Neutralising “Difference By Silence”, “Choosing To Remain Peripheral”: Xenophobia, Marginalization And Death In Italian Scottish Migrant Narratives Of World War II
Neutralising “Difference By Silence”, “Choosing To Remain Peripheral”: Xenophobia, Marginalization And Death In Italian Scottish Migrant Narratives Of World War II

Author(s): Manuela D’Amore
Subject(s): Migration Studies
Published by: Transnational Press London
Keywords: Italian Scottish migrand narratives; World War II; Pieri; Di Mambro; Pia; Contini;
Summary/Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to bring to light Italian Scottish literary accounts of World War II. This was the time when Italian immigrants were “enemy aliens” and victims of sheer violence and racism: Joe Pieri (1918-2012), Ann Marie Di Mambro (1949―), Anne Pia (1951―) and Mary Contini (1961―) confirm that in 1940-1945 they could only become socially “invisible” and “neutralise difference by silence”. Rooted in the latest research in the field of Italian migration to Scotland, our intertextual path will include samples of ‘hybrid’ prose, verse and drama which have long been neglected. At the time of the 1940-2020 celebrations in the UK we shall see that they retain a special literary and historical significance, while promoting respect for otherness and social inclusiveness.

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