'We've Done Our Bit, Too!': Crossover Literatures, Postcolonial Studies, and the Reception of Postcolonial Writing in Italy

The essay deals with the rise and development of postcolonial studies in Italy. Starting from a premise on the many uses and abuses of the term postcolonial, the author draws a short history of postcolonial studies in Italy, from the pioneers sixties and seventies of the last century to the present day. Large sections are devoted to the problems of teaching postcolonial literature and to “Postcolonial Italy”. Then, dealing with problems of canonization, publishing policies and the Italian Academia, the essay shows how in Italy the obsession with a politically correct reception of postcolonial and migrant writing written in European languages leads to the confinement of these works in a sort of “golden ghetto”, without even trying to include them in any national or international canons. This is particularly evident as far as the so-called “italophone” authors are concerned: instead of considering them as Italian writers, they are still viewed (and reviewed) as a group apart, even if they were born in Italy and the Italian language is their mother tongue. While a sort of critical populism is applied to their production - it seems to be politically correct never to criticize too strongly their works- their works are never examined in the background of the Italian canon, and only some Academic specialists try to situate them in a possible postcolonial canon. In the last section of the essay, devoted to the future of postcolonial studies, the author offers some perspectives for the teaching of postcolonial studies now and tomorrow, taking the cue from the works of theorists, critics and writers such as Simon Featherstone, Édouard Glissant, Milan Kundera, Marc Paré, Salman Rushdie, Italo Calvino.