Gianni Clementi is a prolific Italian playwright who has written a number of plays that deconstruct common stereotypes about immigration and look critically at notions of both Italianess and otherness. Drawing on postcolonial theory and migration studies, this paper considers how Clementi's plays, "Ben Hur", "Finis Terrae" and "Clandestini" challenge the otherness with which immigrants are often charged in Italy's media and politics and focuses on the notion of mare nostrum as a hybrid site where individuals of different races and ethnicities negotiate their respective differences.
In order to challenge the homogenizing rhetoric of national identity, Clementi interweaves African legends, Judeo-Christian narratives, and various languages and dialects. The playwright successfully confounds the temporal frames of his plays so that the current migration in the Mediterranean becomes reminiscent of both the Atlantic Middle Passage of African slaves and the 19th and 20th-century Italian emigration. These dramaturgical strategies create meaningful frames of reference through which spectators can experience the limitations of geopolitics, engage with a postcolonial critique of Italian history, and reflect on the possibility of peaceful cohabitation.
Full Details
Wednesday, April 11
The Tucci-Cornetti Lecture
Immigration and Italian National Identity in the Plays of Gianni Clementi
Time:
6:00 pm
Presenter:
Stefano Muneroni, Associate Professor in the Department of Drama, University of Alberta
Location:
602 Cathedral of Learning
Sponsored by:
European Studies Center and Global Studies Center along with Department of French & Italian, Department of Theatre Arts, Humanities Center and University Honors College