Remaking national identity: Postcolonial discourses at the intersection of gender and race in Tutto può succedere

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 321-338
Author(s):  
Eleonora Sammartino
Keyword(s):  
National Identity ◽  
Italian Society ◽  
The Other ◽  
Cultural Translation ◽  
Gender And Race ◽  
Italian Context ◽  
Interracial Relationship

In the context of global migrations, ‘new Italians’ have emerged in a group of mainstream TV series, among which Tutto può succedere (‘Anything can happen’) (RAI 1, 2015–18) stands out as the remake of the American Parenthood. This article argues that this process of cultural translation reveals tensions over the negotiation of national identity in Italian society, due to recent migrations and the submerged colonial past. Through the adoption of an intersectional approach, the analysis of the interracial relationship between Feven, an Eritrean-born woman, and Carlo will highlight that the postracial discourses underlying Parenthood are superseded by postcolonial ones in the remake. I demonstrate that the Othering of Feven through sexualization and exoticization exposes the persistence of colonial stereotypes. However, the displacement of race onto gender preoccupations through the prism of postfeminism highlights the attempted ‘normalization’ of the Other, further engaging with the specificities of the Italian context through its association with religion.

scholarly journals ‘Reflections on Italy’s contemporary approaches to cultural diversity: The exclusion of the ‘Other’ from a supposed notion of ‘Italianness’

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Riccardo Armillei
Keyword(s):  
National Identity ◽  
Cultural Diversity ◽  
Religious Diversity ◽  
Italian Society ◽  
The Other ◽  
Strong Sense ◽  
Immigration Policies ◽  
The Many

For many years Italy has been described as a country of emigration. Only since the 1970s Italy has moved from being a net exporter of migrants to a net importer. Despite growing cultural and religious diversity, the implications of the pluralisation of the Italian society on national identity have been largely ignored. Italy has been recently described as a country without an established model of integration or pluralism.1 The so called ‘Italian way’ towards cultural diversity remained predominantly theoretical in character and not supported officially, in the sense of being incorporated into the nation’s history (as it is in Canada or Australia). The rise of ‘ethnonationalism’ and legacies of past colonialism contributed to create an institutional notion of supposed ‘Italianness’, which is based on the exclusion of the ‘Other’. During the Liberal and Fascist periods, colonialism was used to create and re-produce a strong sense of nationhood, re-composing the many internal divisions by racialising ‘otherness’ outside rather than inside the nation’s borders. This study suggests that, due to historical amnesia and a weak national identity, a similar logic is now informing the implementation of anti-immigration policies in Italy.

Multicultural and Transnational Novels

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Meffan
Keyword(s):  
National Identity ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
The Other ◽  
Colonial History ◽  
History Of ◽  
Return Home ◽  
Access Rights ◽  
The One

This chapter discusses the history of multicultural and transnational novels in New Zealand. A novel set in New Zealand will have to deal with questions about cultural access rights on the one hand and cultural coverage on the other. The term ‘transnational novel’ gains its relevance from questions about cultural and national identity, questions that have particularly exercised nations formed from colonial history. The chapter considers novels that demonstrate and respond to perceived deficiencies in wider discourses of cultural and national identity by way of comparison between New Zealand and somewhere else. These include Amelia Batistich's Another Mountain, Another Song (1981), Albert Wendt's Sons for the Return Home (1973) and Black Rainbow (1992), James McNeish's Penelope's Island (1990), Stephanie Johnson's The Heart's Wild Surf (2003), and Lloyd Jones's Mister Pip (2006).

Rag Doll Nations and the Politics of Differentiation on Arbitrary Borders: Karelia and Moldova*

2004 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 457-496 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Lawrence Schrad
Keyword(s):  
National Identity ◽  
The State ◽  
Ethnic Community ◽  
National Identities ◽  
The Other ◽  
Interesting Aspect ◽  
Territorial Boundaries ◽  
Shed Light

“Tell a man today to go and build a state,” Samuel Finer once stated, “and he will try to establish a definite and defensible boundary and compel those who live inside it to obey him.” While at best an oversimplification, Finer's insight illuminates an interesting aspect of state-society relations. Who is it that builds the state? How and where do they establish territorial boundaries, and how are those who live within that territory compelled to obey? Generally speaking, these are the questions that will be addressed here. Of more immediate concern is the fate of peoples located in regions where arbitrary land boundaries fall. Are they made loyal to the state through coercion or by their own compulsions? More importantly, how are their identities shaped by the efforts of the state to differentiate them from their compatriots on the other side of the borders? How is the shift from ethnic to national identities undertaken? A parallel elaboration of the national histories of the populations of Karelia and Moldova will shed light on these questions. The histories of each group are marked by a myriad of attempts to differentiate the identity of each ethnic community from their compatriots beyond the state's borders. The results of such overt, state-initiated efforts to differentiate borderland populations by encouraging a national identity at the expense of the ethnic, has ranged from the mundane to the tragic—from uneventful assimilation to persecution and even genocide. As an illustration of the range of possibilities and processes, I maintain that the tragedies of Karelia and Moldova are not exceptional, but rather are a consequence of their geographical straddling of arbitrary borders, and the need for the state to promote a distinctive national identity for these populations to differentiate them socially from their compatriots beyond the frontier.

scholarly journals Accepting the truth: A step toward reconciliation

Temida ◽  
2002 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 15-18
Author(s):  
Zoran Ilic
Keyword(s):  
National Identity ◽  
Defense Mechanism ◽  
Psychological Explanation ◽  
The Other ◽  
Group Level ◽  
Moral Norms ◽  
Extreme Form ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Psychological Mechanisms

The truth is not only about accepting the facts. The truth includes emotional components - longing for acknowledgment of mistakes and validation of painful losses and experiences. While one side in the conflict considers itself as the only victim and experiences determination and acknowledgment of the truth as a possibility for healing its own trauma through satisfaction of justice and compensation, the other side is not accepting the truth. For this other side, confrontation with the facts is a painful trauma, which endangers individual moral norms, threatens the national identity and requires, on individual level, plugging in the defense mechanism, in order to prevent penetration of painful emotions into the consciousness. Primitive psychological mechanisms of defense, focused around splitting (projection, denial), are the main obstacles in accepting the truth both on individual and group level. There is also another extreme form of reaction manifested through "hypertrophy" of the truth and one-sided self-accusation. In this paper the author presents psychological explanation of the process of accepting the truth as the prerequisite for reconciliation and transformation of the conflict.

scholarly journals Constructing the nation through immigration law and legal processes of belonging

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valerie Molina
Keyword(s):  
National Identity ◽  
Labour Market ◽  
Market Segmentation ◽  
The Other ◽  
Immigration Law ◽  
Foreign Workers ◽  
Legal Subjectivity ◽  
Temporary Foreign Workers ◽  
Labour Market Segmentation ◽  
Legal Policies

The aim of this critical literature review is to define the connection between immigration policies and the construction of a national identity, and to discuss what the implications of such connections may be. Tracing how the legal subjectivity of the migrant has developed throughout time and through policy reveals how messages about the nation and Others are created, sustained, and circulated through legal policies. What values are implicit within Canadian immigration policy? How does the migrant ‘other’ help ‘us’ stay ‘us’? How do nationalist ideologies construct the Other and how is this reflected in labour market segmentation? Constructing a national identity involves categorizing migrants into legal categories of belonging, a process in which historical positions of power are both legitimized and re-established through law. Discourses about temporary foreign workers provide examples of how the Other is framed in limited terms and in opposition to that of legitimate members of Canadian society. Key Terms: Citizenship, discourse, subjectivity, immigration law, identity, power, humanitarianism, temporary foreign workers, labour market segmentation.

scholarly journals El bienestar comunal como alternativa al fracaso del concepto neoclásico de bienestar / Community Well-Being as an Alternative to the Failure of the Neoclassical Concept of Well-Being

2014 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandra Maceri
Keyword(s):  
National Identity ◽  
Well Being ◽  
The Other ◽  
Amartya Sen ◽  
Individual Welfare ◽  
Epistemological Basis

ABSTRACTThe paper proposes the change from the utilitarian-individualist neoclassical paradigm, which leaves out certain communities, to the paradigm of “community welfare”, which includes all types of society. Current researches on the socioeconomy have highlighted need to review the concept of the “utilitarian-individual” welfare. With the epistemological basis of a conciliatory synthesis, Amartya Sen provides the indispensable foundation for the success of the “community welfare” paradigm. In this well-being are essential the informational pluralism, the development of capabilities and preferences not as purely personal but as viable only if they include the other's desire. Furthermore, who the other is, is a matter, which is called “the problem of extensionality of the others”. According to Sen, this implies taking a position on social and national identity. The thesis in favor of multiple and acquired identities are the foundation of the community welfare, which is positioned as the ultimate goal of the economy and the politics. The change from the Neoclassical Paradigm to the ethical economy results not only feasible but also fruitful because of the conception of the “anti-individualistic” social realities.RESUMENLas investigaciones actuales en la socio-economía han puesto de manifiesto la necesidad de rever el concepto de bienestar “utilitarista-individual”. Con base epistemológico-económica, Amartya Sen (1974, 1993, 1995, 2001, 2002, 2005, 2007, 2010, 2011) brinda los argumentos indispensables para lograr el éxito del paradigma del “bienestar comunal”. En este bienestar resultan esenciales la racionalidad imperfecta de todo ser humano, su estado de ser no siempre egoísta y las necesidades básicas no satisfechas a la hora de tomar decisiones. Esto implica las preferencias no ya como exclusivamente personales, es decir, individualistas al modo de los neoclásicos, sino como viables únicamente si se contempla el deseo del otro. Ahora bien, quién es el otro es una cuestión que se denomina “el problema de la extensionalidad de los otros”. Según Sen (2001), implica una toma de posición respecto de la identidad social y nacional. Las tesis a favor de las identidades adquiridas y múltiples constituye el fundamento del bienestar comunal, el cual se posiciona como el fin último de la economía y de la política. El cambio del paradigma neoclásico por el de la economía ética resultará, pues, fructífero para la concepción “anti-individualista” de las realidades sociales.

scholarly journals Образ материнской любви в фильме Трясина Григория Чухрая*

2018 ◽  
Vol 166 ◽  
pp. 99-107
Author(s):  
Shino Maeda
Keyword(s):  
National Identity ◽  
Gender Roles ◽  
Reproductive Function ◽  
The Other ◽  
The Public ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Female Image ◽  
Great Patriotic War ◽  
Soviet Russia ◽  
The Military

Image of maternal love in Grigory Chukhray’s The QuagmireMemories of the Great Patriotic War contributed to the making of a national identity in Soviet Russia, and clear gender roles are evident in Soviet propaganda war art. The image of male soldiers demonstrates the obligation to defend the fatherland against the outside enemy. On the other hand, there are images of a mother cheering for her son or a mother lamenting over a fallen soldier. It is clear that the female image belongs to the reproductive function of motherhood. The establishment presents an ideal and urges the public to internalize it by themselves. Grigory Chukhray’s film The Quagmire’s 1977 mother, however, hides her young son, who was conscripted to the front. The  film casts doubt on the Soviet war myth and asks “Why do mothers have to be reconciled to lose their sons in order to defend the fatherland?” That’s why the military purged the film from the screen. Obraz miłości macierzyńskiej w filmie Grigorija Czuchraja TrzęsawiskoWspomnienia i obrazy Wielkiej Wojny Ojczyźnianej odegrały ważną rolę w kształtowaniu tożsamości obywateli Rosji Radzieckiej. W sowieckiej propagandzie wojennej wyraźnie widać hierarchię genderową. Wizerunek żołnierza mężczyzny odnosi się do obowiązku obrony ojczyzny przed zewnętrznym wrogiem. Natomiast wizerunek matki wiwatującej na cześć zwycięstwa syna lub rodzicielki lamentującej nad poległym żołnierzem kojarzony jest z macierzyństwem. Film Grigorija Czuchraja Trzęsawisko Трясина opowiada historię matki ukrywającej powołanego do wojska i wezwanego na front syna. Film, który wkrótce po premierze wycofano z  dystrybucji, stawia pytania dotyczące funkcjonowania radzieckich mitów wojennych oraz sytuacji kobiet, które nie chcą się pogodzić ze śmiercią swych synów broniących ojczyzny.

scholarly journals Semiotic alteration in translation. Othering, stereotyping and hybridization in contemporary translations from Arabic into Spanish and Catalan

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ovidi Carbonell i Cortés
Keyword(s):  
The Other ◽  
Cultural Translation ◽  
Foreign Culture ◽  
Arabic Fiction

It is already widely recognized that ‘foreignization’ is a cover word which stands for many different processes of cultural translation, from a problematic literalism which tends to exoticism, to a welcome but rarely achieved ‘othering’ understood as an ethical act of respect for the other ’s specificity. Seen from a pragmatic perspective, what still needs to be assessed are the reasons behind a hypothetic threshold of acceptability and the extent of the unstable and risky space where source culture expectations are challenged as a result of the translator ’s management of socio-cultural biases. Starting from the assumption that cultural translation implies a metonymical move by which key textual elements stand as symbols representing the foreign culture, the proposed article will present a scheme of the pragmatic and semiotic processes at work in translations from Arabic into Spanish and Catalan. A review of recent Spanish translations of contemporary Arabic fiction and the muchacclaimed Catalan translation of the Qur ’an will try to show that instances of hybridization and ambivalent readings occur foremost when semiotic categories are altered as a result of the familiarization of unexpected cultural referents. However, semiotic alteration only happens in the narrow margin allowed by the threshold of acceptability, which is the site of ambivalence.

scholarly journals Promoting Hybridity: The Politics of the New Macau Identity

2010 ◽  
Vol 203 ◽  
pp. 656-674 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wai-man Lam
Keyword(s):  
National Identity ◽  
The Other ◽  
The Political ◽  
Special Administrative Region ◽  
Administrative Region ◽  
Multiple Identity ◽  
Economic Significance ◽  
Prime Task ◽  
Political Traditions ◽  
Cultural Hybrid

AbstractThis article traces the unique process of reconstructing the identity of the Macau Special Administrative Region and its people after the political resumption to China in 1999, and the political and economic significance of the reconstruction. As in other postcolonial contexts, identity is an arena of political contest where various discourses that embody re-appropriation of political traditions and legacies criss-cross. In Macau, the post-handover identity comprises the local, the national and the international components, with Macau characterized as a historical, colonial/cultural hybrid and economic object. In fact, the Macau identity after 1999 represents a re-appropriation of the image of colonial Macau propagated by the Portuguese administration since the 1980s. Also, identity making has been a process of incorporating instead of repressing or eliminating the identities of “the other,” and building a stand-alone national identity is not the prime task in the reconstruction of an identity. Rather, multiple identity components are deliberately incorporated and promoted. The success of the process has fabricated Macau's relatively smooth reintegration with China and enhanced the legitimacy of its new government.

Collective Identity in National Anthems

2019 ◽  
pp. 45-64
Author(s):  
Hesham Mesbah
Keyword(s):  
National Identity ◽  
Thematic Analysis ◽  
Collective Identity ◽  
Political System ◽  
Arab Countries ◽  
The Other ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Leaders ◽  
National Symbols ◽  
The Common

This chapter explores how national anthems of African and non-African Arab nations reflect a collective national identity. The national anthems of 22 Arab countries were analyzed using the textual thematic analysis to identify the common attributes of national identity in these anthems and the variance in referring to political entities, national symbols, and natural artifacts according to the political system (republic vs. monarchy) in the country. The analysis shows five thematic components of the national identity presented by those anthems, with an emphasis on the themes of religion and local political leaders in the anthems of monarchies. On the other hand, republics base their identity on religion, history, and nation-related natural and national artifacts. The anthems of the republics show a higher level of complexity (thematic richness) and more tendency to use emotionally charged, forceful language, in contrast to the anthems of the monarchies.

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