Beginning in Fall 2025, the Department of French and Italian (FRIT) at The Ohio State University is delighted to inaugurate a new Zoom-based lecture series titled New Directions in Italian Studies: Migration and Mobility. Curated and hosted by Assistant Professor of Italian, Dr. Qian Liu, this series will bring to campus—virtually—some of the most influential scholars, writers, and artists whose work is reshaping the landscape of Italian studies today.
At the heart of this initiative lies a commitment to exploring how themes of migration, diaspora, and cross-cultural exchange are redefining notions of Italian identity in the 20th and 21st century. The series responds to the broader transnational turn within the field—an intellectual shift that moves beyond the traditional nation-bound frameworks to examine Italy in a global context. For its inaugural season, the series proudly presents three compelling talks by distinguished guests: Giulia Riccò (University of Michigan), Gaoheng Zhang (University of British Columbia), and Ubah Cristina Ali Farah, the renowned Somali-Italian writer and activist.
Our second speaker will be Professor Gaoheng Zhang. His new book, Italian Dumplings and Chinese Pizzas: Transcultural Food Mobilities (Fordham, 2025), addresses China-Italy food cultures against the backdrops of two epoch- making socioeconomic processes. During the 1980s, Chinese cuisine became the first non-European food widely available in Italy, thanks to the widespread presence of Chinese eateries. Only American fast food, which established itself in Italy around the same time, enjoyed comparable popularity as a destination for Italian culinary tourism. Meanwhile, in the early 1990s, together with American hamburgers and fried chicken, the American food chain Pizza Hut’s pizzas and spaghetti were the first non-Asian foods that post-Mao Chinese customers recognized as “Western.” The book proposes a critical framework that analyzes transcultural food mobilities by seriously assessing the confluence of diverse mobilities and their impact on food cultures. Ultimately, the study shows that a sophisticated interpretation of transcultural food mobilities can help address alterity and build understanding in a world of increasing political and cultural polarization. We will discuss this book and Professor Gaoheng Zhang's research more broadly and invite you to be part of the conversation.
Gaoheng Zhang is Associate Professor of Italian Studies at the University of British Columbia. His recent books include three monographs, Italian Dumplings and Chinese Pizzas: Transcultural Food Mobilities (Fordham, 2025), Fashion Communications Between Italy and China: Unfolding a Sartorial Relationship (Bloomsbury, 2025), and Migration and the Media: Debating Chinese Migration to Italy, 1992–2012 (Toronto, 2019), and a co-edited volume, Cultural Mobilities Between China and Italy (Palgrave Macmillan, 2024).
In 2024, a generous gift from the family of Italian Professor Albert Mancini helped to create the Mancini Fund, which promotes and facilitates lecture series and experiences for Italian language, literature, and culture at Ohio State. It is thanks to funds like this that we can continue to provide Ohio State and the broader community with Italian programming.
To ask questions about accessibility or request accommodations, please contact Matt Lang.650@osu.edu. At least two weeks' advance notice will help us to provide seamless access.