In and Out of the Cocoon: Reflections of a Literary Scholar on a Bootless Italy

Abstract

The current transnational and diasporic trend in “outward” Italian studies challenges the conventional wisdom of an Italo-centric curriculum and opens up new perspectives in a variety of ways while positing a more complex cultural scenario in light of contemporary massive migrations affecting Italy and Europe. This essay, taking its cue from several literary and historiographical sources, advocates for a wider approach to the cultural study of things Italian and for a more nuanced and unprejudiced adoption of academic labels and categories.