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Title
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A 'postcolonial' migration? An analysis of Eritrean mobility trajectories
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Author
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Abstract
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| Extract: In many studies on postcolonial cultures in Italy, the presence of migrants is taken as an ineludible reminder of colonialism in Italian society. Migrants embody the ‘postcolonial other’ that crosses borders and extends struggles and inequalities rooted in colonial history to metropolitan societies.1 This perspective has been fruitful in understanding labour relationships among Italian families and immigrant domestic workers,2 the legacy of the colonial imaginary about women in contemporary gender politics in the Horn of Africa,3 and the persistence of a monolithic definition of national belonging in Italian public discourse.4 Through the inspiring works of postcolonial writers, contradictions and implications of a long-forgotten page in Italian history have been brought to light. This chapter aims to contribute to the understanding of contemporary movements of subjects from former Italian colonies to the metropole, by analysing to what extent Eritrean diaspora to and through Italy is a ‘postcolonial’ one. First, I reconstruct the history and the main features of the Eritrean diaspora, highlighting that these multiple migrations cannot always be linked back to colonialism. Likewise, contemporary desires to move onwards from Italy stem from other factors – arguably not directed related to colonialism – which have to do with the composition of the Eritrean diaspora, European welfare inequalities and transnational family expectations about the suitable final destination. |
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Language
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English
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Source (book)
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The horn of Africa and Italy : colonial, postcolonial and transnational cultural encounters / Brioni, S. [edit.]; et al. [edit.]
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Source (series)
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New comparative criticism
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Publication
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London
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Peter Lang
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2018
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ISBN
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978-1-78707-995-3
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