Curriculum Vitae
Maria Pia Pozzato
Confirmed Associated Professor
Curriculum Vitae
Maria Pia Pozzato: Dipartimento di Filosofia e Comunicazione
[Department of Philosophy and Communication]; (before 2012
Dipartimento di Discipline della Comunicazione [Department of
Communication], Via Azzo Gardino 23, Bologna
Scientific group
M-FIL/05 Filosofia e Teoria dei linguaggi (Philosophy and theory
of languages)
Education
High school degree in classics, 4-year degree in Philosophy from
the University of Bologna, PhD in Semiotics (II cycle, University
of Bologna, advisor Prof. Umberto Eco).
Positions held at University
In 1995 Pozzato was appointed researcher at the University of
Bologna, Faculty of Letters and Humanities, and at the Institute of
the Discipline of Communication; after three years she was
confirmed; in July 2001 Pozzato won a competition of the II level
at the University of Bologna. She was promoted to Associate
Professor in the Department of Communication, January 1, 2002.
Three years later she was regularly appointed and since then has
been confirmed Associate Professor. Pozzato teaches in the
Science of Communication track of the three-year degree and
in the Semiotic Disciplines track in the two-year
specialization. She also teaches at the Higher School of
Journalism at the University of Bologna. From 2006 to 2009
Pozzato was President of the specialization degree in Semiotic
Disciplines, and coordinated the transition to the two-year
Magistrale degree in Semiotics, since October 2008.
Additional titles
Maria Pia Pozzato was president of the Italian Association of
Semiotic Studies (A.I.S.S.) from 2007 to 2009.
Areas of research
Since graduating in Philosophy summa cum lode and
publishing her thesis (advisor Prof. Umberto Eco), Pozzato has not
interrupted her collaboration with the University of Bologna,
participating in courses, seminars, conferences, and publishing her
first articles at the end of the 70's. After having become
researcher, Pozzato continued her role as didactic and scientific
collaborator in the chair of Umberto Eco. During this period,
Pozzato followed the developments of a debate that, throughout the
80's, integrated American and French approaches of semiotics. This
reflection was the subject of her doctoral research (1985 to 1989)
and culminated in her dissertation on the relations between
Lévi-Strauss structuralism, psychoanalytic theories of Self and
Merleau-Ponty phenomenology. Pozzato's philosophical interests have
resulted in two ulterior aspects of research: one dedicated to the
analysis of various manifestations of mass communication (televised
entertainment, advertising, journalism, fashion, popular
literature); and the other dedicated to the methodologies of
textual analyses and to the didactics of the discipline. Pozzato's
bibliography consists of more than one hundred titles, many
distributed among these three areas of research, which have never
been totally abandoned but rather cultivated in parallel and in
sync in her nearly three decades of research. The manual
Semiotica del testo. Metodi autori esempi [Semiotics of
text, methods, authors examples] (Roma, Carocci, 2001) has been
particularly popular in Italy (with various editions), at the
University of Bologna and in many other Italian universities, as a
basic text for the courses of applied semiotics.
As is demonstrated by her numerous publications, her
participation in seminars and conferences, and by the courses that
Maria Pia Pozzato teaches and has taught, she has concentrated her
research on the mechanisms of journalistic and television broadcast
communication (see Leader Oracoli Assassini [Leader
Oracles Assassins] 2003) both for what concerns verbal texts
and for what concerns the so-called info-graphics and photos. In
particular, following an initial impulse of one of her first
research projects on the communication of the war of Kosovo
(Linea a Belgrado. La comunicazione televisiva della guerra per
il Kosovo [Line to Belgrade. The television
communication of the war of Kosovo] 2000) she continued her
research on intercultural themes and conflict in the media. In
recent years, Pozzato has coordinated two research projects, one
entirely methodological that involved Valentina Pisanty (University
of Bergamo) and Guido Ferraro (University of Turin) on the
versatility of the semiotic method of the analysis of texts
(Variazioni semiotiche [Semiotic Variations], 2007);
and another on the new ‘visions' of realty that television series
offer to viewers, keeping in mind new technology and the new ways
of spreading media products (Mondi Seriali (Series
Worlds], 2008). Of a purely theoretical nature are two
articles on narrative models and on the definition of expression
(“Role and relevance of narrative models in current semiotics”
2007; and “Textual semiotics between immanence and manifestation.
Proposals on open-ended problems” (2007). As a participant in the
research Neuromathematics of visual cognition (see “Research
Grants” below) and as teacher of the course Semiotics of
Perception for the specialization, Pozzato reflected on the
relationships between semiotics, cognitive science and
phenomenology with a particular interest toward the problem of
enunciation at low levels (or pre-linguistic) of consciousness.
Pozzato recently carried out analyses of urban semiotics, for
example on the Island of Grado as a socio-semiotic entity and on
three churches that were built in the same neighborhood in Modena
(these articles, together with others regarding socio-semiotics,
are in the process of being published as a monograph by Bompiani,
with the title, Wedding photos and other essays (in Semiotic
studies, directed by Umberto Eco). Another recent publication of
Pozzato is Testi e memoria. Semiotica e costruzione politica dei
fatti [Texts and memories. Semiotic and political
construction of facts] (2010), a volume that she put
together for Il Mulino and in addition to editing it, she also
contributed an article on the role of the body in the political
leadership.
Research Grants
Pozzato was the director of a two-year 60% project entitled,
“Socio-semiotics of the literary text” in the academic years
2002-2003 and 2003-2004; in the academic year 2004-2005 she
obtained funding for a research project entitled: Passion in the
representation of intercultural conflicts. (Pozzato directed the
research and collaborated with two researchers, Giovanna Cosenza
and Cristina Demaria). Their research focused on investigating the
passion, sentiments and emotions that are emerging more often and
with stronger intensity in the narration of terrorist attacks,
wars, protests, actions by police, presentations and
self-representations of political leaders and of common men and
women.
In the 2006-2008 academic years Pozzato obtained funding for a
research project, lasting two years, on the socio-semiotics of
television series, in particular, as a continuation of her previous
research, on the modalities of manipulation/breaking of the human
body in American television series.
Pozzato has also participated in a research project funded by
the University of Bologna entitled The representation of the
Mediterranean, between memory and project. Stereotypes, new
political identities, semiotic constructions, a multi-year
research project with particular national and international
interest. The articles of the individuals associated with this
project have been published in 2011 with the title Effetto
Mediterraneo, eds. P. Violi and A.M. Lorusso. Pozzato's
contribution concentrates on the analysis of semiotic ethnography
on the island of Grado.
Pozzato has also participated in a research project entitled
Neuromathematics of visual cognition, a three-year strategic
plan of the University, begun in 2006, Coordinator for the
Department of Communication: Patrizia Violi, Coordinator of
project: Alessandro Sarti (DEIS, Department of Electronics,
Computer Sciences, and Systems).
Didactic Activity
Didactic activity during the last years:
academic year 2003-04: Semiotica del testo (Scienze della
Comunicazione) , Analisi del linguaggio giornalistico e
telegiornalistico (Scienze della Comunicazione),
Sociosemiotica, (Specialistica Discipline Semiotiche),
Semiotica (Scuola Superiore di Giornalismo)
academic year 2004-05: Semiotica del testo (Scienze della
Comunicazione) , Analisi del linguaggio giornalistico e
telegiornalistico (Scienze della Comunicazione),
Sociosemiotica, (Specialistica Discipline Semiotiche),
Semiotica (Scuola Superiore di Giornalismo)
academic year 2005-06: Semiotica II (Scienze della
Comunicazione), Analisi del linguaggio giornalistico e
telegiornalistico (Scienze della Comunicazione),
Sociosemiotica, (Specialistica Discipline Semiotiche),
Semiotica (Scuola Superiore di Giornalismo)
academic year 2006-07: Semiotica II (Scienze della
Comunicazione), Sociosemiotica (Specialistica Discipline
Semiotiche); serie di lezioni sulla Semantica strutturale al
dottorato di ricerca in Semiotica coordinato da Patrizia Violi.
academic year 2007-08: Semiotica II (Scienze della
Comunicazione); Sociosemiotica (Specialistica Discipline
Semiotiche); Semiotica e percezione (Specialistica
Discipline Semiotiche); Semiotica (Scuola Superiore di
Giornalismo).
academic year 2008-09: Semiotica II (Scienze
della Comunicazione); Metodologie di analisi dei testi (Magistrale
in Semiotica); Laboratorio formativo sulla
comunicazione efficace (Magistrale in Semiotica;
Laboratorio formativo sui modelli giovanili nei
media (Specialistica Discipline Semiotiche)
academic year 2009-10 Semiotica II (Scienze
della Comunicazione), Laboratorio formativo su sui
testi urbani (Laurea magistrale in semiotica), Metodologie
di analisi (Laurea Magistrale in
semiotica), Semiotica (Scuola superiore di
Giornalismo)
academic year 2010-11 Semiotica II /Scienze della
comunicazione), Laboratorio propedeutico all'analisi dei
testi (Magistrale Semiotica), Metodologie di analisi
(Magistrale Semiotica)
Academic activities
Pozzato, as chair of the degree, coordinated the project of a
new two-year Magistrale degree that was inaugurated in October
2008. She has also been on numerous commissions in Italy for
competitions of II level, PhD, and researcher.
Other related activities
As president of the Italian Association of Semiotic Studies,
Pozzato has been involved in the activities and work of various
Italian organizations that deal with semiotic activities. To this
end she worked on a total renovation of the Association's website
(www.associazionesemiotica.it) and she organized two international
conferences: one dedicated to Parole nell'aria. Sincretismo fra
musica e altri linguaggi [“ Words in the aria. The
syncretism between music and other languages”] in San Marino in
November 2008; and one in Bologna at the Department of
Communication, with the contribution of the Faculty of Letters and
Humanities and the research commission of the University, on
Politica 2.0. Memoria, Etica e nuove forme della
comunicazione politica [Politics 2.0 Memory, ethics,
and new forms of Political Communication], which convened more
than 40 Italian and foreign experts from October 23 to October 25
2009.
Conferences
Pozzato recently spoke at the following conferences:
“Il vestito degli altri” lecture on “Velature e svelamenti. Un
problema di semiotica delle culture”, Bologna-Rimini, 23-24th of
May 2002
“Nuove forme di narratività”, lecture on “Il caso di Cogne sui
media”, Urbino, 8-10th of July 2002
Tavola rotonda sulla didattica della semiotica al convegno AISS
“I testi esemplari”, Castiglioncello, 8-10th of November
2002
Lecture “La semiotica e il mistico” during the conference
“Segni, simboli e corpi nelle tradizioni mistiche dell'Oriente e
dell'Occidente”, San Marino, 3-5th of June 2002
Lecture on “Come guardare un seno nudo. Analisi di un racconto
di Calvino”, Castiglioncello 3rd of April 2003
Semiotics Fall School “Semiotica del visivo”, 22-25th of
September 2003, lecture on “Riflessioni sul semisimbolico. Attorno
a una crema Chanel”
“Didattica della semiotica” organised by prof. Giovanni Manetti,
February 2004, Università di Siena
Transversalité du sens. Recherche et confrontation de
modèles, Université Paris, VIII, Parigi 6-7th of May 2004,
lecture on “Les déformations des yeux comme figure de
l'intersubjectivité dans La coscienza di Zeno di I. Svevo
»
Post conflict cultures at Nottingham, 24-29th of June
2004, lecture on “The ‘Fallen' of Nassiriya: a National Ritual of
Mourning”
Remake-rework: sociosemiotica delle pratiche di
replicabilità, Urbino July 2004
Congress of the Società di Filosofia del linguaggio, La
semantica, Milano, September 2004, lecture on “La semantica
passionale. Un esperimento di sociosemiotica”
“Mutazioni audiovisive. Sociosemiotica, attualità e tendenze dei
linguaggi dei media”, organised by AISS and DAMS at
Imperia, 19-20th of September 2004
Organisation and participation to the Fall School of Semiotics
at San Marino on “La Sociosemiotica”, San Marino 2nd of
September – 1rst of October 2004
XXXII Convegno dell'Associazione Italiana Studi Semiotici
(Spoleto 29th october- 1rst of Novembre 2004), Il discorso della
salute
Il Dandy e i suoi spettri: eredità e proiezioni verso il
futuro. Dandies and their Spectres: Inheritances and
Projections into the Future , Roma, 5-6th of May 2005
Semiotica della fotografia, Urbino, July 2006
XXXIII congresso of the Associazione Italiana Studi Semiotici
(AISS) Semiotica della città, San Marino, October 2005
XXXIV convegno dell'Associazione Italiana Studi Semiotici
Semiotica e narratività, Cosenza, October 2006
Organisation of (with prof. Mario Lupano) and participation to
the congress Blurring landscapes. Sociosemiotica della vita
quotidiana, Rimini, June 2006.
Organisation of and participation to the congress Semiotica e
fiction, San Marino, June 2007.
Participation to the congress La semiotica di Jean-Marie
Floch, Urbino, luglio 2007
Participation to the Congress organised by the Internations
Association os Semiotics -IASS at Iamatra (Finland) June 2009
Participation to the Congress Forme e formalizzazioni,
organised by the Società di Filosofia del linguaggio, Cagliari,
September 2009
Organisation of and participation to the Congress Politica
2.0. Memoria, etica e nuove forme della comunicazione politica
(XXXVI national congress AISS), Bologna, October 2009
Participation to the workshop Espace et signification
Université Sorbonne, Paris, Mars 2010 with the lecture "Espace
sacré et bricolage"
Congress Tradurre: per una semiotica delle culture,
Urbino September 2010 with the lecture "Traduzione di luoghi"
Participation as a teacher to the International school of
Semiotics on "L'immaginario", Sozopol, Bulgary, September 2010
Participation to the National congress of the AISS Semiotica
delle fotografia, Rome, October 2010 with the lecture "Sulle
foto di matrimonio"
Participation to the Congress “Internaturality and Meaning”,
Urbino July 2011, with the paper “L'alta cucina come campo
tensivo fra natura e cultura”
Participation to the congress "Sur la signification musicale",
Univerité Catholique de Louvain and Royal Academy of Belgium, April
2-6 2013, with the paper "Three times Mildred Pierce: the role of
the music in the tv series"