Research
1. In-Between Spaces, Corporeality, and Gender in the Literary Works of Postmigrant Authors of Muslim Descent: A Comparative Study of Francophone, Italophone, and Germanophone Literatures
PhD Student: Gloria Coscia
Primary Supervisor: Hubert Roland
This thesis undertakes a comparative study of literary works by postmigrant authors of Muslim descent, writing in French, German, and Italian. Alongside an analysis of these narratives through the lens of postmigrant perspectives, the research also engages with questions surrounding processes of racialisation and sexisation within transcultural contexts. It explores, among other aspects, the deconstruction of binary gender oppositions and the critique of classical models of identity and culture, which are often misused as tools of homogenisation. Postcolonial and intersectional theories are drawn upon and adapted to illuminate the specific issues addressed in the study.
As the thesis is situated within a multilingual framework, particular attention is paid to the relationship the protagonists maintain with both the heritage language of their parents and the language of the European country in which they were raised and educated. The aim is to examine how the fluidity of postmigrant identities is expressed in the literary form of the texts.
Finally, the research investigates the influence of space on the protagonists, with a particular focus on the divisions between the European country and the country of parental origin, as well as between urban centres and peripheral areas. The analysis also considers the individual’s positioning in relation to the collective.
2. Embodied Heterogeneous Cultural Dispositions and the Expression of Masculinities in Autobiographical Narratives by Francophone Authors of Muslim Descent
PhD Student: Serena Finotello
Primary Supervisor: Brigitte Maréchal
This thesis aims to cross-analyze a selection of autobiographical novels by Francophone postmigrant authors of Muslim descent, alongside interviews with the authors themselves, including Magyd Cherfi, Kenan Görgün, and Ismaël Saidi.
Theoretically, this project aligns with Bernard Lahire’s “dispositionalist and contextualist” framework (1998, 2013). According to this approach, social actors, shaped by various socialization contexts, internalize diverse—even contradictory—schemas of action. These schemas are then reappropriated and either activated or set aside depending on the specific situations they encounter.
We propose the study of a “plural man” (Lahire, 2016), one who has navigated multiple socializing contexts and embodies a diverse array of dispositions and condensed experiences that are not always compatible. More specifically, the research examines expressions of masculinities as a central theme in the writings of postmigrant authors, exploring how inherited models are reinterpreted and transformed through the lens of family, cultural, and religious heritage.
Methodologically, the research adopts a diachronic approach, alternating between literary analysis and interviews. By employing grounded theory analysis, integrated with structural content analysis, it aims to identify not only changes but also potential dissonances, challenges, ambiguities, and ambivalences.
3. The Construction of Identity in the Production of Postmigrant Male Rappers in Italian and English: a Study of the Metacommunication and of the Relationship with the Audience
PhD Student: Letizia Sassi
Primary Supervisor: Costantino Maeder
This thesis presents a comparative analysis of the musical production of six Italian and English postmigrant rappers born after 1990. The research explores how these authors express their identities through rap-a musical genre inherently identitarian and democratically anti-hegemonic. This freedom of expression is accompanied by a relationship with the audience that differs significantly from that of authors of ‘traditional’ literary genres, both in terms of the broad number of people reached and the pact of authenticity that is established between fiction and reality. Consequently, the identity represented must be analysed by considering the dynamic interplay of author, narrating I and audience. The rappers’ texts are examined as communicative acts, drawing on the fundamental studies of Lubienetzki & Schüler-Lubienetzki (How we talk to each other. The messages we send with our words and body language. Psychology of human communication, 2022) and Schulz von Thun (Interkulturelle Kommunikation: Methoden, Modelle, Beispiele, 2009).
The city emerges as a pivotal element in the construction of identity. In the rap genre, as well as in the broader literary tradition, the urban environment plays a central role. However, in these authors’ work the city, or even more often the neighbourhood, takes on predominantly relational rather than geographical connotations. The city, therefore, is no longer just a physical space in which the narrative takes place, but itself becomes a key actor in the construction of the subject’s identity and the development of the narrative.