Introduzione
Di seguito ci sono le informazioni relative alla descrizione del corso come compaiono nel syllabus della classe.
The residents of the Italian peninsula and its nearest large islands have been among the most migratory of people on earth (1) […] Looking for an Italian diaspora brings the global and circulatory character of migration from Italy into sharp focus. It also forces us to ask what difference Italy’s connections to the wider world have made to the national history of Italy and to the national histories of receiving countries. Would either Italy or the countries where Italians settled be the same had this migration not occurred? (9) – Donna Gabaccia, Italy’s Many Diasporas, 2000.
La varietà dei paesi di provenienza degli immigrati costituisce una peculiarità dell’immigrazione nel nostro Paese. In Italia, gli stranieri regolarmente presenti provengono da ogni area del mondo […] Siamo di fronte a un puzzle etnico e culturale che non ha precedenti né riscontro nella storia europea recente e, in particolare, nell’attuale panorama dell’immigrazione nell’Unione.
– ISTAT, Rapporto Annuale 2007, p. 252.
This course inserts itself at the confluence of the above two quotes: Italy’s extraordinary emigrant past reaching the four corners of the globe is today intersecting with the nation’s peculiar status as a country of immigration from everywhere in the world, constituting an “ethnic and cultural puzzle” of unprecedented proportions. We will investigate these migratory phenomena (mostly) chronologically from the point of view of culture. Along with historical and sociological data about migrant flows, we will discuss the human and creative productions that migration from, within and to Italy yielded, through the study of literature and cinema. The course is interdisciplinary and will make use of a variety of media and genres from written short stories and other narratives, to digital archives and interviews, to songs, music, and films. All class discussions, readings, screening and listening will be conducted in Italian.
