A New Way of Being Italian Through the Lens of Hip Hop

L'evento sarà online qui:

https://us06web.zoom.us/j/84102140645

Dr Margherita Angelucci

Speaker bio  Dr Margherita Angelucci holds a PhD in Literary and Cultural Studies from Monash University. Her doctoral thesis examined the cultural articulations of youth of African descent in contemporary Italy, focusing in particular on Afroitalian Hip Hop music. Margherita is currently a Research Fellow at the Monash Intercultural Lab and Action Lab researching on intercultural communication and digital engagement of multicultural communities.

Talk title A New Way of Being Italian Through the Lens of Hip Hop.

Abstract  Despite Italy’s rich history of cultural diversity, dominant social and political discourses continue to perpetuate the country’s self-perception as a culturally, racially, and religiously homogenous nation. In this context, Italian youth of migrant background are caught in an in-between position where they are not immigrants (being born and/or raised in Italy), but they are nonetheless excluded from complete belonging. This is particularly apparent in the case of Italian youth of African descent who are also subjected to both systemic and everyday racialisation.

In this talk, Margherita Angelucci presents findings from her doctoral research suggesting that cultural practices like Hip Hop music offer alternative forms of belonging and identification that allow Afroitalian youth to articulate complex transcultural identities spanning beyond the dichotomy Italian / immigrant.

Through practical examples from songs, music videos and lyrics, we will see how Afroitalian rappers are introducing new cultural and linguistic elements in Italian music, standing as evidence of the increasing transculturality in contemporary Italy.