Equivocal Subjects

Equivocal Subjectsputs forth an innovative reading of the Italian national cinema.Shelleen Greeneargues that from the silent era to the present, the cinematic representation of the "mixed-race" or interracial subject has served as a means by which Italian racial and national identity have been negotiated and re-defined.She examinesItaly's colonial legacy, histories of immigration and emigration, and contemporary politics of multiculturalism through its cultural production, providing new insights into its traditional film canon. Analysingthe depiction of African Italian mixed-race subjects from the historical epics of the Italian silent "golden" era to the contemporary period, thisenlightening bookengages the history of Italian nationalism and colonialism through theories of subject formation, ideologies of race, and postcolonial theory. Greene's approach also provides a novel interpretation of recent developments surrounding Italy's status as a major passage for immigrants seeking to enter the European Union.

This bookprovides an original theoretical approach to the Italian cinema that speaks to the nation's current political and social climate. [Publisher's text].

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