Corpi fantasmi: struttura e funzione della memoria transculturale nell’opera di Elvira Dones e Igiaba Scego

Translated title of the contribution: Haunting bodies: the structure and function of transcultural memory in the works of Elvira Dones and Igiaba Scego

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapter

Abstract

Several recent works by transcultural writers have employed the powerful narrative device of witnessing ‘by proxy’ through juxtapositioning contemporary migration narratives with the haunting memory of past atrocities. The two examples explored in the present article (Elvira Dones, I mari ovunque, 2007 and Igiaba Scego, Oltre Babilonia, 2008) specifically interweave their narratives with references to the memory of the state murder of alleged dissidents in Argentina from 1976 to 1979; victims who were henceforth referred to ‘the disappeared’ (los desaparecidos). Making reference to criticism by Susan Gubar, Michael Rothberg and James Rosenau, I will question what resonance this figure of the missing, or haunting body has for recent migration narratives, particularly within the context of frequent contemporary fatalities during Mediterranean sea-crossings, and assess the impact this temporal and intra-national interweaving may have on the potential critical construction of a ‘transnational’ memory.

Translated title of the contributionHaunting bodies: the structure and function of transcultural memory in the works of Elvira Dones and Igiaba Scego
Original languageItalian
Title of host publicationParadigmi di violenza e transculturalità
Subtitle of host publicationil caso italiano (1990-2015)
EditorsRotraud von Kulessa, Dagmar Reichardt, Nora Moll, Franca Sinopoli
Place of PublicationBerlin
PublisherPeter Lang
Pages99-114
Number of pages16
ISBN (Electronic)9783631775783, 9783631775790
ISBN (Print)9783631659151
Publication statusPublished - 2017

Publication series

NameTranscultural Studies - Interdisciplinary Literature and Humanities for Sustainable Societies
PublisherPeter Lang
Volume2
ISSN (Print)2509-923X

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