LA CIVETTA May 2015 | Page 20

department events

round-up

Italian Department Annual Lecture with Professor John Dickie – March 18th

This year, the Italian Department teamed up with La Civetta and the Bristol University International Affairs Society for the annual lecture. The visiting lecturer was noted Mafia historian Professor John Dickie of University College London (UCL), who delivered a talk entitled The Church and Organised Crime. The event was extremely well-attended, with an estimated 200 students and members of staff present. In the first part, Professor Dickie provided a fascinating insight into the history of collusion which permeated every level of both organisations, as well as showing never-before-seen clips from his upcoming TV documentary on the subject. Following his presentation, Professor Dickie took questions on a range of subjects relating to his research, and the time ran out long before the questions!

For those interested in hearing more about Professor Dickie and his research, we have an interview with him in our spring issue, which can be found here: http://www.joomag.com/magazine/la-civetta-march-2015/0011496001420400746

What they said:

The lecture was really interesting and stimulating. He investigated the relationship between the Mafia and the church in a simple but effective and comprehensible way, which was especially useful as the majority of the people present did not have previous knowledge about the Mafia. The questions at the end also provided some deeper explanations and held the audience’s interest. Thank you to La Civetta!

Francesca Pissarello, postgraduate, international relations

il dipartimento

Photography: johndickie.net

I didn’t know much about the Mafia apart from what I’ve studied so I really enjoyed learning more about it from an expert! It was great that he had time to take audience questions at the end, everyone was very engaged.

BETHANY JENKIN, 4TH YEAR, SPANISH AND ITALIAN