Fascist Hybridities

Under Italian Fascism, African-Italian mulattoes and white Italians living in Egypt posed a particular threat to the pursuit of a homogenous national identity. This book examines novels and films of the period, showing that their attempts at stigmatization were self-undermining, forcing audiences to reassess their collective identity.

“This study contributes substantially to critical texts on Italian colonialism, Fascism, and postcolonial Italy, and to studies of racial identity in Italy by considering the role of hybrid individuals and the way in which they directly challenged … . The valuable, and timely, historical lesson contained in this book—particularly in light of the current migration crisis in the Mediterranean—is twofold: Italian national and racial identities are contested and fluid, and borders and boundaries are not fixed.” (Meriel Tulante, gender/sexuality/italy, gendersexualityitaly.com, Issue 05, 2018)

"Fascist Hybridities offers a fresh look at the role of racial purity and cultural authenticity in the context of Italian Fascism. Exploring the status of African-Italian mulattoes and Levantines in the literature and cinema of the Mussolini's era, Rosetta Giuliani Caponetto's book powerfully unveils the haunting presence of 'impurity' in modern Italian cultural imagination and national identity. This book is a must read for all lovers of Levantinism and other forms of cultural hybridity!" Gil Z. Hochberg, Associate Professor of Comparative Literature, University of California, Los Angeles, USA

"Through detailed analyses of a variety of texts, and drawing on her own life story, Rosetta Giuliani Caponetto argues convincingly that the presence in Italian society of mixed race subjects and the cosmopolitan cultural experience of Italian Levantines in Egypt played significant roles in undercutting the fascist regime's intent to construct a racially and culturally pure Italy. In other words, her study shows how the repercussions of Mussolini's colonial project opened up cracks and fissures that Fascist ideology was unable to cope with." - David Ward, Professor of Italian Studies, Wellesley College, USA

Rosetta Giuliani Caponetto is Assistant Professor of Foreign Languages and Literatures at Auburn University, USA.