Spinning their own narratives: second generation Italian Australian writing and the negotiation of the liminal divide

• Published in: Scritture migranti : rivista di scambi interculturali 2013-01 (7), p.125
• Main Author: Rando, Gaetano
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Italian language; Negotiation
• ISSN: 2037-5042; 2035-7141

The spatial dislocation and the sense of loss experienced by the first generation in the transition from the originating to the host country that leads to an interpretation of the diaspora by means of closed chronotopes expressed through images limited in space and time1, have inspired Hamid Nacify (2001) to posit the construction of a liminal border space between the old and the new world in which the cinematic image becomes the autobiography of the diasporic collective which is in a state of constant flux. Later writing has tended to distance itself from this linear negative stereotype and has presented Italy from a multidimensional perspective that explores the complexities of the second generation's search for ancestral, cultural and linguistic roots as well as their connection with contemporary Italy, often perceived in terms of Carlo Levi's concept of the two Italies - the Italy represented by the "high" cultural tradition of Renaissance art and of opera contrasted with the Italy represented by the "low" cultural traditions of the contadini. [...]generation Italian Australian women writers present a different problematic with respect to their male counterparts due, in part, to the gender inequalities and the double standard in gender roles inherent in Italian Australian community traditional practices. [...]generation immigrant women in Australia, Broadway (NSW), Women's Redress Press.