The conference Ri-costruzione e responsabilità: un percorso attraverso le diversità e l’inclusione (Re-construction and Responsibility: An itinerary through diversities and inclusion) represents the concluding event of the five-year research project “Dive-in. Diversity and Inclusion”. The project, financed by the Ministry of University and Research, singled out our Institution as a Department of Excellence on the basis of a national competition.  

In dialogue with one of the key areas of Horizon 2020 (Inclusive, Innovative and Reflective Societies), we focused our research on linguistic, literary and cultural diversity in relation with inclusion and citizenship. ‘Text’ and ‘discourse’ are keys within the project. We examined textual sources of any type and communicative modality as well as of different periods and cultural areas as a way to better understand the present and its challenges. We did this across two lines: a diachronic one, aiming at using the linguistic-discursive-textual experiences of the past to address the concerns of contemporary societies; and a synchronic one, aiming at interpreting contemporary linguistic-discursive-textual experiences in order to shorten the distances and favour the understanding among different languages and cultures in an increasingly multicultural and multilingual society. 

The conference will provide us with an opportunity to bring our collective itinerary full circle, and will host international, high-profile speakers who will discuss the topics underpinning our research.