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The Mediterranean has always loomed large in the history and culture of Italy, and since the 1980s this relationship has been represented in ever more varied forms as both national and regional identities have evolved within a globalized context. This interdisciplinary volume puts Italian artists (writers, musicians, and filmmakers) and intellectuals (philosophers, sociologists, and political scientists) in conversation with each other to explore Italy´s Mediterranean identity while questioning the boundaries between Self and Other, and between native and foreign bodies. By moving beyond nation-centric models of cultural and ethnic homogeneity based on myths of progress and rationality, these wide-ranging contributions fashion new ways of belonging that transcend the cultural, economic, religious, and social categories that have characterized post Cold War Italy and Europe.

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Introduction 1. The Return to the Mediterranean in Contemporary Western Thought: Old Contexts, New Approaches 2. Interlude: From Discourses On to Discourses From the Italian Mediterranean 3. Geo-philosophies of the Mediterranean: From Massimo Cacciari and Franco Cassano to Mario Alcaro and Beyond 4. Sounds of Southern Shores: Musical Traditions and Adaptations in the Italian Mediterranean 5. Screening the Souths through Southern Eyes: Revisiting Italy and the Mediterranean through the Lenses of Globalization 6. Writing the Mediterraneity of the Italian South: Vincenzo Consolo, Carmine Abate, and Erri De Luca 7. The Mediterranean of Migrant, Post-colonial, and Exile Writers Post-face

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"The book is both ambitious and meticulously researched and, insofar as it invites us to rethink the place of Italy in relation not only to the Mediterranean region but also to Europe and the rest of the world, it represents a timely critical contribution to the field of contemporary Italian studies." (Nick Dines, H-SAE, H-Net Reviews, April, 2018)

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Author Norma Bouchard: Norma Bouchard is Associate Professor of Italian and Comparative Literature and Cultural Studies at the University of Connecticut. Author Valerio Ferme: Valerie C. Ferme is the Chair of the Department of French & Italian at the University of Colorado, Boulder, USA.

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