Italy is experiencing a vital crisis of extensive immigration from the East and South of the world that has major socio-political and cultural implications. Historically, a source of emigrants to Northern Europe and the New World, it rapidly became a preferred destination culture for immigrants especially since the 1980s. In this talk, you will learn about some key full-length movies that were released between 1990 and today that reflect upon this key societal change. How does the uniqueness of twentieth century Italian cultural history relate to the singularity of the representations of immigrants on the screen?
Dr. Vetri Nathan is Assistant Professor of Italian in the Department of Modern Languages, Literatures and Cultures at the University of Massachusetts Boston. Born in Mumbai, he left at the age of 16 to attend the United World College of the Adriatic in Duino, Italy. Dr. Nathan went on to receive a B.A. in Italian from Connecticut College and an M.A. and Ph.D. in Italian from Stanford University.
Dr. Nathan’s research interests include immigrant cultures and globalization in contemporary Italy, colonialism and postcoloniality, and Italian cinema. He has published various articles on these topics and is currently preparing a book manuscript on immigration in contemporary Italian cinema.