Italian Voices in the 2020s
Slam poetry by Fatima Bouhtouch
Scusami Italia se a ventisei anni
Non mi fido più delle tue promesse
Che si son trasformate in danni
E non son fedeli a se stesse
We are delighted to circulate the details of this event.
Thursday, 29th April, 5.30-7pm
Italian Voices in the 2020s: Slam poetry by Fatima Bouhtouch, followed by a conversation with Gigliola Sulis (Italian@Leeds) and a talk by sociologist Angelica Pesarini (NUY Florence) on migrations, race, identity and citizenship in contemporary Italy.
Event in English (talk) and Italian (performance), jointly organised by LivItaly. Bringing Italian Culture to Yorkshire, and International Writers at Leeds.
Join Zoom Meeting: https://universityofleeds.zoom.us/j/84006290347?Pwd= ZFdyTFZkZ2NsdlZuaGlNMGgycnN5UT09
Meeting ID: 84006290347
Passcode: IW@LwFB21
For information, please contact: Dr María Bastianes: m.bastianes@leeds.ac.uk
The Italian law on citizenship for Italians who were born and who live in the country from non-Italian parents is still in the making after years of discussions in parliament. In the meanwhile, second-generation Italians are active in society, culture, economy, and ask for their rights to be recognised and their voices to be heard. In this talk, we will have the chance to hear the young poet Fatima Bouhtouch recite her verses and to discuss with her the intersectional approach to a multifaceted identity, the intergenerational clash, the specificity of her gendered gaze, and her international trajectory. Sociologist Angelica Pesarini will contribute to the event by presenting her research on the intersections of race, citizenship and identity in 21st-century Italy.
Fatima Bouhtouch, born in Italy (near Modena) from Moroccan parents, is the author of Come alberi (Edizioni DrawUp 2019), a collection of poems inspired by her experiences as a second-generation Italian. In January 2021 she delivered a powerful performance at the TV contest Italia’s Got Talent: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UpUondPvjk0.
She is an undergraduate student in Arabic, Islamic and Middle Easter Studies at the University of Leeds.
Dr Angelica Pesarini is a Lecturer of Social and Cultural Analysis at NYU Florence, where she teaches Black Italia, a cross-disciplinary course dedicated to the intersectional analysis of racial identity in Italy. She was awarded a Ph.D. in Sociology in 2015 from the Centre for Interdisciplinary Gender Studies in collaboration with Italian Studies at the University of Leeds, and she worked as a Lecturer in Gender, Race and Sexuality at the University of Lancaster before going back to Italy in 2017. In her work she investigates dynamics of race performativity with a focus on colonial and postcolonial Italy and she is also interested in the racialization of the Italian political discourse on immigration. She is active in the Italian anti-racist movement. She was recently interviewed by the New York Times, see: Elisabetta Povoledo, ‘Netflix to Debut Italy’s First TV Show With a Majority Black Cast’, 16th April 2021: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/16/arts/television/zero-netflix.html).