Abstract
The international congress The Utopia and the New World was convened to bring together specialists from various academic disciplines around the study of the problem of modern utopias in America and Europe. The concept of utopia had from its origin a special relationship with the geographical exploration of the world, especially with the Americas.
This close relationship allowed to propose the link between utopia (or dystopia) and the idea of "New World" applied by Europeans to America, but also to everything that modernity promised to bring. The exploration of this relation allowed also to launch new perspectives on the cross identities of Europe and America and on what utopia entails as an exploration of possible worlds, criticism of the present and hope for a better future; which means as much as launching - from utopia - a new look at modernity.
At the congress, attention was paid to the concepts related to utopia and dystopia, overseas colonization, the formation of Europe and the cross-gazes between Europe and America; all in a wide chronological gape, from the fifteenth century to the present. In this framework of analysis, we invite you to explore multiple problems, ranging from the transformations of thought, economy and society in the Modern and Contemporary Age, to the formation of identities, migrations, the definition of "Europe" and "America" , its birth and constitution.