From Colonial to Indigenized: Decentered Readings and Receptions of Dante in Postcolonial Somali Literature
October 18, 2023
3:00 PM - 4:15 PM
Location
1501 UH
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Mariagrazia De Luca explores how
decentered readings of Dante from the
“periphery” of postcolonial Somalia allowus
to rediscoverDante’s vulnerability and
humanity. They showus howDante, despite
often portrayed as the emblematic poet of a
non-inclusive idea of Italianness,
characterized by monolingualism,whiteness
andChristianity,was instead the poet ofthe
local,who promoted the vernacular spoken
by his people, andwho suffered under
conditions of exile similarto millions of people
today, orwhatis better known in legalterms
as refugee status. In particular, De Lucawill
explore howdecentered readings of Dante
by Somaliwriters lead us to rediscover a poet
who has been papered overwith centuries of
national propaganda. In fact, since the Italian
Risorgimento, Dante has been installed as a
national icon, and transformed onto an
imperial and fascist Dante during Mussolini’s
regime and a colonial Dante during Italian
colonialism.Civic spaces, Italian textbooks
and school curricula, architecture and even
popular culture from those eras reveal
Dante’s prevalence as a figure in the colonial
imaginary. Somaliwriters have a unique
relationshipwith Dante, both as a historical
figure and in particularwith his majorwork,
the DivinaCommedia.Alongwith Italian
culture and propaganda, la lingua di Dante
has been forced onto Somali people by
Italian colonialism and neocolonialism.
Somaliwriters have nevertheless overturned
the figure of imperial Dante by refashioning
the Florentine poet as a symbol of freedom
and emancipation. The Somali Dante
appears as an indigenized Dantewho strives
for community rebuilding in an infernal
Somalia destroyed by decades long civilwar,
andwho criticizes the division among Somali
clans, just as the historical Dante criticized his
“città partita,
” a Florence divided between
Guelfs and Ghibellines.
Date posted
Oct 10, 2023
Date updated
Oct 10, 2023