Description

Five case studies show how different people and places were marginalized and socially excluded as the Italian nation-state was formed. Italy's Margins explores how certain places and social groups in Italy have been defined as marginal or peripheral since unification. The author argues that the Italian nation was formed by excluding certain groups of people who did not fit comfortably into a narrative of modernization, growth and social integration. Italy's Margins explores how certain places and social groups in Italy have been defined as marginal or peripheral since unification. The author argues that the Italian nation was formed by excluding certain groups of people who did not fit comfortably into a narrative of modernization, growth and social integration. Italy's Margins explores how certain places and social groups in Italy have been defined as marginal or peripheral since unification. This marginalization involves not only concrete policies but also ways of perceiving people and places as outside society's centre. The author looks closely at how photography and writing have supported political and social exclusion and, conversely, how they have been enlisted to challenge it. Five cases are examined: the peripheries of Italy's major cities after unification; its East African colonies in the 1930s; the less developed areas of its south in the 1950s; its psychiatric hospitals before the reforms of the late 1970s; and its 'nomad camps' after 2000. Each chapter takes its lead from a symptomatic photograph and is followed by other pictures and extracts from written texts. These allow the reader to examine how social marginalization is discursively performed by cultural products. Introduction: looking at margins; 1. Urban peripheries; 2. Colonies; 3. Souths; 4. Asylums; 5. Nomad camps; Conclusion: understanding margins. 'This is a highly original and beautifully written book. The author takes as his subject matter the ways that marginal people and places have been represented and understood by photographers, filmmakers, writers and others in Italy since unification. His understanding of the creation of these 'margins' is linked to the formation of the Italian nation-state. Multidisciplinary, wide-ranging, constantly surprising and always incisive, Italy's Margins is a path-breaking piece of work.' John Foot, University of Bristol 'Meticulously researched and yet highly readable … Drawing upon a richly comparative background, David Forgacs turns his discerning eye to the ideological work done by photography in determining ways of looking that constitute marginality as such. The result will change our way of looking at the history of modern Italy itself.' Barbara Spackman, University of California, Berkeley 'This is a brilliant book. Through the analysis of photographs and written texts, David Forgacs explains how the Italian nation has been built on the process of social and symbolic exclusion and, in so doing, he offers us an original and fascinating new perspective on modern Italian history.' Lucy Riall, European University Institute, Florence 'Italy's Margins is a landmark achievement. Drawing on compelling arrays of photographic and written material, Forgacs surveys post-Unification Italy's web of 'other spaces': its urban peripheries and colonies, its 'souths', asylums and migrant encampments. His dense cartography of these marginal social spaces, their sites of exclusion and resistance, captures with exceptional force their role