted into a backpack. In fact, this was my usual piece of luggage for many trips, taking me from the thin air of a small agricultural village in the Valtellina, past Lago di Como that shimmered blue in the sunlight, into the industrial hinterland of Milano, and then into the heart of the city itself, the sight of the series of canopies that marks the station entry and departure point more resonant for me than even the smooth stone glory of the station itself, the grandest instantiation of that curious strong suit of Italian fascism, its architecture. This scene, this arrival, is carved into my mind and, after so many iterations, even into my body, the muscle memory of my shoulder tensing against the ghostly weight of the strap whenever I recreate the scene in my mind.

Italics Magazine , 2021

What would happen if Italy were sawed off from Europe, plucked from the Mediterranean, and then g... more What would happen if Italy were sawed off from Europe, plucked from the Mediterranean, and then gently set down in the middle of the Atlantic, like a savoiardo floated onto a bowl of warm, freshly whipped zabaglione, albeit one with a jagged bulb on one end and a pointy kink at the other, not to mention a couple of big chunks of broken bits and many smaller ones that got caught up in the transfer, and a zabaglione that was a bit on the cool, salty and tempestuous side? Well, I will tell you, at least as I imagine it in one rendering.

Italics Magazine, 2021

If you are a bear, you are probably better off living in the Italian part of the Alps as opposed ... more If you are a bear, you are probably better off living in the Italian part of the Alps as opposed to any other part. Why? Is it because Italians are so kind hearted? No. Cowardly? Certainly not. Animal lovers? No, not necessarily — God help you if you are a pig. No, the reason seems to be, conservation biologists aver, is that Italians do not care about you, and they mean this in the best possible way, so not in the sense of negligence, but in the sense of indifference.

Italics Magazine , 2021

It was one of those dark and woody places that are perfect on a cold night in the mountains. I ha... more It was one of those dark and woody places that are perfect on a cold night in the mountains. I had arrived that day to start a research project and was starving. The woman at the hotel where I was staying had recommended it. She was beautiful in the way that only Italian women can be, possessing a certain quality that although intangible is unmistakable when you see it; no, not when you see it, when you are embraced by it, by its radiant electricity that stops your heart once it ebbs over you and through you.

Italics Magazine , 2021

Conservation biologists are developing a theory that expands the role that predators play in a pl... more Conservation biologists are developing a theory that expands the role that predators play in a place’s ecology. They have hypothesized, and have demonstrated fairly convincingly, that predators influence the growth of a prey species not only by eating them, but also by striking fear into their gentle hearts. For example, in one region of Mozambique most of the large predators — let’s say lions and other big felines but also wild dogs and hyenas — were killed or driven away by a recent war. This led to a rapid increase in the population of marsh bucks, a kind of ungulate, who in addition to growing in number also extended their habitat, taking over territory that in the past had been inhabited by other species of prey animals. To solve the problem of too many marsh bucks, at least from the standpoint of conservation biology, ecologists decided to reintroduce a pack of wild dogs who would prey on the marsh bucks and thus keep their population in control. What the ecologists discovered, however, was that the introduction of the wild dogs had an effect on the marsh bucks that went beyond the simple effect of killing and consuming them.

Italics Magazine , 2021

I wrote this piece about a year ago but never did anything with it. I stumbled upon it while watc... more I wrote this piece about a year ago but never did anything with it. I stumbled upon it while watching the hearings on the nomination of Amy Coney Barrett to be a justice on the United States Supreme Court, and found it to be relevant to some of the topics that invigorated those hearings. I present it here as perhaps containing some useful insights into Italian life, animated as it is to a strong degree by the Catholic Church and Catholicism as a culture and doctrine.

Italics Magazine, 2021

I recently had an exchange on Twitter with one of my few mutual followers. I had retweeted a post... more I recently had an exchange on Twitter with one of my few mutual followers. I had retweeted a post from Rai Cultura that contained a quote from the French poet, Paul Valéry, which had been rendered into Italian: Bisogna chiamare scienza solo l’insieme delle ricette che riescono sempre, tutto il resto è letteratura, along with an English translation: We must call science only the set of recipes that always succeed, everything else is literature. food

Italics Magazine , 2020

Italians, and by that I mean both Italians from Italy and Italian Americans from the United State... more Italians, and by that I mean both Italians from Italy and Italian Americans from the United States, are stock characters in American film and TV. They are easy to recognize and gaining a familiarity with them is both edifying and entertaining. Let’s take a look at how they have developed over the years.

Italics Magazine, 2020

One of the joys of a return home after a long absence is the opportunity to revisit the places wh... more One of the joys of a return home after a long absence is the opportunity to revisit the places where you grew up. Home, if you are lucky enough to still have access to it, is probably the strongest one. School, which is more likely to be available, is a close second. In my case, that school has taken on a local meaning that did not exist when I was a student there, at least as far as I knew. It was a school attached to a church, the common configuration of parochial schools in the United States; that is, Catholic schools that serve a particular parish.

Italics Magazine , 2020

“Why do carabinieri always work in two? One reads and the other writes.” It is an old joke, one ... more “Why do carabinieri always work in two? One reads and the other writes.”

It is an old joke, one that is ensconced in an even older tradition of gentle anti-authoritarian, and specifically anti-police, humor and sentiment that is universal. But to be honest, I admire the men and women in uniform who serve and protect us. So I was flattered and delighted to have had an interesting encounter with two such public servants, and I shall recount it here. When? Not too long ago. Where? In a small village outside of a small town in the middle of Italy. If you look sideways and say my name, you will get it.

Italics Magazine , 2020

I once asked a group of university students what they thought of the Mona Lisa, the portrait that... more I once asked a group of university students what they thought of the Mona Lisa, the portrait that was painted by Leonardo da Vinci and is more formally and properly known as La Gioconda. I was teaching a class on Unesco World Heritage and I wanted their opinion on the idea of establishing a global standard of beauty. Was the Mona Lisa, the painting not necessarily the subject of it, beautiful? Did it deserve the world wide acclaim it enjoys?

Italics Magazine , 2020

We can say that Italian cemeteries are of one of two kinds, town or country, or maybe a combinati... more We can say that Italian cemeteries are of one of two kinds, town or country, or maybe a combination of the two, who knows. Every classificatory scheme runs the risk of distorting the truth as much as it promises to clarify it.

Italics Magazine , 2020

Leonardo Da Vinci made these notes while making an exploratory journey through the Valtellina for... more Leonardo Da Vinci made these notes while making an exploratory journey through the Valtellina for the Duchy of Milan, where he was the chief artist and engineer under the Sforzas from 1482-1499. I find them remarkable for their casual and random inclusiveness, touching as they do on livestock, milk, eggs, fish, butter and salt as well as on wine, for which the Valtellina is perhaps best known today, apart from skiing. Admittedly, Leonardo made these observations before the arrival of the Grisons, who greatly expanded wine production in the valley, but they still attest to the heterogeneity of places that are often thought of in simplifying terms. Even in a relatively modern frame of reference, who thinks of the Valtellina as the site of the world’s first electrified railway, designed by a Hungarian engineer in 1902, and supplied with current by an elaborate system of hydroelectric dams, if they think about it at all? The Valtellina, like all places, is more complex than common understandings of it, and a little digging in the collections of local libraries yields high rewards.

Italics Magazine , 2020

It might seem that the ocean and the desert present radically different challenges for people see... more It might seem that the ocean and the desert present radically different challenges for people seeking to cross them given their radically different materialities: all liquid in the first case, all earth in the second. Think of the Mediterranean Sea as an example of the first type, and the Sonoran Desert as an example of the second. In fact, they are remarkably similar despite their dissimilarity, particularly in the effects they have on persons seeking to cross them. Let’s take a look at a few of those and how they are implicated in the problem of forced and irregular migration.

Italics Magazine , 2020

Italians of the Bay Area is a new series in Italics Magazine that features interviews with Italia... more Italians of the Bay Area is a new series in Italics Magazine that features interviews with Italians living in California as well as with Californians of Italian descent, by columnist Thomas J. Puleo. For our first interview, we spoke with Judith Branzburg. Her first visit to Italy was for study purposes, but she remained for three years. Today, she has an Italian family.