Abstract: If migration literature invites us to reconsider the conceptual boundaries of nation-states and rearranges prevailing ideas about their ‘others’, it might be instructive for literary criticism to follow its lead and find new ways to discuss its content, contexts and the experiences of its authors. This paper argues that collaboration might be one of these ways. In particular, this paper presents a collaborative project with writer Shirin Ramzanali Fazel, which reflects upon key issues in her career, including the processes of translation and self-translation in her works Lontano da Mogadiscio [Far From Mogadishu] and Nuvole sull’Equatore [Clouds Over the Equator], the challenges surrounding publication both at home and abroad, and the conflict created by her works’ assertion of an alternative view of history that disrupts settled Italian colonial memory.
Bio: Simone Brioni is Assistant Professor in the Department of English at Stony Brook University. His research focuses on migration in film and literature, cultural studies and postcolonial studies with a particular emphasis on contemporary Italian culture. His articles have been published in refereed journals including Altreitalie, Cinergie, Écritures, Incontri. Rivista europei di studi italiani, Italian Studies, Science Fiction Studies, Studi Culturali, and The Journal of Italian Cinema and Media Studies. His most recent publications include the monograph The Somali Within: Language, Race and Belonging in ‘Minor’ Italian Literature (2015) and the co-edited volume The Horn of Africa and Italy: Colonial, Postcolonial and Transnational Cultural Encounters (2018).