Who Gets to Be Italian? - Geographies of Privilege - page 132

ern Italy's Gastronomic Landscape,” Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies, University
of Washington, 2010.
10 . Another telling example comes from the former Italian Prime Minister himself. When Silvio Ber-
lusconiremarkedthatBarackObamawas“Young,handsomeandevenhasagoodtan”theconven-
tional wisdom in Italy seemed to be that Berlusconi was just being Berlusconi. But as Jeff Israely
suggested,“In many ways, mainstream Italian society is several generations behind the rest of the
Westwhenitcomestorace.Insupposedlypolitecompany,onecanstillheartheword,Negro(pro-
nounced neh-grow) which essentially translates to the N word.” He added that Northern Italians
joke that dark-skinned Southerners are “Moroccans” ( Time World, Oct. 1, 2002).
11 . The Northern League is a regionalist party that created an imaginary of its own pseudo Northern
Italian culture based on differences from an underdeveloped Southern Italy, symbol of a corrupt
and parasitic state. Yet discourses of race and racialized science in Italy were formulated around
distinctions between Northern and Southern Italians, the latter allegedly born with atavistic “prim-
itive”traitsfoundamongAfrican“savages.”CesareLombrosowrote L'Uomo delinquente inTurin,
postulating that Southern Italians and Africans were genetically predisposed to criminality. One of
Umberto Bossi's slogans is, “Africa begins at Rome” (Agnew and Brusa 1999; Huysseune 2006;
Giordano 2000; Cento-Bull 1996; Saint-Blancat and Schmidt di Friedberg 2005).
12 . A growing literature grapples with the myths and realities of Italian colonialism: Del Boca (1984,
1988); Labanca (2000); in English: Ben-Ghiat and Fuller (2005), Palumbo (2003).
13 . The political party structure (PCI or Italian Communist Party, the DC or Christian Democrats, and
the Socialists) in power since World War II had not yet collapsed. Bossi's Lega Nord and Fini's
neofascist party (MSI or Italian Social Movement currently called the People of Freedom Party)
had very little influence, and the trade unions (still connected with political parties in Turin) held
some legitimacy and authority.
14 . These figures are from 2009, compiled by the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO).
15 . Italian citizenship is awarded to people with maternal or paternal grandparents with Italian citizen-
ship,andforothersreviewedafterlivinginthecountryfortenyears.Refugeesmayapplyafterfive
years, but refugee status is seldom granted in Italy.
16 . Simona Poli, “La Marcia dell'Italia antirazzista: In ventimilia a Firenze per ricordare Samb e Diop.
Cortei da Milano a Napoli” [The Italian antiracist march in Florence to remember Samb and Diop:
Marches from Milan to Naples]. La Repubblica, Domenica December 18, 2011, 13.
References
Adams,PaulC.,StevenHoelscher,andKarenE.Till,eds.2001. Textures of Place: Exploring Humanist
Geographies. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Agnew, John A. 2002. Place and Politics in Modern Italy. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Agnew, John, and Carlo Brusa. 1999. “New Rules for National Identity? The Northern League and
Political Identity in Contemporary Northern Italy.” National Identities 1 (2): 117-133.
Andall,Jacqueline.2005.“ImmigrationandtheLegacyofColonialism:TheEritreanDiasporainItaly.”
In Italian Colonialism: Legacy and Memory , edited by Jacqueline Andall and Derek Duncan,
171-87. Bern Switzerland: Peter Lang.
——— and Derek Duncan, eds. 2005. Italian Colonialism: Legacy and Memory . Bern, Switzerland:
Peter Lang.