Partecipanti al progetto NARRA- MI
Raffaele Cattedra, (P.I) pr. ordinario di geografia, Dipartimento di Lettere, Lingue e Beni culturali, Unica.
Corsale Andrea, pr. associato di geografia, Dipartimento di Lettere, Lingue e Beni culturali, Unica.
Valeria Deplano, pr. associato di storia contemporanea, Dipartimento di Lettere, Lingue e Beni culturali, Unica.
Monica Iorio, pr. associato di geografia, Dipartimento di Lettere, Lingue e Beni culturali, Unica
Luca Lecis, pr. associato di storia contemporanea, Dipartimento di Lettere, Lingue e Beni culturali, Unica.
Cecilia Novelli, pr. ordinario di storia contemporanea, Dipartimento di Scienze politiche e sociali, Unica.
Mariangela Rapetti, pr. associato di archivistica, Dipartimento di Lettere, Lingue e Beni culturali, Unica.
Giampaolo Salice, pr. associato di storia moderna, Dipartimento di Lettere, Lingue e Beni culturali, Unica.
Isabella Soi, pr. Associato di storia e istituzioni dell’Africa, Dipartimento di Scienze politiche e sociali, Unica.
Marcello Tanca, pr. associato di geografia, Dipartimento di Lettere, Lingue e Beni culturali, Unica.
Cecilia Tasca, pr. ordinario di archivistica, Dipartimento di Lettere, Lingue e Beni culturali, Unica.
Eleonora Todde, RTB di archivistica, Dipartimento di Lettere, Lingue e Beni culturali, Unica
Cinzia Atzeni, dottoranda, Dott. Storia, Beni culturali e Studi internazionali, Unica.
Gianluca Gaias, dottore di ricerca in geografia, Dipartimento di Lettere, Lingue e Beni culturali, Unica.
English version
NARRA-MI – Re-thinking Minorities. National and Local Narratives from Divides to Reconstructions
The political and economic crisis of the early 2000s, the growing consensus gained by the sovereignty movements, as well as the refugee crisis, have recently contributed to confirm territoriality as a crucial issue of the current geopolitical and geo-cultural discourse, that plays a pivotal role in defining and representing identities. At the same time, the concept of “identity” itself is strictly connected with the concept of “minority”: now as in the past, the (re)construction of national identities has had to deal with the presence of “minorities” (intended from an ethnic, religious, linguistic point of view) on the same ‘national” territory. Sometimes this complexity has been managed in terms of inclusion in the nation-building processes; but usually minority groups have been excluded by national political projects tending to present/represent multicultural societies and territories as homogeneous socio-cultural-territorial contexts.
Yet, as historiography proved, nations, borders, and territories latu sensu are social constructions, depending on top-down symbolic imaginaries: built on individual and collective memories, (re)invented traditions, and stereotypes, and shaped and reinforced also by monuments, toponyms, art and literary products. Homogeneity (of the historical, cultural, linguistic, and religious background) usually is at the core of these national imaginaries and identity discourses. Nevertheless, identity narratives and self-representation, even when apparently consolidated, are continuously challenged by ethnic, cultural, religious, linguistic elements of diversity connected with the presence of minorities, and depending on different events and processes such as present and past migrations, moving-boundaries, etc.
Focusing on specific case-studies, the project NARRA-MI is aimed to analyse the complex dynamics between dominant and minorities’ narratives in the context of the re-definition of national identities, from Modern Age to the present day. In particular, working within the “narrative turn” framework, the project will investigate not only the top-down narratives, but it will focus on how social actors describe themselves, their lives and histories. By doing this, the project will be able to retrace the subjugated voices and experiences, usually neglected, and to give them a place in the interpretation of general geo-political processes and events.
NARRA-MI starts from the interpretive hypothesis of an existing link between narrative and political representation; that means that the way minorities are represented or represent themselves is connected with the possibility for minorities to have access to the public and political life of the place where they live. In order to investigate this connection, project participants will focus on three specific areas according to their specific research interests and competences: Sardinia; Mediterranean and Sub-Saharian Africa; Central-Eastern Europe, in the past as now all characterized by the coexistence of complex identities and ethnic groups. An interdisciplinary approach will be assured by the presence, in each group, of scholars from different disciplines, including historical, geographic and archival studies. Moreover, NARRA-MI will use logics and objectives of Public History, Public Geography and Digital Humanities, both for the research and for results dissemination, in order to achieve public engagement.