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International Conference,&#160;University of Palermo, June 15 &#8211; 16, 2017ArgumentThis conference is an interdisciplinary research project intended for scholars from various fields. The aim is to discuss a historically, anthropologically and politically central country: the United States. Is it possible to see the United States as a country to be examined from multiple points of view &#8211; both from near and from afar &#8211; with particular interest in the current &#8220;anthropological&#8221; culture, while also paying attention to history and making predictions about the future? Specialists and enthusiasts from various backgrounds are invited to respond from specific perspectives, in order to compare and contrast different interpretations of the &#8220;American galaxy&#8221;. To this end, both studies of a theoretical nature and case studies are encouraged. The view from near and from afar, obviously a reference to L&#233;vi-Strauss, alludes to a modus operandi anthropologically based on comparing and contrasting different perspectives. Anthropologists are directly concerned here, because it was in the United States that the much-discussed anthropological Postmodernism recently emerged, and because it was also in the United States that the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, based on studies of Native Americans, was conceived. The reference to &#8220;anthropologies&#8221; should therefore be viewed literally (anthropologists specializing in the United States in largely ethnographic terms) and with a culturally wider meaning (linguists, comparatists, geographers, semiologists, historians, etc., who observe American culture from their respective epistemological perspectives). The reference to the interdisciplinary nature of the conference, aside from being a theoretical inclination shared by the organizers, is a happy necessity for those who study a multicultural country like the United States, with its difficult past of coexistence between colonizers and natives, as well as between the different cultures of which it is composed today.Main topicsWe offer the following suggestions as possible topics of discussion, from a comparative perspective or otherwise:Native and non-native culturesAncient/recent migratory phenomena Conformism/individualismMulticulturalism and identityReligious radicalization and New Age movementsProcesses of globalization and local agencyAmerican anthropology/other anthropologiesAmerican literature/other literaturesThe linguistic relativity hypothesis todayEveryday culturesTradition and modernityProcesses of homogenization and diversification of knowledgeSpaces of imaginationPlaces and non-placesEcologies of landscapeWildernessLanguages of power and knowledgeCurrent political situationPolitics of inclusion/exclusionOral historiesEtc.Keynote speakerVincent Crapanzano, City University of New York&#160;&#160;Scientific boardStefano Montes and Matteo Meschiari&#160;Administrative organizationDipartimento Culture e Societ&#224;Universit&#224; degli Studi di PalermoViale delle Scienze, 90128, Palermo, Italia&#160;For information and to submit proposalsStefano Montes (montes.stefano@tiscalinet.it)Matteo Meschiari (matmeschiari@gmail.com)&#160;Practical informationDeadline for submitting proposals: 30 May 2017Proposal summary and title: 250-300 wordsDuration of presentations: 20 minutesConference languages: Italian, French and EnglishConference participation is free of chargeTravel costs, accommodation expenses and meals are covered by participants or their institutions&#160;Proceedings of the conference will be published