Pasolini, Poverty, and the Question of Degrowth (Décroissance/Decrescita)

A roundtable discussion with Ara Merjian, Gian Maria Annovi, Federica Di Blasio, Claudio Fogu, Shelleen Greene, Magdalena Blaisdell, and Lucia Re. Organized by the UCLA Departments of Italian and French, cosponsored by CERS.

Pier Paolo Pasolini; cropped. © Agenzia Grazia Neri. Reprinted with permission.

Wednesday, November 13, 2019
2:00 PM - 5:00 PM

236 Royce Hall

The enormous economic growth and wealth of northern European and western countries at the expense of southern ones has led to greatly uneven development in the modern and contemporary era. Great wealth and the seemingly endless production and accumulation of consumer goods in many developed nations of the North are mirrored by great poverty and deprivation in the South—including endemic hunger. This round table focuses on the idea of “degrowth” (décroissance), “poverty” and the “Southern question” in the work of the French theorist Serge Latouche (Farewell to Growth, 2009) and Italian theorists Franco Cassano (Southern Thought, 1996), Maurizio Pallante (La decrescita felice, 2011) and others, investigating in particular how Pier Paolo Pasolini’s films, literary works and critical interventions relate to them, and remain relevant in today’s world.

Cost : Free and open to the public. RSVP not required for admission.

Sponsor(s): Center for European and Russian Studies, French and Francophone Studies, Italian