Black and White: History of Racial Identity in Italy

Authors

  • Gaia Giuliani University of Bologna

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.22024/UniKent/03/fal.92

Keywords:

Italy, racialisation, racism, whiteness, intersectionality

Abstract

Drawing on the book Bianco e nero. Storia dell'identita razziale degli Itallani, this lecture traces the political, cultural and visual history of Italian racial identity from unificaiton to the economic boom, through Fascism and the post-war era. Gaia Giuliani uses analytical categories derived from political philosophy, critical race theory, whiteness studies and postcolonial studies, and examines political theories of race, scientific literature and legislation related to emigration in order to trace the different processes of self-racialisation in the political discourse from the unification period up to 1936. The lecture also looks at contemporary Italian racism, analysing mass culture products (1980s-2007), TV coverage of racist incidents (2010-2012), and the intertwining of masculinity, virility, whtieness and race in Berlusconi's sexual scandals.

Author Biography

Gaia Giuliani, University of Bologna

Research assistant in political theory and colonial and postcolonial studies, University of Bologna, Department of Social and Political Sciences.

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Published

15-02-2014

How to Cite

Giuliani, G. (2014). Black and White: History of Racial Identity in Italy. Feminists@law, 4(1). https://doi.org/10.22024/UniKent/03/fal.92

Issue

Vol. 4 No. 1 (2014)

Section

Multimedia

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