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Emplaced and embodied encounters: methodological reflections on transcultural research in contexts of Italian migration

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 January 2020

Georgia Wall  and
Naomi Wells Open the ORCID record for Naomi Wells [Opens in a new window]
Georgia Wall
Affiliation:
Independent researcher
Naomi Wells*
Affiliation:
Institute of Modern Languages Research, University of London
*
*Email: Naomi.Wells@sas.ac.uk
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Abstract

This article explores the practical, ethical, and epistemological issues which arise when carrying out and sharing research in contexts of Italian migration, highlighting how greater reflexivity on our own geographic and historical location as researchers can productively inform and shape our understanding of sites of contact, exchange and confrontation in relation to contemporary Italy. Specifically, we write as researchers informed by ethnographic theories and practices, and who through our research have engaged in emplaced and embodied cultural encounters in sites which are identifiable as both transcultural and Italian. Drawing on vignettes from research in Italy and the UK, the article highlights some of the particular contradictions, opportunities and responsibilities generated by our respective positions. We address how our positionings as white, English and female scholars located within nationally-defined Italian Studies structures have raised pertinent questions of power, privilege and voice, as we place our own biographies and bodies, themselves shaped by specific colonial, national and local histories, into critical dialogue with those on and with whom we research. Through a discussion of these ‘irresolvable tensions’ of our research, we seek to practically engage with the broader imperative of finding new ways of studying and writing culture.

Questo articolo considera alcune delle questioni etiche, epistemologiche e problemi pratici che sorgono spontanei qualora si fa ricerca in contesti di migrazione italiana. La nostra prospettiva è alimentata da teorie e pratiche etnografiche. Utilizzando le nostre rispettive esperienze di ricerca in Italia e nel Regno Unito scaturite dalla partecipazione al progetto ‘Transnationalizing Modern Languages’, esaminiamo come il nostro posizionamento di ricercatrici bianche e inglesi nell'ambito dell'italianistica abbia sollevato questioni pertinenti di potere, privilegio e voce. A dare corpo all'articolo contribuisce l'uso dello strumento di ricerca ‘vignette’ nel quale la personale esperienza etnografica gioca un ruolo primario nell'analizzare la realtà. Attraverso l'analisi di alcune delle ‘tensioni irrisolvibili’ della nostra ricerca, ci impegniamo a rispondere alla necessità di trovare nuovi modi di studiare e scrivere cultura.

Keywords

ethnographyreflexivityItalian Studies, UKmigrationracetranscultural
Type
Special Issue
Information
Modern Italy , Volume 25 , Special Issue 2: Transcultural Exchanges and Encounters in Italy , May 2020 , pp. 113 - 129
Copyright
Copyright © 2020 Association for the Study of Modern Italy

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