With a chapter on Italian settler colonialism (on the recurring myth of settlers as inherently peaceful people, brava gente): Ruth Ben-Ghiat, Stephanie Malia Hom (eds), Italian Mobilities, Routledge, 2016 | settler colonial studies blog

With a chapter on Italian settler colonialism (on the recurring myth of settlers as inherently peaceful people, brava gente): Ruth Ben-Ghiat, Stephanie Malia Hom (eds), Italian Mobilities, Routledge, 2016

31Jul15

Description: The Italian nation-state has been defined by practices of mobility. Tourists have flowed in from the era of the Grand Tour to the present, and Italians flowed out in massive numbers in the late 19th and early 20th centuries: Italians made up the largest voluntary emigration in recorded world history. As a bridge from Africa to Europe, Italy has more recently been a destination of choice for immigrants whose tragic stories of shipwreck and confinement are often in the news. This first-of-its-kind edited volume offers a critical accounting of those histories and practices, shedding new light on modern Italy as a flashpoint for mobilities as they relate to nationalism, imperialism, globalization, and consumer, leisure, and labor practices. The book’s eight essays reveal how a country often appreciated for what seems immutable – its classical and Renaissance patrimony – has in fact been shaped by movement and transit.

See especialy Chapter 6: Francesca Locatelli, ‘Migrating to the Colonies and Building the Myth of ‘Italiani brava gente’: The Rise, Demise, and Legacy of Italian Settler Colonialism’.

Filed under: Uncategorized | Closed