Autobiografia Literatura Kultura Media


ISSN: 2353-8694    eISSN: 2719-4361    OAI    DOI: 10.18276/au.2025.2.25-05
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Issue archive / nr 2 (25) 2025
Napisać Black Italy. Kontrnarracje Igiaby Scego
(Writing Black Italy: The Counternarrative of Igiabo Scego)

Authors: Magdalena Lange-Henszke ORCID
Uniwersytet Szczeciński
Keywords: Igiaba Scego Italian identity / italianità colonial memory Somali diaspora blackness
Whole issue publication date:2025
Page range:14 (61-74)
Cited-by (Crossref) ?:

Abstract

The article presents the work of Italian-Somali writer Igiaba Scego as a literary practice that exposes Italian colonialism, racism, and the myth of a homogeneous italianità, thereby creating a form of resistance to dominant narratives of Italian national identity. Through her novels, essays, and public engagement, Scego constructs counter-narratives to the prevailing national history. By weaving the experiences of diaspora, Blackness, and migration into her storytelling, she offers an alternative vision of contemporary Italy. Central to Scego’s oeuvre are the themes of language and memory, which serve as tools for reclaiming a voice for members of the diaspora and representatives of the “second generation.” The analysis focuses particularly on the novel Cassandra a Mogadiscio (2023), in which the author intertwines her family history with that of the Somali diaspora, while reflecting on language as a site of resistance and the creation of hybrid identity. The article argues that Scego’s writing—grounded in memory, a female perspective, and critical dialogue with history—opens a space for a multivocal, inclusive vision of Italianness that challenges the myth of its uniformity.
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