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Home , Anna Maria Mozzoni, Elena Bonetti, Feminism in Italy, Postcolonial feminism, Roberto Calderoli, Socialist League (Italy)

Italian racialized women and feminist activism

Exploring discourses of white women in Italian feminist activism work

Alice Contini

Supervisor's name: Edyta Just , LiU

Master’s Programme Gender Studies – and Change

Master’s thesis 30 ECTS credits

ISNR: LIU-TEMA G/GSIC2-A—20/002-SE

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Abstract

The starting point of this study is the common assumption that the Italian society is based on a patriarchal ideological system in which is often normalized. The binary distinction between women and men in Italian society has evolved into discussions and awareness raising on gender- based violence or . As intersectionality has become a central point in Italian contemporary , this study uses the analysis of topics related to the historical creation of the idea of Italian-ness, migration and the influence of right-wing politics in current gender related issues as the basis of a feminist Critical Discourse Analysis. With this in mind, using intersectional theory, , and studies of whiteness, the study aims at exploring as to which extent the discourses of three white Italian women, who identify as feminist activists, influence the presence of racialized Italian women in their work. This study should create academic data and contribute to a research that is extremely limited on these topics.

Key words

Italy, feminist activism, women, intersectional feminism, racialized people, citizenship, color- blindness, race, whiteness, gender-based violence, postcolonial feminism, , right-wing politics

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Acknowledgements

First and foremost, I want to thank everyone who stood behind me and supported me during the research process of this thesis. It has been a long process and I would not have been able to do it without you.

Thanks to those who took time to put me in contact with the Interviewees. And a special thank you to the three women who took time to answer all my questions and were willing to contribute to this important study. I hope it allows us to open a discussion on the findings.

Thanks to Rebecca and Federico for taking time and giving me a much-needed feedback as well as helping me to get out of writer’s block. I also want to thank those friends who have helped me look at certain things from a new perspective. Anna and Johanna, thank you for having been there through the whole process.

Thanks to my family, specifically my parents who always support me in going forward and achieving what is best to me. A special thanks to my cousin Anna who has been a great support with the interviews.

Last but not least, thank you Edyta for being patient with postponing this thesis by taking a year of time to finish it and for taking time to read and discuss this thesis with me.

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Table of Content

1. INTRODUCTION ...... 5

1.1 THE ETHICS QUESTIONS AND REFLECTIONS ...... 9

2. CONTEXTUALIZATION OF THE RESEARCH ...... 11

2.1 THE HISTORY OF ITALIAN FEMINISM ...... 11

2.2 CONTEXTUALIZING CURRENT ITALIAN POLITICS (2018-2020) ...... 18

2.3 SITUATING THE RESEARCH IN LITERATURE AND ACADEMIA ...... 19

3. METHODOLOGY ...... 29

3.1 WORKING WITH QUALITATIVE RESEARCH: SEMI-STRUCTURED INTERVIEWS AS A WAY TO GATHER DATA ...... 29

4. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK ...... 34

4.1 INTERSECTIONALITY ...... 34

4.2 POSTCOLONIAL FEMINISM ...... 35

4.3 CONTEXTUALIZING WHITENESS ...... 40

5. ANALYTICAL DISCUSSION ...... 43

5.1 THE FEMALE SEX AS A PREREQUISITE OF BEING FEMINIST (?) ...... 44

5.2 AWARENESS IS JUST A STARTING POINT: HOW RACIALIZED ARE INCLUDED IN FEMINIST ACTIVISM ...... 52

6. CONCLUSION ...... 62

6.1 HOW WHITE ENVIRONMENTS LIMIT WHITE WOMEN’S AWARENESS ...... 62

6.2 RACIALIZED ITALIAN WOMEN VS. MIGRANT WOMEN IN ...... 64

6.3 WAY FORWARD ...... 66

BIBLIOGRAPHY ...... 68

APPENDICES ...... 74

APPENDIX 1 – THESIS PARTICIPATION ...... 74

APPENDIX 2 – INTERVIEW OUTLINE ...... 78

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1. Introduction This thesis is a contribution to feminists’ efforts in the fight against and racism, hence, in Italy as well as -wing fascists’ agenda that is being pushed at a national political level. Living abroad for most of the past 12 years has made me feel as though I have lost touch with what the reality of social struggles in Italy are. At the same time, throughout my years abroad I have surrounded myself with Italians living abroad, working in a similarly open-minded field as I do (international development). Hence, we share a similar perspective of our home country. This lack of direct daily contact with Italy has led me to believe that I have a distorted vision of what Italy and current Italian feminism is. Contributing to research on Italian feminism has been challenging as it represents not only an academic journey, but also a personal one where I came to deal with issues important to me personally.

I start with the common assumption that the Italian society is based on a patriarchal ideological system in which racism is often normalized. Growing up in Italy and working with Italian organizations once I moved abroad, I have and continue to experience first-hand due to the misogynist mentality that is intrinsically present in the Italian society, both in my professional and private life. As Italian women we are often even unaware of the we experience. It is a long process for many of us to realize to what extent this affects us.

As a way of discovering what Italian feminist women now think and do to bring change, I decided to explore different activists’ voices and share their perspective on specific topics such as their attitude towards intersectionality, Italian racialized women’s issues and the societal change they want to see in Italy. I have felt that these topics were under-researched. I found feminist critical discourse analysis (feminist CDA) as the most appropriate tool using intersectionality and a feminist postcolonial lens as well as Critical Studies of Whiteness useful to analyze my findings. This study should create academic data and contribute to a research that is extremely limited on these topics.

Historically, many Italian feminists have fought primarily for the improvement of white women’s rights in the country. However, the demographic change happening in the past decades with the arrival of many migrants from all over the world has seen, from my perspective, the need to shift the focus not only on the discrimination of women per se in different spheres in Italian society, but

5 also on the inclusion of the most vulnerable groups of women: racialized Italian1 and migrant women2.

There have been two notable private conversations I had with people in my personal circle that awoken my need to understand Italian feminism and the aspect of race within them better and, therefore, explore this topic form an academic perspective. During one of my last Christmases, I was sitting at the table while my family was exchanging gifts. Two of my aunts were discussing the book one has gifted the other. My first reaction was a big smile and I felt like sharing that it is a well appreciated book by a wide range of feminists. What I was not expecting was that the word feminist would have created a huge discussion between women. “I am not a feminist!”, “Being a feminist has always been a bad word!” where some of the sentences that came out from my aunt’s mouth. In other occasions I have heard family members stating things like “I’m not a feminist, but…”. As I live abroad, the time I spend with my family recalibrates my understanding of Italian norms. I observe that the women in my family forget that many of the things they treasure, from their jobs, their financial and political independence to their freedom to travel is thanks to feminists – however they do not see the connection. The second example is a discussion about the Italian translation of the “N” word3. Many Italians believe that if they don’t feel they are being racist, and they don’t see it as a negative word than they can comfortably use it in a private setting as they believe it does not provoke or harm anyone. It goes without saying that this idea is very troubling. This behavior can be best described with following quote:

“What I remember most is one from the [university] program telling us to be mindful that Italians can be ‘bold’ or ‘politically incorrect.’ / That was one way to put it. No one mentioned the possibility of racial encounters and tensions, largely aimed at the rising number of African immigrants” (Philipp, 2018)4.

1 A person who is racialized is someone that is differentiated or categorized according to their race. The racial meaning is extended to a previously racially unclassified social relationship, social practice or group. In instances of power dynamics, it is to ascribe identity for the purpose of domination. I will use the term racialized as to include all races outside the white. Italy has been an immigration country with people from all over the world, hence, it is not just a discourse about black and white skin, but also about the ways in which skin color and ethnicity have been used to subordinate racialized Italians. 2 As migrant women, I include refugees and foreign women entered regularly or irregularly in the country for any purpose. 3 Not feeling comfortable writing the actual word, I will explain it as follows: The “N” word has been adopted in the American English language to refer to a colonial word used in a discriminatory way towards Black people. 4 Taken from the New York Times article: My Very Personal Taste of Racism Abroad (2018) by N. Philipp on her experience studying abroad in Italy.

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Actions such as the ones mentioned, normalize racism and I believe this engrained racism stems from Italy’s inability or denial in facing its colonial past. As Italian found its boom during the Fascist era under Mussolini’s rule, those two ideologies have, from an Italian perspective, been intertwined. The (sometimes) unconscious normalized racism and the denial of a colonial past is why it has been possible for right-wing racist parties to gain power in the government and allow voters to feel comfortable to be openly Fascist and racist.

Specifically, the fight of many Italian feminists and racialized today are linked to different factors. The first comes from the political and religious realm, notably the longstanding fight of feminists against the traditional idea of family and women’s role within the family, influenced by the strong presence of the Vatican. Article 7 of the Italian Constitution clearly states the separation of the State and the Church, nonetheless Catholic ideology influences the laws and the political ideas of many. This is worsened with the political impasse and crisis Italy has been in for decades that have seen the rise of a right-wing government5. The close relationship of Italian politics and religion has allowed the former Family Minister to openly support the idea of the ‘Gender Theory’, a Catholic idea that gender studies and feminism want to destroy the ‘normal’ family and society order. Although there has been a recent shift accumulating in a coalition between anti-establishment party Movimento 5 Stelle (M5S) and the Partito Democratico (PD) which is a center-left Italian party, the former government party Lega has still been able to threaten women’s and migrants’ rights. As a recent example of the latter, the public rhetoric of the Lega’s representative on the discussion over legalizing irregular migrants illegally recruited and exploited by organized crime in , suggests that this decision would support the spreading of slavery rather than a fight against this common practice. The second factor is based on the way Italy has dealt with after the Second World War. If we want to talk about social change and feminist activism and the intersection with race, we have to look on the one hand at the patriarchal society and system the country is suffering under, but on the other hand at the way it has dealt with fascism and colonialism. I believe that Italy has never come to terms with its colonial past and in addition to this, it has for long been (and still is) a country of emigration which many Italians seem unaware of. This sense of denial has resulted in a lack of acceptance of non- stereotypical Italians (e.g. Black Italians). Such acceptance cannot happen if Italians don’t

5 From the elections in March 2018, a coalition formed by anti-establishment party Movimento 5 Stelle (M5S) and the right-wing party Lega (who openly supports Fascists ideas) has been in government until August 2019.

7 deconstruct their ideas of race and colonialism. I find this is best demonstrated by an experience I encounter often - when I discuss issues linked to Italians that are not white, if the discussion is with another Italian, it always goes back to the topic of migration. The migratory background of racialized Italians is what is focused upon and it is not accepted that they are just Italians. This attitude is also found in the Italian feminist space, moreover, it has been clear that, especially in the 60s-70s, race was not factored into feminist discussion and that the fight had quite a binary (women vs. men) perspective.

Finally, in recent years, the binary distinction between women and men in Italian society has evolved into discussions and awareness raising on gender-based violence or violence against women (as it is found in both terms in literature). Since the passing of the law n. 66 on sexual violence in 1996, where rape was finally considered a crime against the person (Bettaglio, Mandolini, & Ross, 2018, p. 15), Italian women have found it even more important to fight against violence against women. However, against this slow progression, the intersections of race and gender in Italy have not thoroughly been researched nor analyzed.

This thesis will have a part contextualizing the study (Chapter 2) in the current historical period we are living in as well as within current academic efforts in studying the intersection of gender and race in Italy. Furthermore, the analytical discussion (Chapter 5) will explore the backgrounds of what brought three white Italian women to define themselves as feminist activist, but also the extent to which intersectionality had and is influencing their work and what limits, in terms of their discourses, are presented when talking about the inclusion of racialized Italian women. With this in mind it is important to investigate concepts such as colonialism as it has a direct influence on the current use of intersectionality, specifically the intersections of gender and race. In order to do this, through my research I intend to answer the following question:

To what extent is the presence of racialized Italian women (or lack thereof) in feminist activism due to the discourse upheld by white Italian women?

To break this question down, I will answer a sub-set of questions:

• How does being female influence Italian feminist views of an activist? • What kind of problems do feminists in Italy face and what solutions do they see to overcome them?

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• And lastly, how are problems of different races within Italy, especially racialized Italian women, understood (and potentially included or excluded) in different feminist activism work? What role does intersectionality play?

Important for a proper feminist Critical Discourse Analysis is the use of a specific theoretical framework that will include intersectionality, postcolonial feminism, and notions of whiteness studies. I deliberately chose to interview three women activists because I wanted to limit this research to people that have experienced discrimination based on their female gender and to whom this has influenced their life and choice to be an activist. Because of the limits that this thesis represents and seeing this as a starting point for such research, I chose to interview only white Italian feminists. This will be further explained in the body of the thesis. I want to discover what their experiences are, when and why they started to consider themselves as feminists, what their contributions are and what changes they want to see in Italy. Furthermore, I want to see how they see issues related to racialized women within their activism and the importance it has. In this sense it is important to me to stress that this study is concentrating on racialized Italian women in which being Italian, and the concept of citizenship is of importance. In this sense, with this study I want to contribute to the efforts of the study of feminism and the intersection of gender and race in the context of Italy. It should give a starting point of analysis and discussion on how discourses upheld by white feminists do influence the presence of racialized women within feminist activism.

1.1 The ethics questions and reflections My ethical reflection started by asking myself, as an Italian woman living abroad, whether I was best placed to analyze the experiences of Italian women of all races and specifically the discourse of Italian women activists. However, as an Italian contributing partially to the efforts of academia to study , I do not see an ethical dilemma with this. I have also put a lot of myself into this research. I consider myself Italian and an active feminist, still, I have contributed my thoughts and my experiences throughout the research in two different ways; both as an insider to Italian society. Moreover, by being half German and having lived outside of Italy for more than 10 years out of the past 12, I contribute as an outsider, not only to the Italian feminist discourses, but, also to Italian efforts to fight patriarchy.

I am well aware that a thesis that analyses the perspective of only one demographic group (in this case, the perspective of white women) is biased. In order to have a more complete image of the situation of race in Italian feminism voices of racialized Italians need to be included. However,

9 due to the limits of a master’s thesis, this is beyond the scope of this research. Nonetheless, I believe that there is substantial value in contributing research that investigates discourses from white feminists on the matter because they are both part of the problem (i.e. the lack of space of racialized people in Italian feminism) and also the solution when it comes to recognizing the experiences of Italian racialized women. I believe that using an intersectional and postcolonial feminism framework as well as Critical Studies of Whiteness to analyze my findings is one way to overcome these biases. Moreover, as migration and the colonial have influenced today’s society a lot, analyzing Italian feminism only from its history and culture can be seen as just Eurocentric. However, this is the starting point of Italian white women’s voices and feminist ideas.

Additionally, it is clear that defining terms related to race is difficult. Because of the lack of proper terminology in the , at the beginning of this research I have used ‘non-white’ (non bianco) to define any race that is not the white race (see Appendix 2). Nonetheless, it has become clear to me that the term puts whiteness in the center and underlines it as the norm. The purpose of this thesis is to contest the norm, hence, to the term ‘racialized’ resonates more with what I want to define. I understand that the term ‘non-white person’ might spark some controversies and can be felt as an ‘uncomfortable’ word to many. This term is found in this research, but it is solemnly when referring to the specific interview questions asked. It is important for me to stress that this should in no way perpetuate the idea of division and subordination of races. This reflection should show the complexities and problematics linked to the intersection of race and gender in the Italian contemporary society.

In terms of the ethics behind using interviews as a research tool, I have decided to be as transparent as possible with the interviewees. Before consenting to the interview, all individuals have been informed about the topic and aim of the thesis in written and verbal form. They have given their consent in written form regarding the registration, use and transcription of the interview. Regarding the identity of the interviewees, I chose anonymity as their idea should serve as a mere example of different feminist activists’ discourses. Once the interviews are transcribed, the possibility was given to them to approve the parts that will be used for the sake of this research.

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2. Contextualization of the research This second chapter of the research should serve as a context for the study. The first section will be dedicated to the history of Italian feminism. I want to underline that much of the previous research done on Italian feminism has been on outlining its history. Little has been written in academia about today’s feminist fights, but needless to say it is important to have a historic overview of it in order to understand the current situation. Similarly, in other contexts, social scientists, in particular in historical anthropology, have started recognizing the importance of including history in their field research in order to understand the societies and ethnicities they study6. Although anthropology historically studied non-Western people with the researcher as an outsider (Comaroff, 1992, p. 7), as I previously highlighted, I believe that by looking at the Italian context, I do so from both an insider as well as an outsider. The second section will give a background of current politics in Italy, which is necessary to understand in which political context many examples of the Interviewees as well as previous research are situated. Recent developments have influenced certain discussions in feminist movements. The previous excursion into the history of Italian feminism does, hence, not only help the reader understand the background of the Interviewees and the analytical discussion, but also for me to contextualize current types of feminist activisms that connect with the outcome of this thesis. Both sections will serve as a background to understand where I want to situate this thesis in relation to previous research done on the topic of gender and race in Italy, which is outlined in the third section of this chapter.

2.1 The history of Italian feminism Although most research on Italian feminism focuses on its history, there is surprisingly little academic research on the topic of current feminism and the intersection between gender and race in Italy. However, in order to understand current feminist movements, it is important to outline its history.

Italy is quite a young nation, born with the declaration of the Italian Kingdom in 1861, after the Risorgimento, a movement wanting the , managed to annex the island of . Hence, we can say that Italian feminism was established only after 1861. Italian feminism history can be divided in two parts: a past movement before the Fascist regime (1922 – 1948) and

6 See Ethnography and the historical imagination, (1992) by John and Jean Comaroff,

11 the contemporary feminism after it7. Because the Fascist regime suppressed any fight for women’s rights, Italian feminism was dormant during those twenty years only to be slowly awakened by women partisans fighting against the regime and for the liberation of Italy. One thing has been the same before and after the regime: feminists wanted real emancipation in the socialist-communist tradition and independence of decision-making in all layers of society (de Clementi, 2002, p. 332,334; Malagreca, 2006, p. 2).

It is common use to divide feminism worldwide into three ‘waves’: the first one between the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century; the second one around the 1960s and 1980; and the third one from the beginning of the 1990s (Ohio Humanities, 2018). Even if it is, however, criticized as being reduced to simple stereotyping (Grady, 2018), I will use this to describe also Italy’s . The second wave feminism in the 1960s was influenced by post-Freudian psychoanalysis and Franco-American theoretical feminism and will be discussed further later. The first wave was in conjunction with Italy’s reunification where the feminist ideals were a mixture of anarchism and the ideals of the Risorgimento. Many women influenced feminism during the reunification by writing about feminism and pushing their voices into the public realm. The term ‘feminism’ was slowly introduced in the Italian vocabulary thanks to this. from is seen as the most important feminist of the 19th century. She was a political agitator, compared to the ’ movement, who created several political associations and movements. She was also a writer with a clear feminist political idea (focusing on legal reforms and criticizing the Italian ) that influenced parties in the reunified Italy. Already in 1864, she was talking about women’s equality in Italian society in her essay “La donna e i suoi rapporti sociali8” in which she contested women’s role in the family and argued for the value of women’s work as a way to emancipate women. Her ideas were influenced by John Stuart Mill9 and led to the foundation of the “League for the promotion of feminine interests” in 1881, which was one of the associations that gave life to the Socialist Party and the “Milan Socialist League” in 1889. She fought strongly for women’s right to vote but her efforts failed to accumulate to substantial change when the new electoral law in 1912 didn’t include universal suffrage. This caused the break of the suffrage movement’s fighting for this and cracks started to appear showing the divide of Italian feminism

7 See The Feminist Movment in Italy (200) by Andreina de Clementi and Lottiamo Ancora: Reviewing One Hundred and Fifty Years of Italian Feminism (2006) by Miguel Malagreca. 8 Translation: The woman and its social relationships 9 was an English philosopher, inspirer and activist of suffragism

12 between a bourgeois feminism based on the fight for rights in general and the socialist commitment for female issues. This divide continued until the second half of the 20th century. During that time, Giovanni Giolitti, the Prime Minister then, was leading liberal politics, but influenced by the Catholic Church. The industrialization of that time, through workers’ fight for their rights, brought the rise of anarchism and the word feminism was introduced slowly. The Giolittan era, that even though ensured industrial growth in all the peninsula, still was marked by the difference between the North and the South, where many emigrated to the American continent. His administration ended with the First World War (de Clementi, 2002, pp. 334–335; Malagreca, 2006, pp. 70–71; Mancina, 2010).

Further important historical era for Italian feminism has been the rise of a Fascist regime. In 1921 was elected in parliament as the head of the . The march on organized by his party the year after that saw tens of thousands of people enter the city and caused the then king Vittorio Emanuele III to give Mussolini the power to form his government. With the assassination of Giacomo Matteotti, a Socialist member of parliament, in 1926 a cabinet crisis was caused that led to the dictatorship and even the Consiglio Nazionale delle Donne Italiane10, founded in 1897 was dissolved. Mussolini’s control over the Italian society was not only political by creating institutions, but also personal by creating cultural ideas. This was especially the case with the central role that women held: their bodies were strictly disciplined as they represented the Fascist instrument to procreate a new Italian nation. Under Mussolini, women were completely excluded from the political world and their rights were disregarded as they were considered to only have the duty to procreate. Even though feminist movements were considered dormant during Fascism, there were some women that did resist the regime and its rules. They mainly opposed the picture of women’s role in society and the stereotypes around the idea of their virginity and sanctity (de Clementi, 2002, p. 335; Malagreca, 2006, pp. 75–76; Zaccaria, 2019, p. 719).

The Fascist regime under Mussolini fell in 1943, which caused the reintroduction of women’s rights in the political arena. With the creation of the Italian Republic, women obtained their right to vote in 1946. After 1945 the anti-fascist parties thought they were able to start a new republican phase, but it resulted with the win of the Christian Democrats that expulsed the left parties from

10 Translation: National Council of Italian Women

13 the government for a long time. Still, the PCI (Partito Comunista Italiano11) didn’t give up and formed different supporting bodies with specific aims that would be tied to the party through loyalty. One of these was the UDI (Unione Donne Italiane12), which hosted socialists, Roman Catholics and laic militant communist women. They were silenced by the party since it was trying to reach the middle-class voters and their ideas resulted more secular and modernizing. Nevertheless, their work had a great impact on the rights of women workers regarding equal pay (de Clementi, 2002, pp. 332–333; Malagreca, 2006, p. 78).

The 1950s and 1960s saw a strong economic boom in Italy and the introduction of the television helped modernize the whole country. As previously mentioned, Article 7 of the Italian constitution states that “The State and the Catholic Church are independent and sovereign, each within its own sphere. […]” (Senato della Repubblica, 1948, p. 6). However, Italian politics have always been inclined towards the politics of the Vatican State represented by the Pope. Between the 1950s and 1960s it was especially influenced by the pontificate of Pius XII, who was suspected of Nazi sympathies. During this time, women’s and family rights were based on patriarchal and Catholic ideals and everybody had to abide to the rules, such as the “indissolubility of marriage, […] punishment of abortion, […] and severely discriminatory treatment in case of adultery.” (de Clementi, 2002, p. 333). This concerned also left-wing women militants (2002, p. 333; Malagreca, 2006, pp. 78–79). The 1960s saw the beginning of the second wave feminism. In Italy particularly, even if they were to abide to the Catholic rules, women organized themselves in marginalized organized groups. Feminist movements at that time were formed outside of left-wing politics and several groupings were created, such as Rivolta femminile13, founded by Carla Lonzi, the first women to insist on sexual difference and the positivity of sexuality (Cavarero & Restaino, 2002, p. 187). Sexual liberation became an important topic during that time as well as the rejection of Marxism. They concentrated on the rejection of women’s traditional roles in society and on their self-esteem. These ideas spread to the biggest Italian cities, where private meetings were held to discuss different feminist matters. Later these kinds of groups started being called collettivi (collectives). As Italy saw a wave of revolts and social movements in the 1968-69, the feminist struggles radicalized. The 1970s saw feminism become more intellectual, where women found spaces in universities, media and research centers to express their opposition to the patriarchy and

11 Translation: 12 Translation: Italian Women Union 13 Translation: Female Rising

14 created new publishing houses specializing in books written by women, women bookshops (initiated by the Libreria delle Donne14 in Milan) and documentation centers. During these years, as a result of the , numerous laws were passed; the law (1970) and consequently a reform to the family law (1975), on equal rights at work (1977) and the abortion law 194 (1978). Similar to other European currents, Italian feminism also adopted notions from psychoanalysis and philosophy in their activism that was influenced by Lacan, Sartre, Foucault, Marx and Gramsci. Lastly, women needed to achieve an autonomous political representation and saw that modernity would see them only under the male symbolic. They felt subordinated because of the male dominated structures of meaning and power and not only because of socio-economic influences and laws (de Clementi, 2002, pp. 36–37; Malagreca, 2006, pp. 79–83).

Women’s struggles continued into the 1980s (third feminist wave), a decade that witnessed the referenda of the abortion law and its subsequent improvement as well as the creation of space for lesbians in the Italian activism space. Their work was, however, linked to gay or women’s movements for a long time. The 1980s also saw the beginning of a crisis in women’s movement, that intensified in the 1990s. The crisis was linked to the rise of and, with it, right-wing Catholic ideas that are still very present now. Even with European efforts such as the European Convention of Human Rights establishing that sexual acts between same-sex individuals should not be forbidden, Italy, as other EU countries, prohibited materials that promoted homosexuality in education and media and opposed the creation of gay umbrella organization “Arcigay”. To make lesbian struggles more visible in 1996 the women-only branch was created: “Arcilesbica”. It was a win in the fight for LGBTQI+ rights and visibility in a still homophobic country. In line with this, in 1998 the fertility law excluded single individuals and homosexuals from the right to use reproductive technology (Malagreca, 2006, pp. 84–86). Nonetheless, center- left governments during 1996 and 2001 saw the inclusion of women in the political sphere. Still, this was threatened when right-wing governments headed by Berlusconi came into power since 1994. This shows that even in the 1990s and 2000s, women’s inclusion in political life had not become accepted across the political sphere. Current Italian society has been strongly influenced by Berlusconi’s era through his TV channels, his sex scandals and his sexist behavior. These scandals were accompanied by a strong public debate in which women were involved and politicians’ opinions where given importance. Representative of these times is the idea that

14 Translation: Women’s Library

15 has always been represented by white, middle class, urbanized and educated women (Bonfiglioli, 2010, p. 67). While the traditional idea of women has been mostly attributed to right- wing political ideals, important to underline is that, during the debates of Berlusconi’s scandals, left-wing women have shown that these ideals are also unconsciously represented by them. An important feminist event of that time has been in 2007 the demonstration Non in mio nome15 in Rome the day after the rape and feminicide of an Italian . Thousands of women have protested against the use of this episode of gender-based violence for pushing a xenophobic agenda and the creation of an idea of the ‘foreign male rapist’, as the perpetuator was from Romania. Moreover, during the economic crisis that started in 2008, gender issues were in fact put aside as secondary or considered superfluous, while the government made sure that the image they portrayed of feminism would weaken the most critical instances internal to Italian feminism (Gribaldo A.; Zapperi G., 2012, p. 8). With the end of Berlusconi’s 4th government in 2011, women organizations started raising their voice again with different initiatives that resulted in the passing of the law against feminicides (2013) (Rossellini, 2014). Important to mention is the movement Se non ora quando16 (SNOQ), born at the beginning of 2011, as an “institutional women’s movement” (Donzelli, 2018, p. 142) that included white Parliamentarian women and that was created as a response to Silvio Berlusconi. 2011 was marked by several scandals around the former Prime Minister, which have started with the revelation by the foreign press that he nominated his Minister of Equal Opportunities, , in exchange of sex favors. The situation aggravated when he was charged of abuse of power for having released a woman from police custody as well as when his private sex parties were exposed. The discussions surrounding Berlusconi led to the spread of sexism and racism in the public sphere when referring to his scandals and a representation of him as “a model of Mediterranean virility” (Donzelli, 2018, p. 142). SNOQ particularly condemned the objectification of the female body by Berlusconi in his politics and media channels, as well as belittling Italy’s institutions. The movement managed to have millions of people to the street protesting his regime (Donzelli, 2018, pp. 142–143).

More recently, Italian and international feminist movements have gathered in an event that show a radical change in their agendas. In March 2019, the northern Italian city of Verona hosted the World Congress of Families (WCF), which brings together the anti-abortion, anti-feminist and

15 Translation: Not in my name 16 Translation: If not now, when

16 anti-LGBTQI global movement and has been classified as a ‘hate group’ by the Southern Poverty Law Center, an American non-profit organization committed to protecting people's rights. (The Post, 2019). Parallel to this, a huge group of feminists from all over the world came together on the same days in the same city as a way to protest and utilize the opportunity to discuss feminist topics. It was called “VERONA TRANS-FEMINIST CITY”, as stated in the webpage of the organization Non una di meno (NUDM)17, the biggest intersectional feminist organization/movement in Italy18. On the article written about that day and posted on their website, they state that “in the patriarchal family, based on heteronormative principles, a sexist and hierarchical social model is constantly produced and reproduced” and that “the family is ideologically instrumental in the pursuit of racist goals” (Non Una Di Meno, 2019c). As will be explained in the next section, the former government has attacked women’s and human rights. Therefore, Italian feminist activists have taken the last government’s political agenda, especially the revision of the divorce law, as a personal attack to their rights and have organized events and to specifically fight against it. Marta Dillon, one of the founders of the Argentinian movement Ni Una Menos, participated also highlighting the importance of this event. As a result of this event, NUDM launched a feminist plan against male violence and against all forms of gender-based violence, which can be downloaded from their webpage. NUDM was formed in 2016 as a network of activists after protests on the day of the elimination of violence against women. The name (Non una di meno) is a translation of the Spanish Ni Una Menos for which this idea was taken. Important here is that the network welcomes also queer people and men who want to analyze their privilege, as well as, more recently, specifically people who are racialized. Their fight includes also the elimination of structural , which, even if they are not direct violence, limit the possibility of the individual (often female) to live her body and persona freely (Bettaglio et al., 2018, p. 16).

Even if the actions of feminists have achieved plenty for women’s rights since the end of the Fascist regime, the influence of the Church and the outdated idea of a woman’s role in Italian society created by misogynist Berlusconi and his media channels meant that feminists have been unable to make notable concrete and lasting changes to women’s role and position in Italy. An important conquest is, however, in 2016 after years of battle, the passing of the civil union law,

17 Translation: Not one less 18 See: Comunicato: Non una di meno è un movimento politico autonomo da qualsiasi partito and Verona Trans- Feminist City by Non una di meno (Non Una Di Meno, 2019b, 2019c)

17 which was seen as big win also for homosexual rights in the country. In relation to the EU Index, Italy has been progressing between 2005 and 2017, but it is still ranked as the worst EU country in terms of gender equality in the workplace and one of the worst in the domains of power and time allocated in doing care and domestic work and social activities (N.B. violence is not included in the Index) (European Institute for Gender Equality, 2020; Rossellini, 2014, p. 5).

2.2 Contextualizing current Italian politics (2018-2020) The financial crisis of 2008 in Italy saw, on the one hand, increase in right-wing governments or instable ones, but also feminist movements have been the most active and biggest (Chironi, 2019, p. 1470). Contextualizing the current political situation of Italy is important when talking about current feminist ideas because it has had a large influence on their agendas.

After several technical governments19 (caused by a constant political instability), in March 2018 the Italian general elections took place which saw a coalition formed by the right-wing fascist party Lega (the League), whose color is green, and the anti-establishment party Movimento 5 Stelle (the ), whose color is yellow. The Lega20 managed to have their leader Matteo Salvini as Interior Minister acting as vice Prime Minister together with the Five Star Movement (M5S) leader , who became the Minister of Labor. Principally, between March 2018 and September 2019, the so called ‘green-yellow’ government has threatened feminist conquests of the past 40 years and to some extent human rights. Examples are the fact that the World Congress of Families, which was organized by a local organization, was supported by the former Ministry of Family and Disability21 and the Region of saw the participation of at least four Ministers of the government. Another big threat has been the design of a bill on reviewing the divorce law by one of the senators of the Lega (that had even the UN worried22) while the former Minister of Interior lobbied for the Porti Chiusi ‘Closed Ports’, a way of prohibiting ships carrying migrants saved in the Mediterranean to dock in Italy. However, Salvini’s thirst for power and desire to have his party’s right-wing fascist agenda pushed in politics brought his government into a crisis. With the hope of having early elections in autumn 2019 he officially distrusted the Prime

19 Technocracy government in which Ministers are selected based on their expertise by the President of the country and the appointed Prime Minister. 20The Lega is the major and most important right-wing party who openly supports a xenophobic and Fascist ideology 21 The Ministry for Equal Opportunities was called Ministry of Family and Disability between March 2018 and September 2019 22 For more information see (in Italian) Il ddl Pillon, spiegato bene (2019) by Il Post.

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Minister . His move, however, didn’t benefit him, but lead to the creation of a new government coalition between the Five Star Movement and the central left party Partito Democratico (PD) (the ) (Giuffrida, 2019). The new government, with the influence of the PD, had some structural changes. It is well known that Italy is not a country that has many women in politics. One of the ‘major’ shifts of the new government is that there are seven women ministers, in comparison to five in the former one, and for the first time these have important positions. Key Ministries such as the one of Interior is now chaired by a woman, who compared to Salvini, is not a politician and doesn’t own any social media account23(Reynolds, 2019). Moreover, the former Minister of Family and Disability is now called the Ministry of Equal Opportunities and Family. Important to underline is that there has not been a proper ministry dealing with equal opportunities since 2013. The new Minister is Elena Bonetti, a woman with a strong Catholic background that has fought for same-sex marriages and the recognition of homosexuals inside the scout organization (Ditta, 2019).

More recent, two relevant events are testing the new government. Firstly, on May 9th, 2020, an Italian woman, Silvia Romano, who has been kidnapped in Kenya and sold to a terrorist group in Somalia eighteen months ago, has been freed thanks to the payment of a ransom by the Italian government (Virgilio, 2020). This is happening in the same time as the discussion over the possibility of legalizing irregular migrants that are exploited in farms in southern Italy through illegal recruitment by the mafia (Saviano, 2020). Both situations are currently opening a political debate on the worth of people’s lives filled with sexism and racism. This, however, will not be discussed here in detail because of the limits set by this thesis. I would, however, underline a very recent statement by Italian journalist Igiaba Scego, who demands that our politicians change, as Italy cannot be represented by people with a sick imagination, who use imperialist language that divides the world between superior and inferior (Virgilio, 2020).

2.3 Situating the research in literature and academia On a personal level, before starting this research, it was important to me to have a strong understanding of what Italian feminism is and was. The essays on the history of Italian feminism influenced and helped me plenty in developing my understanding of current feminism. It became clear that as in all other countries it is multifaceted; some versions of Italian feminism are still

23 Matteo Salvini is famous for his constant activity on social media which he also uses to share fake news to attract more voters.

19 tainted by the patriarchal or heteronormative mentality and others have been more influenced by sexual difference that become a focus of the 60s-70s, as well intersectional feminist ideas.

However, as previously stated, little academic research has been done on Italian feminism in general, and even less on current feminism. Most of the academic literature focuses on the history of Italian feminism (summarized in the section 2.1) and mostly concentrating on feminists from the 1960s and 1970s. Further, a research from 2013 showed that there is a lack of degree courses specifically dedicated to gender studies in Italian universities, while the number of courses taught in the first and second level degree studies included in the survey stands at only 57 (equal to about 0.001% of the overall educational offer active in Italian universities during the academic year 2011/2012) (Antonelli, Sarra, & Sorrentino, 2013). An article published by the online magazine The Vision has been the only source of data I have found about Gender Studies in Italy. The author explains that even if the previously mentioned research is outdated, not much has changed in the years. In 2016 only 24 of the 91 public and private universities in Italy offered gender-related courses. Moreover, fact is, there is no Department of Gender Studies in any Italian university but only interdisciplinary research centers. There are few masters and PhDs and they are not even that easy to find. Reasons for that give a picture of the Italian society: gender-related classes were introduced ‘in disguise’ through other accepted lectures by the universities. The first reason is the fact that feminists were not happy that their movements had close ties with the male establishment and the dominant culture wanting to stay autonomous. Secondly, the university environment in Italy was particularly conservative and hostile towards this field which represented a challenge to classical teaching. This was due to the fact that (before a 1999 reform) the Italian academic system was remarkably rigid in the regulation of study plans. New courses needed to be approved by the academic senate. Finally, also the low percentage of female teachers and their limited level of decision-making power (compared to their colleagues overseas) should be considered. These examples show the limited commitment of Italian universities towards the field of Gender Studies which deprives a debate on these topics on national level and a in depth study. Only the presence of teachers, researchers and students specialized in this sector in Italy can actually create access to this research (Moro, 2019). This means that most of the academic research on gender-related issues in Italy is done from abroad.

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An important aspect in Italian Gender Studies is the situation of gender-based violence in Italy as a structural problem. Since the beginning of the year 2020 until today24 twenty-five women have been killed by the hands of men (Femminicidio Italia, 2020), while the whole year of 2019 it has been ninety-five (De Michele, 2020). In 2018 of 133 women that were killed, in 81,2% of the cases the crime was committed by someone they knew, especially, in 54,9% of the cases by their current or previous partner and 24,8% by a family member (ISTAT, 2020). This data from the national institute of statistics show that homicides of women in Italy have a patriarchal connotation to it as they are linked to the male violence against women. This is why this topic is central in the agenda of Italian contemporary feminism and why most of the research done on gender-related topics is on gender-based violence. A clear view is given by the publication “La camera blu” that collects essays linked to the PhD in Gender Studies of the University of Naples Federico II. Most of their editions talk about gender-based violence. Other examples are books that have given me the needed basis for this research, such as the number 13 of the series “Relazioni Pericolose25” of MIMES EDIZIONI called “Rappresentare la violenza di genere – sguardi feministi tra critica, attivismo e scrittura” 26 by Marina Bettaglio, Nicoletta Mandolini and Silvia Ross. The book is a collection of essays written by different researchers, activists and writers divided into critiques, activism and writing on how gender-based violence is represented in the Italian public sphere. (Bettaglio et al., 2018) Or the book “Lo schermo del potere – Femminismo e regime della visibilità27” by Alessandra Garibaldo and Giovanna Zapperi have strongly influenced the previous essay collection. Here, the two authors, describe the Berlusconi era and the influence that the image of women had (Garibaldo & Zapperi, 2012).

The basis of many recent researches has been the work of Non una di meno. Male violence against women is one of the main issues raised also by the movement with their feminist plan against male violence on women and gender-based violence. The manifest starts with the fact that the Italian language is a ‘sexual language’ in the sense that already in its grammar it reproduces a rigid gender binarism (between nouns, pronouns and adjectives that change depending on whether the person is male or female) and a specific hierarchy, in which the masculine predominates, presented as universal and neutral. The plan is composed of twelve chapters which define from what women or

24 Updated on May 11, 2020 25 Translation: Dangerous Relationships 26 Translation: Representing gender-based violence – feminist views between critiques, activism and writing 27 Translation: The shield of power – feminism and the visibility regime

21 female bodies should be freed from. Important here is to emphasize how they underline the fact that they affirm that violence takes on multiple configurations and that is only the tip of the iceberg of a much deeper and more rooted phenomenon. Specifically, gender-based violence is not an emergency problem, nor a geographically or culturally determined issue, but an expression of patriarchal oppression (Non Una Di Meno, 2019a).

When talking about racism in Italy, social media, such as Facebook, and the internet have helped many racialized Italians to raise their voice and create a space to discuss their identities. Important to mention is the webpage “Afroitalian Souls”, that (as written on their page) is telling the Italian story that features men, women and children of African origin. Their articles and videos combine, in a Italian context, socio-political reflections with the lightness of trends, and even the discovery of new artistic talents, always keeping an eye on the African continent (Afroitalian Souls, 2020). The publishing of articles on topics related to race and being Italian, as well as their Youtube channel is normalizing topics related to be a multi-cultural as well as an Italian society that is composed by people with different skin colors. They are further discussing these issues and raising awareness on them. Another important group is the “Neri italiani - Black Italians” association, that describes themselves as composed by boys and of African, Italian, South American and worldwide descendance who fight for social and collective imagination change.

In literature an important black Italian woman is Igiaba Scego, who wrote several books and is publishing in different magazines and newspapers on topics related to being a racialized person in Italy and migration. Her book “La linea del colore28” (2020) she discusses a so-called ‘black Italy’ and colonialism even before Mussolini. Her reaction on the fact that her book was published as has been of importance (Fanpage.it, 2020). Recently, also the book “E poi basta, manifesto di una donna nera italiana29” (2019) by Espérance Hakuzwimana Ripanti, has been considered a turning point for black Italian women and their experiences. This is because, compared to other Western and European countries, in Italy the combination of racism and sexism is little discussed and analyzed. As I will be explaining more in depth in chapter four and five, this is due to how there is a shared and public resistance to address the roots of these two forms of discrimination in our society and their interrelationship. In case of racism, as Italians, we tend to see each other as ‘good people’ (a term derived from the colonial times) who are immune from

28 Translation: The line of the color 29 Translation: “And then enough. Manifest of an Italian black woman”

22 racist violence in our post-colonial present. Backing it up with the experience of our diaspora the Italian society has the tendency to reduce the scope of racism against the Italians of the southern regions and to accept discrimination and violence against Roma or Sinti as completely normal. Whereas, in regard to sexism, a part of structural aspects outlined before, there is also the belief that formal equality between citizens is the guarantor of a fundamentally non-sexist society. The common perception of the position of Italian women in society is strongly influenced by the comparison with other worlds seen as backward or uncivilized which are completely foreign to us where women would subordinate. This vision of the intrinsically ‘backward’ condition of women in non-Western societies (which often equates to Arab Muslim societies) is so widespread that it can be found in discourses of feminist women or of persons involved in support activities for migrant women (Corossacz, 2013, p. 120).

The first known essay on the intersections of gender and race in Italy has been Vincenza Perilli’s “L’analogia imperfetta. Sessismo, razzismo e femminismi tra Italia, Francia e Stati Uniti30” (2007) (Donzelli, 2018, p. 133). In her work, Perilli, explains how in the 1960s-70s there was a first discussion on the categories of sex and race in feminism in Italy. On the one hand, the idea that sex is a socially constructed idea was raised by some feminists, on the other hand, the idea of a universal sisterhood going beyond race, in which women were put opposed to men, was created. Another perspective that she highlighted was that of sexual difference, that has become important in Italy especially in the 1980s. This created the centrality of the category of sex, avoided discussions of inequality and led to a hierarchy among women that avoided understanding of the intersection of race and sex. Moreover, these feminists made reference to Afro-American , but lacked to mention the African domestic migrant woman who was oppressed in the homes of the Italian elite (Donzelli, 2018, pp. 133–135). Starting from the point that, if in feminism we critically reflect upon the intersection of race and sex, in her opinion this will not be possible if a historic analysis of racism is done, which, in her opinion, is difficult to be done in the Italian society that has such difficulty in coming into terms with its colonial past (Perilli, 2007, p. 24). Linking to this work, an important essay on the study of race and sexism in contemporary Italy, has been Bonfiglioli’s “Intersezioni di razzismo e sessismo nell’Italia contemporanea. Una critica dei recenti dibattiti femministi31” (2010) which was first published in English in darkmatter in the

30 Translation: The perfect analogy. Sexism, racism and feminisms in Italy, France and the United States 31 Translation: Intersections of racism and sexism in contemporary Italy: A critical cartography of recent feminist debates

23 same year. The representation of female racialized persons is different than men. Foreign racialized men, specifically, have been represented as hypersexual beings, oppressive towards their women and sexually dangerous towards Italian women, who therefore need to be protected by Italian white men and by the state (Bonfiglioli, 2010, p. 72). As already highlighted previously, the Italian media and the presence of sexism in the Italian society are important aspects in the study of the intersection between gender and race in Italy. Specifically, how the female body has been a commodification in mass media as well as in politics. A lack of consideration of the fact that bodies are both gendered and racialized is present in many analyses of this societal aspect. Discussions related to the objectification the female body and of racialized female bodies have been particularly present in media and more popular after political scandals during the Berlusconi era that have seen the strong connection between sex, money and power. These scandals have seen Italian male politicians and public figures participating in secret sex parties in Berlusconi’s mansion in which also underaged women participated as escorts. Such scandals have opened debates about the topic of how women are perceived with several left-wing journalists, politicians and public figures participating in it. Ideals of ‘normal women’ have emerged, but it became clear quickly that these were white, middle-class, educated women, who feel superior than the rest of the women who are influenced by improbable beauty standards in television (Bonfiglioli, 2010, pp. 64–68). However, such debates have rarely included the analysis of racist stereotypes and no discussion happened on how sexist images have been contributing to underlining race and ethnic inequalities. Especially, this has been the case after 9/11 with the negative use of images of veiled Muslim women to sustain the idea of development and progress in Italy. Moreover, mass media has contributed strongly to creating the image of racialized migrant men as criminals by reporting mostly crimes committed by racialized foreigners and mentioning their cultural backgrounds. Institutionalized racism has, hence, been strengthened through this rhetoric and supported by the media. The way former Berlusconi and right-wing governments have used sexual violence for racist and security purposes, has been clearly condemned by anti-racist feminist groups and some blogs. Since then, many groups of feminists using intersectionality and lenses to address social problems linked to racialized women, have been created (Bonfiglioli, 2010, pp. 69–74).

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Of great importance for this specific study is Gaia Giuliani’s32 work on race identity in Italy as her book “Race, nation and gender in modern Italy: intersectional representations in visual culture” (2019) in which she explores race and whiteness. Especially, in her essay “Gender, Race and the Colonial Archive. Sexualized Exoticism and Gendered Racism in Contemporary Italy”, Giuliani argues that the Italian racial identity is a result of ‘hetero-referential’ racism intended as a system of racialization that is centered on the ‘Other’ (Giuliani, 2016, p. 554). The idea of Italian-ness is based on the “historical/cultural common features (Italian’s European Mediterranean-ness), which in post-fascist Italy is only apparently de-racialized” (Giuliani, 2016, p. 555). Important in her work is the analysis of the image that is created of racialized women in Italy. She explains that they are either “exotic and marketable objects or a source of abjection” (Giuliani, 2016, p. 555) which she calls symbolic anthropophagy. Most recently this became clear during the so-called Rubygate scandal33, where Karima el Mahrough was represented as an exotic woman taking advantage of a good Italian guy, a colonial idea that will be described more in detail in chapter four. This shows the still present colonial idea of the inequality between the white heterosexual men of power and ordinary beautiful women who are racialized structured by highly sexualized power relations and governed by . The second example that Giuliani describes to explain her idea is that of Cécile Kyenge, of Congolese origins and former Minister of Integration, that has been targeted by (mostly) right-wing groups with racist insults. The representation of her and her body, in comparison to Karima el Mahrough, is more brutal, more animal-like as she was compared to an orangutan by the Northern League34 representative in the European Parliament, Roberto Calderoli in 2013. Her role as a Minister of an Italian government challenged the idea of Italian Whiteness and the possibility of absorbing Blackness into the Italian identity: “Kyenge cannot be a representative of Italianità35, not just because she is black and female, but also because as such she is not the good savage […], a cannibalizable silent Other, but a government representative, and insists on speaking on behalf of Italians. Her hated presence, conversely,

32 Gaia Giuliani is an Italian permanent researcher at the Centro de Estudos Sociais (CES), University of Coimbra, Associate professor in Political philosophy and also a co-founder of InteRGRace – Interdisciplinary Research Group on Race and , secretary of Studi Culturali (Cultural Studies journal) and International Advisory Board member of Settler Colonial Studies. 33 The Rubygate was a sexual scandal that saw the former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi accused of paying an underaged nightclub dancer, Karima el Mahrough (known as Ruby Rubacuori), who identifies as Italo Moroccan, for sex. 34 The Northern League () is how the party League (Lega) was known before. Its official name is Lega Nord per l'Indipendenza della (Northern League for the Independence of Padania). 35 Italian-ness

25 through what Guillaumin calls hetero-referential racialization, confirms what Italianità is meant to be” (Giuliani, 2016, p. 564).

Finally, important to mention is Stefania Donzelli’s research on “Feminisms and migration into Italy: the intersectionality of gender and race” (2018) , a PhD thesis that “focuses on ‘gender’ as (1) a structure of power affecting both migrants and citizens in destination societies and (2) a source of identification shaping the construction of feminist subjectivities” (Donzelli, 2018, p. XV). It provides an in-depth analysis into gender and race connected to the topic of migration. I particularly want to show a few of her considerations outlined in the study. Firstly, the discussion on race and citizenship, in which she explores the idea of Italian-ness and the categorization of the “Italian Self and/or Italian Other as socially defined groups sharing supposedly fixed somatic and/or cultural characteristics linked to ancestry” (Donzelli, 2018, p. 98). Key of the idea of Italian citizenship has been the sentence of one of the founders of Italy in 1867: “Now that Italy has been made, it remains to make Italians”. Principally, this meant creating a modern nation by the Piedmontese36 elite that wanted to distance themselves from the notion of being a peripheral country in Europe. As will be explained later in chapter four, citizenship in Italy has been linked by the idea of ius sanguinis (by blood), which principally served as creating the Italian people and allowing emigrants to maintain their roots with the fatherland, and to obtain new business channels. It also meant as a way to create the illusion of modernization of the people from the South of the country by exporting manpower and allowing their social ascension and expecting an inflow in remittances. From a postcolonial perspective, this idea of citizenship linked by blood and linking generations of emigrants to Italy, has made “the Italian nation to a race” (Donzelli, 2018, p. 102). This nation, however, has always been characterized by a racialized difference between the north and the south linked to modernity and backwardness. The idea of modernity has promoted Italy’s competition on an international economical level and related the country to a European imperialist project. Central to the elite is also the invisible whiteness, since being white came secondary, as the “racial identity of Italians predominantly emerged through a hetero-referential process, resulting from comparison of the Italian Self through contrast with the Southerners and colonized – explicitly associated to blackness” (Donzelli, 2018, p. 104). They are also responsible of the idea to refer to Italians as ‘good people’ that are not able to perpetuate brutality during colonial times (Donzelli, 2018, pp. 98–106). Secondly, I’ll highlight her ideas linked to the

36 is a region in from which the idea of an Italian unification was created.

26 approaches of women to colonialism and race. During the post-unification time emancipation feminists (end of 19th century) have decided to be silent on this issue as they were seeking political recognition, especially for the right to vote. Their requests for political and social emancipation were linked to the ideas of an Italian unification and nation-building of the Risorgimento. They, therefore, wanted to associate the idea of nation with that of the self-determination of women. Furthermore, feminists, even when they openly position themselves against colonialism, did fight for the rights of the proletariat and put the issues around race aside (Donzelli, 2018, pp. 130–133). Later, in the second wave feminism, Italian feminism has centered itself around topics concerning white women. Important for this analysis is the previously mentioned essay by Perilli. What Donzelli want to focus on with the discussion around race and second wave feminism in Italy is the “implicit methodological nationalism” (Donzelli, 2018, p. 133) of that time. In 1990s the term ‘multiculturalism’ started to play an important role in feminism as well as in contemporary Europe. However, arguments against it have helped creating an idea of a singular European culture and migrants’ cultural traits are threatening gender equality in the EU. Important for an Italian perspective has been the analysis of experiences of associations that either involved migrant women or were led by both white Italian and migrant women, in which Italian-ness was then defined by privilege over money, time, or possibility to define a political agenda, which indirectly restrained the political position of migrant women. She also further mentions the fact that Italian women do prioritize gender related issues over other intersections and, hence, not are being able to understand other struggles of power (Donzelli, 2018, pp. 132–139). The conclusions of her research are central to support the analysis and answer to the question asked in this particular thesis on how the presence of racialized Italian women (or lack thereof) in feminist activism is due to the discourse upheld by white Italian women. The study has shown that in Italy there is an objective to fight racism, but at the same time there is a “sub-conscious reproduction of racializing processes” that are important in the denotation of the category of gender (Donzelli, 2018, p. 287). Third wave feminists in Italy often tend to use color-blind language, and it is because of the invisibility of the whiteness. This translated also to government approaches to migration. Important, when talking about migration, is how the intersection of gender and race show inequalities between gendered groups in regard to violence and reproductive labor. While in current feminism discourses there is an absence of a deeper analysis of the root-causes of male violence against women where the migrant male is both an object and a subject of such violence. Finally, similar to what has been outlined before, the researcher highlights significantly that the

27 fact that Italians neglect seeing themselves as racialized subjects and disregard that their privileges do exist because of a structural idea of subordination of the other.

In conclusion, in this chapter I firstly gave an overview of the history of Italian feminism, which as mentioned earlier, is important and necessary to shine a light on the current situation. Further, a section on the up-to-date political background has been necessary in order to be able to contextualize this study and understand the political implications of the analysis in this thesis. Finally, this current section on the situation of the research related to the studies of gender and race in Italy has shown a very limited presence of academic data on such front. Recent efforts by different activists on raising awareness on the topics of race in Italy, and some efforts in literature as well as academia have started to bring these topics on a more public level. However, it has become clear that a study on racialized Italians inside of feminist activism is lacking. Collecting this data and analyzing how white bodies influence the presence of people who are racialized or lack thereof is, hence, important in order to understand to which extent certain attitudes can limit the discussion of topics linked to citizenship and gender-based violence that are so central on a political level in Italy. Moreover, since little academic data is available on feminism in Italy, this particular research should serve as a first step towards the analysis of contemporary topics related to it.

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3. Methodology

3.1 Working with qualitative research: semi-structured interviews as a way to gather data As stated before, I find myself studying Italian feminism from abroad. Same as many other researchers (Davies, 2008, p. 105), I decided to adopt semi-structured interviews to gather information from the ground and women themselves. Moreover, I also found feminist Critical Discourse Analysis introduced by Michelle M. Lazar an important tool to analyze the outcomes of the interviews as it “[…] aims to advance a rich and nuanced understanding of the complex workings of power and ideology in discourse in sustaining (hierarchically) gendered social arrangements” (2007, p. 141). Critical Discourse Analysis has been an important methodology in the social sciences. As gender relations in a culture are often intrinsic and commonly unconsciously shared among a society, while doing an analysis of the discourses of the Interviewees, it is important for the sake of this study to have a feminist perspective to it. Feminist in the sense that it gives a political perspective to gender (Lazar, 2007).

Starting this study, I had a general idea on the topic I wanted to write about and the data I needed to collect. Hence, I had a set idea of what kind of questions that I wanted to get answered, but it was important for me to let the Interviewees freely express their views and tell me about their experiences and work without restrictions. When mentioning the word feminism in Italy, the first thing that most Italians would think about and criticize is that women want to take a bigger space: in society, at work, etc. It doesn’t matter if this person is a feminist or not, if they are intersectional or not. When mentioning the word ‘feminism’ we all think about women. Hence, the need to start such research interviewing women. Particularly, having grown up with similar racialized experience, I saw the importance of starting to analyze Italian white women’s discourses, as generally there is a research gap on the topic. Furthermore, it was significant to me to speak to women who consider themselves feminists and activists as I figured, by being feminist activists, they would be more aware about theories and the topic of this thesis. Finally, because they actively are contributing in bringing a change to the Italian society, their discourses are relevant to be analyzed. I would like to reiterate that I have no personal relationship to any of the three interviewed women. They were all referred to me by friends or through other contacts that I have received when I started reaching out to when beginning the research.

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Furthermore, the main focus of this thesis was not to gather ‘dry’ data on feminism activism, but rather focus on the content of the words and discourses used by three women who describe themselves as feminist and activists. Hence, the choice of a qualitative analysis with the use of a semi-structured interview method, “the principal means by which feminists have sought to achieve the active involvement of their respondents in the construction of data about their lives” (Reinharz & Davidman, 1992, p. 18). The interviews had to have some structure, but at the same time I needed for the interviewees to have some space to answer how they wanted and use their words (Davies, 2008, p. 106).

Before every interview I talked to the women on the phone and explained my idea of the thesis and showed them my point of view. Therefore, it was important for me show the Interviewees a part of myself to feel comfortable. I resonated with Letherby’s point in her essay “Quoting and counting : the qualitative / quantitative” (2003) when she says that “[…]the interview should be a mutual interaction in which the researcher is open and gives something of herself by talking about herself, by answering questions when asked and perhaps feeding back some findings to respondents when writing up” (2003, p.83). I always considered this research to be two sided and saw each interview as an exchange from both sides, as they were explaining to me their feminist ideas and efforts.

It is, therefore, an open-ended research method that “explores people's views of reality and allows the researcher to generate theory” (Reinharz & Davidman, 1992, p. 18). Even if I didn’t disclose my clear opinion of Italian feminism to the Interviewees, because I didn’t want to make that the topic of the interview, I was very transparent from the beginning about the research and answered all the questions they had as well as agreeing or validating some of the points I found relevant for the research. The interviews were done between July (Interviewee 1, interviewed 27/07/2019), August (Interviewee 2, interviewed 25/08/2019) and October 2019 (Interviewee 3, interviewed 03/10/2019) and lasted between 30 to 50 minutes. The dates of the interviews where quite separated one from the other due to summer vacation and other obligations that made it hard to schedule phone or Skype dates that were feasible for the three. This has, however, not influenced the outcome of the interview and has given me time to analyze them better. The chosen language of the interviews was Italian, our tongue, so to make them feel comfortable to speak up their minds. It was important for me to make them all feel conformable with the situation and with the interview in order to focus on their point of view. Of course, this thesis cannot be un-

30 opinionated, my analysis and interpretation have been my point of view in it, but I thought it would be also important to focus on their voices. After the first interview, I noticed that a previous preparation would also help the interviewees to structure their thoughts and the messages they wanted to give to this particular research, hence, I sent two of them the exact questions beforehand. Nonetheless, because of the interactive and complicity aspect to the interviews, some questions were omitted or altered during the interviews (Davies, 2008, p. 106). Yet, the proposed structure in the annexed interview guide was kept.

An important method I had developed for me even before this research, is that I tend to take notes when people are talking in order to remember some of the points. This has been important in my research and analysis method because some ideas that were said during the interviews made me realize things and it helped me do a personal mind-map as well as brainstorming on the different topics.

The contact to the Interviewees was made through friends and acquaintances. I didn’t look for a specific profile of feminist Italian activist, but just someone who would identify first as feminist and second as any kind of activist. My definition of activist here is someone who dedicates part of their life to campaign for feminist topics. I deliberately keep the word ‘campaign’ open since I feel that anyone who feels strongly about feminism is taking time in their private time or at work to produce or work towards the awareness of feminist topics37 is a sort of activist. Before setting up an interview date, I had a phone call with them in order for them to get to know me, but also the topic and the research that I was conducting. Because of the physical distance to Italy, all interviews have been done over the phone or with Skype and recorded. I understand that this method gives a certain distance between the interviewer and the Interviewee, I guess that the preparing phone call and the social connection I had to each one of them, helped creating a certain sense of belonging and complicity. Particularly, the feeling of contributing to a research that discusses current feminist topics in Italy has created in the contributor the feeling that it is important to participate and to have something to say about it. The topics discussed are criticized by right-wing people in Italy whose voice became stronger lately and it makes people react.

Since the choice of Interviewees was random, it made this research very interesting. When I started reaching out to friends and acquaintances about putting me in contact with feminists and activists,

37 As “feminist topics” I simply define any topic related to the work towards the equality of the sexes, LGBTQ+ rights or intersectionality.

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I was expecting to have contacts of women who would regularly demonstrate on the streets. However, what I got was different voices of different ways of doing activism, which has intrigued me even more. Unfortunately, because of difficulty in response, lack of time and other issues, it was not possible for me to have a fourth interview as has been planned at the beginning of this research. This also has shifted my interest from a general research on current Italian feminism to actually concentrate in a more specific manner to the particular answers of the three interviewed women.

All three interviewees identify as Italian women but have very different backgrounds. All three of them participate as feminist activists in different ways. Interviewee 1 is managing two blogs that tell the in Italy and abroad, Interviewee 2 works closely with Non una de meno in one of their so-called ‘tables’38, and Interviewee 3 works with a university start-up towards a stereotype-free society. They are all based in different cities (Rome and Milan) but do a kind of work that goes beyond their city walls. Two of them are older than 50 years while the other is 30. It gave me a general view of what type of woman would call herself an activist and a feminist. Their affiliations vary from being fully aware of their path, the type of feminism they belong to and their views on intersectionality. Interestingly enough for me, not all agreed that intersectionality is an important theory to apply to feminist work in Italy currently.

At this point I want to underline that this thesis doesn’t focus on the activism per se, but more on what they want to say and what change they want to see in the country. Especially, a side of postcolonial feminism and Critical Studies of Whiteness, I decided to use intersectional theory to analyze their voices. This was even more interesting when one of the interviewees expressed their opinion on intersectionality considering it not to be used in a Western context. Her words sparked my interest in understanding the critiques of theory and the ethical part of it which I will discuss more deeply in the analysis section.

The analysis of the topics was made through the use of color coding and post-its, two methods that help me organize thoughts and ideas. I was first looking for similar patterns: what was their path to realize they are feminist? What ideas to they have towards intersectionality? How do they react

38 NUDM has 9 different groups they call ‘working tables’ that approach different topics related to their feminist fight against patriarchy.

32 to the questions about the inclusion of racialized Italian women? Do they all react the same, or what similarities transpire?

It was important for me to focus on their personal path towards feminism as women, in order to analyze the female sex intersection in an Italian society. The race aspect was introduced later in the interviews as in building up and questioning they work they are doing. The question “How do problems of non-white people faced in your feminist movement? Is it an important topic for Italy today?” was adapted in all interviews depending on what the interviewee was stating before or the type of feminism and activism they are doing. However, it was important to me to understand on the one hand their opinion of the inclusion of topics related to racialized Italian women and girls and on the other hand how they are involved in the different activisms. Other questions related to the movements or their idea of intersectionality were often already introduced before the relative question was asked. The interviews went on quite fluently with every question building up to previous aspects and at the end it was possible to have a clear idea of what the person was thinking and advocating to.

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4. Theoretical Framework This chapter will outline the theories used for the discourse analysis of the three interviews. The theoretical framework includes intersectionality, postcolonial feminism and Critical Studies of Whiteness. All three theories, and their relevance, will be explored.

4.1 Intersectionality The term intersectionality was introduced by Kimberlé Crenshaw in 1989 to underline the fact that in identity politics the problems and discrimination that women who are racialized face have not been properly considered, because it failed to analyze the intersection between gender and race. A person was to be considered either a woman or person who is racialized. It shows how subordination has always been considered as a “single-axis framework” (Crenshaw, 1989, p. 140) thereby excluding the challenges women who are racialized faced as a marginalized group (Crenshaw, 1989, p. 140, 1991, pp. 1242–1244).

Because the term was coined in a context that shined the light over Black American women’s discrimination, some feminists claim that the concept of intersectionality should solemnly be used in the context of US American black women and . I, however, do strongly believe that the theoretical framework it provides can be useful to analyze other forms of marginalization and structures of power. It is important to underline that “[i]ntersectionality has, since the beginning, been posed more as a nodal point than as a closed system—a gathering place for open- ended investigations of the overlapping and conflicting dynamics of race, gender, class, sexuality, nation, and other inequalities” (Cho, Crenshaw, & Mccall, 2013, p. 788). Most importantly, it shines a light on the dynamics of difference and sameness in politics of social movements and antidiscrimination. This is highlighted by Lykke who defines intersectionality, a “[…] theoretical and methodological tool to analyse how historically specific kinds of power differentials […] based on discursively, institutionally and/or structurally constructed sociocultural categorizations such as gender, ethnicity race […] interact [and] produce different kinds of societal inequalities and unjust social relations” (Lykke, 2010, p. 50). It is a tool that theoretically and methodologically analyzes power relations that has been rooted in the current society using different kinds of categories, or intersections, and allows us to analyze how they are intertwined and produce marginalization and inequalities (Lykke, 2010).

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Moreover, as explained by Breny Mendoza in her essay “Coloniality of Gender and Power: From Postcoloniality to Decoloniality” (2015), some scholars have criticized the theory because it is too descriptive, focuses merely on racism and contributes to the stigmatization of women. Others have argued that by studying intersections beyond race and sex, it contributes to further violence against black women and their discrimination and brings the focus back onto white women. This is especially dangerous when only superficially using intersectionality as a tool for today’s feminist fights (Mendoza, 2015, pp. 5–6). Because intersectional theory challenges the power dynamics in society, I deem it a necessary tool to analyze whether the specific work that the three interviewees are doing is fighting inclusively for all.

4.2 Postcolonial feminism Intersectional theory has been of great value to the contribution of postcolonial feminism as well as decolonial and anti-racist theories. It has made it understood that “[…] colonialism and imperialism could not be understood without considering the intervention of race.” This also means that intersectionality, when used outside the US American context, allows the analysis of different struggles of power and dominance from a colonial perspective (Mendoza, 2015, pp. 6– 8). A postcolonial lens is important when analyzing the discourses of white feminists in Italy, because it criticizes capitalism and Western colonialism.

Postcolonial feminism is based on postcolonial theory, a field which criticizes capitalism, modernity and, specifically, Western colonialism, based on the theories of French philosophers Foucault and Derrida. Important to postcolonialism is that is represents a new theoretical framework on colonial studies specifically for the production of an alternative historiography, as in ‘history from below’, that challenges Western theories of historical analysis. Both postcolonial theory and postcolonial feminism have two currents: the Subaltern Studies Group, which focuses on the British colonialization of India and other parts of Asia, and the Latin American Modernity/Coloniality Group, which focuses on Spanish, Portuguese and French colonialization of the American continent. Both currents, hence, have a different position towards the relationship between colonialism and capitalism. The Subaltern, considered the core group of postcolonialism, specifically disputes that there has been a difference on how capitalism developed in Europe and in the colonial world. This happened because the industrialization, initiated by British colonizers and the Indian nationalist capitalist class, happened without extending to the exploited subaltern group and without its proper involvement in the process. Particularly, (among others) equality,

35 political freedom, and secularism were not guaranteed in postcolonial India. This had split the society in two: the capitalist individualist class and the subalterns, concerned about “religion, caste, ethnicity and community” (Mendoza, 2015, p. 9). The subalterns criticize and focus on difference and on the local, as in raising the voices of subalterns. They consider that Western analysis, and in particular, Marxist theory were not suitable in Eastern colonial capitalism.

Key to postcolonial feminism has been Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, also founder of the South Asian Subaltern Studies Group (Mendoza, 2015, pp. 9–10). She especially puts the basis for feminist postcolonial criticism with her essay “Can the Subaltern Speak?” (1988) in which she reinterpreted Gramsci’s idea of the subaltern through a postcolonial lens and explained how the so-called ‘third world woman’ is the subaltern, as she is silenced by the men of her society and by Western knowledge production. Western scholars would compare the modern civilized West with a more savage ‘East’ and the idea of representing the subaltern woman would be emphasizing the superiority of the West. She, hence, sees a failure in postcolonial theory which would reproduce Orientalist39 discourses (Mendoza, 2015, p. 11).

Specifically, postcolonial feminism criticizes the Eurocentric ideas in Western feminism, as it precisely highlights the fact that white middle-class feminism often leaves out racism and neo- capitalistic issues from their discourses. Moreover, it has given a new perspective over the global colonial history and a new interpretation of specific systems of power linked to gender created because of it (Lykke, 2010; Mendoza, 2015). A key essay from the Latin American perspective has been “Under Western Eyes” (1984) by , who further supports my theoretical approach as she underlines the fact the has created a homogenous ‘we’ which neglects the difference within women, influenced by their geographical location, class, race, ethnicity and other causes of possible oppression. This is particularly the case in societies in Italy where migration has become central not only on a political agenda but where right-wing populist ideas still create a difference between white people who ‘belong’ and racialized people ‘who need to go back home’. Mohanty also analyzes the idea of the ‘third world woman’ that is constructed by Western white feminism and colonial ideas. This division also created the idea of ‘developing’ and ‘developed’ countries and is key in the analysis of feminist discourses in Europe (Lykke, 2010; Mohanty, 1984). Her ideas have to be strongly underlined, especially as I believe Italy’s colonial

39 Orientalism is a word coined by Edward W. Said, one of the founders of postcolonial studies, to refer Western patronizing ideas of the East (i.e. Asia, North Africa, and the Middle East).

36 history and the consequences it has on today’s society has not been discussed enough. Mohanty, moreover, extended the geographical idea of ‘third world woman’ or subaltern woman conceptualized by the Subaltern Studies Group by drawing parallels between “Western and non- Western heteorpatriarchies” (Mendoza, 2015, p. 11) through the idea of the labor exploitation of racialized Western women. As this exploitation happens both in the global North and South, it then created a transnational solidarity among ‘third world women’. She also distances herself from the Subaltern Studies Group, who sees the subaltern as someone with issues radically different from the West, with the traditionally Western left idea of revolution that starts from marginalized groups. Her transnational feminist positioning comes close to the Marxist idea of the workers solidarity setting the ground to a social transformation beyond border (Mendoza, 2015, pp. 11– 12).

For this study, both currents are of importance for the analysis of the discourses of the involved Italian feminist activists. Postcolonial feminism has addressed the issue of Eurocentrism and racism within Western feminism, also in popular culture, film and mass media. I focus the analysis of the interviewees’ discourses on the extent to which culture and history limits the participation of racialized Italian women in feminist activism. Because of the previously mentioned issues concerning migration and citizenship, an analysis from a postcolonial view, in which history can be told differently in a country were migration is a huge issue, especially concerning their exploitation, I believe a postcolonial feminist perspective is an essential tool to analyse their discourses. It is also of particular interest for this study as it is a theory that focused on topics of ethnicity and race which directly links to my accompanying theoretical framework (intersectional theory) which explores how “sociocultural categorizations such as gender, ethnicity, race […] interact [and] produce different kinds of societal inequalities and unjust social relations” (Lykke, 2010, p. 50). Therefore, to understand the reasons behind the use of postcolonial feminism in my research, an understanding of Italian colonial and migration history is necessary, as well as understanding how this history has influenced Italian identity throughout history. Moreover, as this study focuses on Italian racialized women, an idea of Italian identity and its link to colonialism and migration is necessary.

Although Italy’s colonial history has not had a strong impact on the migration flows of today, it is important to underline that during the time between the reunification and the end of the Second World War, Italy was actively involved in colonizing the world. Yet, many claim that the Italian

37 colonialization was benign and this supports the myth of italiani brava gente (Italians as ‘good people’). The first colony that Italy conquered was Eritrea in 1882, then the commercial concession of Tientsin (today Tianjin, China), Somalia (1905), (1911), the Dodecanese Islands (1912), and during the Fascist regime Ethiopia in 1935 and Albania in 1939. 1912 saw also the creation of a Ministry of the Colonies which managed the different colonies and ended up harmonizing the hegemony of the territories. The indigenous people of these colonial territories were recruited into the Italian military in order to fight in other territories. This can be considered as a systemic brutal form of violence against the inhabitants of its colonies (Zaccaria, 2019, pp. 719–734). Italy’s involvement in colonialism has been much stronger than the Italian general public believes and contributed to the creation of what we currently consider the ‘developed’ and ‘developing’ worlds. Key to a contemporary postcolonial view of Italian colonialism has been the discussions around famous Italian journalist Indro Montanelli, who often underlined his sympathies for Mussolini. At the age of twenty-four he was in charge of a group of African soldiers that were part of the Italian colonial army in Eastern Africa. Montanelli has founded two of the major Italian newspaper and has shown his sympathies towards Mussolini throughout his life. While in Ethiopia, he acquired a twelve-year old sex slave and has talked about it openly frequently in his career as journalist. Over the years he was more and more often questioned about the fact of abusing of a minor, however, his excuse was that in Africa things were different and that the girl was considered a woman. In an article he also once described his sexual experience with this girl, who not only was a minor, but also suffered from FGM40. At the end of his time in Ethiopia he ‘donated’ the girl to an Italian man who used to have a harem. On the 8th of March 2019 the feminist group Non una di meno decided to besmirch Montanelli’s statue in Milan as a sign of protest against the violence he perpetuated on this girl. The part of the society who could only see him as a successful journalist were scandalized, but the ones understanding the seriousness of his actions, applauded them. A postcolonial feminist analysis was made by other journalists on Montanelli’s relation the young girl before. However, this protest gave visibility for a public postcolonial discussion of Italian history and of the whiteness of NUDM which resulted to the inclusion of more voices of racialized people in their actions (Scego, 2019, pp. 49–50).

Regarding the topic of migration, Italy has long been, as previously outlined, an emigration country that has seen people migrate mostly towards the American continent. Yet, similar to other

40 Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)

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European countries, Italy also experienced the first immigration movements (mainly students and workers) in the 60s and 70s mainly from Eritrea, Ethiopia and Somalia (former Italian colonies), but also other African countries. Many Italians may consider migration to be quite a recent phenomenon, however, this is not true. Most migrants that arrived in Italy in the 60s were women that worked as domestic migrant workers in addition to Tunisian fishermen who were recruited in the south of Italy. During the 1970s and 1980s Latin American refugees came fleeing from the South American dictatorships. However, during this time migration was not considered an important political topic and there were no laws to regularize it until the first immigration law was approved in 1986. Compared to other European countries, Italy didn’t have a homogenous arrival of immigrants linked to growing industries, but rather many nationalities that arrived in Italy at different times and spread across the country mainly working in agriculture and domestic work. For a long time, the immigration trend was seen as transit migration and was underestimated. Nonetheless, in the late 70s the first piece of research on foreign workers in Italy was conducted which identified half a million people (Camilli, 2018).

When Italy was unified in 1861, its first citizenship law underlined the principle that belonging to a society depended on belonging to a nation, hence, to a community of people who have the same ancestors (Camilli, 2017). As outlined in chapter two with Donzelli’s study (2018), this is the basis of any discourse around citizenship rights and belonging in Italy. Italy was built upon the idea that in order to belong to the Italian society there has to be a blood link – ius sanguinis41. Over time, Italy has favored the transmission of citizenship ‘with blood’, to maintain a link with the many Italian emigrants who lived and worked abroad and contributed to the development and enrichment of the country through remittances (Camilli, 2017; Donzelli, 2018, pp. 98–106). In the 90s anti- racism sentiments and migration were put in the center of the Italian political agenda, helped by the inflow of people from Albania (once the dictatorship was over and borders opened) linked with the political turmoil caused by the fall of the Berlin wall. Many Italian governments started to regularize the status and flow of irregular migrants by introducing laws that restricted residency and tightened procedures for asylum and obtaining nationality. In 2001 the census showed one million foreigners resided in Italy and immigration became central in the political agenda of all parties (up to today). 2011 was a pivotal year that turned the focus of immigration to the controversy surrounding the boats of irregular migrants arriving from Northern Africa (lately also

41 Acquisition of citizenship due to the fact of being born from a parent in possession of the country’s citizenship

39 to the Balkan route). Because of increasingly restrictive laws in terms of the legalization of migrants’ statuses, between 2011 and 2017 the annual increase of foreign legal residents in Italy experienced its first slowdown and then a halt. Today, in line with this trend, the so-called ‘Salvini Decree’ (Law of 4 October 2018 n. 113) has the characteristic of penalizing the permanence of immigrant workers on national territory (Camilli, 2018). Entering Italy and becoming Italian was difficult from the beginning, however current politics has made it even harder. In 2017 the discussion around the idea of ius soli42 and ius culturae43 has made its way into the political agenda. Some argue for the idea of all three concepts (ius soli, ius culturae, and ius sanguinis) to be integrated together. In order to establish Italian citizenship, the factors considered should be whether the person has Italian parents and if they were born in Italy to migrants who have resided in the country for many years, but above all if they attended an Italian school, thereby giving central importance to the Italian school and culture (Camilli, 2017).

The idea on which Italian citizenship is based, is that of blood as the main factor of being Italian and has its origin from the late nineteenth century. Moreover, a postcolonial view on the history of Italian colonialism and the implication it has in today’s society are necessary. These new ideas on culture and birth on Italian soil, show that a shift should be made towards the idea that an Italian can be such despite form a blood link and that a nation is not based on a particular race.

4.3 Contextualizing Whiteness When contextualizing Italian feminism, we have to talk about the topic of race, notably ‘whiteness’ – one specific intersection that my thesis focuses on. As stated before, Italy has historically been an emigration country, but over the past two decades it has been under the international eye for the arrival of hundreds of thousands of migrants from Africa. This has shifted the political agenda to focus on tackling this issue, by choosing to include or exclude migrants in Italian society. As outlined by Donzelli (2018) in her research, the creation of the Italian nation, has contributed in creating also an ‘Italian race’ in which whiteness is invisible. However, it is a fact that more than ever, the society is changing, and with it the demographics and its people. We see increasing numbers of Italians that don’t look the stereotypical way (olive-skinned, dark-haired people). In

42 Acquisition of the citizenship of a given country as a consequence of the legal fact of being born on its territory, regardless of the citizenship of the parents. 43 A principle of law according to which foreign minors can acquire citizenship of the country in which they were born or where they have lived for a certain number of years, provided that they have attended schools in that country (generally a cycle of studies) or have completed training courses for a certain number of years.

40 times like these, what it means to be Italian has to be challenged and understood in the context of social movements. Primary, as the three interviewees are white and based on the notions explained in the previous section in terms of Italian citizenship and colonialism, this research needs to be contextualized within Critical Studies of Whiteness and Feminist Studies of Whiteness, which has been getting more important since the 1990s. This feminist approach has been developed thanks to anti-racist and postcolonial discussions around “the construction of whiteness as a normative categorization” (Lykke, 2010, p. 55). Particularly, it discusses ‘racialized relations of power’ in terms of how the white is socially constructed. This is to stress how it is not only important to analyze the subordinated, but to understand the construction and reproduction of relations of dominance. Specifically, Feminist Studies of Whiteness research on how this reproduction and construction is when dominance is both gendered and racialized, and “how class privileges, normative heterosexuality and nationalism all support and sustain these processes” (Lykke, 2010, p. 56).

Important for this research is the essay “A phenomenology of whiteness” (2007), in which Sara Ahmed analyzes Fanon’s work (1986) on whiteness and underlines the fact that colonialism has made the world a ‘white’ place. Being white is more than a trait, but an orientation that has things (objects, styles, capacities etc.) at its reach. At the same time, she talks about how whiteness is invisible for those who inhabit it, and, because of it, certain spaces are orientated around it. Important here is Amanda E. Lewis’ work (2004) on whiteness, as she explains that “[…] race as a set of identities, discursive practices, cultural forms, and ideological manifestations would not exist without racism” and that “[…] the racialization of whites” is to certain extent “about domination because the category’s very existence is dependent on the continuation of white supremacy” (Lewis, 2004, p. 625). Coming back to Ahmed, she further underlines how the institutionalization of whiteness, as places in which who will be part of it, needs to embrace the rules and regulations, its being. Hence, there is the tendency that institutions recruit personnel that look like them (in this case white), because they fit better in their context and can adapt more easily (Ahmed, 2007, pp. 154–163). People are more ‘comfortable’; as Ahmed puts it: “White bodies are comfortable as they inhabit spaces that extend their shape” (Ahmed, 2007, p. 158). This approach of not fitting in the box, a body being noticed because it is not white, can be also applied in the context of this study and on the constraints that racialized people face in our Italian society. Furthermore, I choose to use her description as another tool to support the understanding of race in Italy and therefore a theoretical way to help explain why it is still hard for Italians to accept the

41 idea that to be Italian should not be defined by your race. Moreover, Lewis’ work on the study of whiteness as a group underlines how studies that focus on “culture, ideology, or identity without careful attention to power and the structural components of race threatens to miss [that] racial identity […] involves the formation of social groups organized around material interests with their roots in social structure’’ (Lewis, 2004, p.625).

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5. Analytical Discussion In the previous chapters of this research I have outlined different topics that create a background and a basis for the analysis of the conversation held with the three interviewees. Firstly, a counting of the history of feminisms in Italy, contextualizing current politics and situating the thesis in literature and previous academic research has been important to understand the background of certain discourses upheld by them. Further, an understanding of the recent political situation of the country also makes it clear as to why the topic of this study is so important in the current Italian context.

The purpose of this chapter is to answer the main research question as to what extent is the presence of racialized Italian women (or lack thereof) in feminist activism due to the discourse upheld by white Italian women. As explained in the introduction, I have set three sub-questions that should support the answer. It is for this reason that I want to divide the analysis in two parts. The basis for this analysis will be the three interviewees and the theoretical framework outlined in chapter four. Moreover, the previous research will also support certain outcomes.

In the first section, I want to analyze how being born female in Italy has influenced women’s involvement in feminism and how it influences their view of change in the Italian society. To do so, I will use intersectionality and the notions of whiteness studies to analyze to which extent the Interviewees’ experiences and discourses have an influence in the presence of women who are racialized in their specific feminism activism. As I have outlined in chapter two, historically, feminism in Italy has tackled issues related to women with a binary white perspective. By researching on the historical background of feminism in Italy, I also want to understand if this has influenced the women’s awareness on feminist topics and if that also has an influence on the views of race inside of activism. In the second section, I want to see to what extent problems of different races are understood in different activism work, especially of racialized Italian women. By directly asking the interviewees about Italian racialized women and their understanding of intersectionality, I want to see their comprehension of problems related to gender and race within their feminism activism and particularly giving importance to issues such as citizenship. Intersectionality together with studies of whiteness and postcolonial feminism will help me understand the influence their stances and discourses have on racialized women inside their organization. Moreover, together with the first part of this chapter, it should help me develop a proper answer to the main research question. With this chapter I want to, hence, discuss topics

43 related to being of ‘female sex’ and then intersecting it with ‘race’ from a white woman perspective.

5.1 The female sex as a prerequisite of being feminist (?) A: “When was the first time that you have come close to ‘feminism’?

M: “Well, let’s say…practically since always. It’s a little bit like when… the question of the worker who puts the toolbox on his shoulders and understands that he is being exploited. I can basically say since always.” 44

Of course the title is an hazardous provocation, as feminism reflects on discriminations and power inequalities not only from a binary male-female perspective, but when talking about white Italian feminist women, being born female and growing up as a girl and woman in Italy often is the prerequisite for many to start adventuring the world of feminist thoughts. This is why the quote taken from Interviewee 2’s interview underlines this sentiment very well. Also, from my experience, being a girl growing up in the Italian society makes you (most of the times) questioning things. A simple Google search on ‘sexism in Italian society’ lists many articles explaining the normalization of such and that it is a well rooted mentality in men as well as in women. As previously explained, the influence of the Catholic church and the traditional idea of family is still very present in the Italian society. It takes a long journey to deconstruct such ideas before being awake and understanding one’s role in the society.

As it has been outlined in the second chapter of this thesis, women’s issues in Italy have been fought for since its unification in 1861. Women’s rights and feminist fights in Italy have historically been politically positioned as left, specifically starting from the Italian Communist Party. Hence, the rise of right-wing governments since 1994 have threatened these rights again. Ideas of the 1970s such as the feeling that women must be subordinated to men, because of the structures of power, persist until today. Criticism towards feminism has always been strong in Italy, as stated in previous chapters. Ida Dominjianni, an Italian philosopher and journalists, argues in her essay “Spettri del femminismo45” (2017) that, somehow, on a general spectrum, it has become clear that feminism can only exist under certain conditions: if it follows the religious neo- liberal democratic rules, that are very present in Italy. Under this lens, to some extent, in Europe

44 Taken from the interview done with Interviewee 2. 45 Trans.: Spectra of feminism

44 it seems that women’s freedoms were given to them without any big feminist fight. She also explains that feminism has become a ghost on different levels and that it is there, but it is not there. As it manifests, but then disappears. Nonetheless, even if many want to abandon it and it is in conflict, it stays alive (Dominijanni, 2017, p. 25). However, importance has to be given to what is happening in Italy in the past 2-3 years. With the radicalization of the government and its laws, feminists in Italy have decided that they are done hiding. Now, more than ever (or at least as long as I remember), have I seen movements, groups, individuals stepping up and making themselves seen. Discussions are happening on different levels: from the streets, to blogs, to art. Particularly, the postcolonial and intersectional approach of feminist movements such as Non una di meno who is starting a new narrative on colonialism (Scego, 2019) or activism through social media and podcasts46.

Yet, Italians as a broader society have still difficulties in accepting that women are in power and accepting that feminism has actually helped the development of the country. In politics, 35% of all Parliament members are women and all the party leaders are men (Blasi, 2019). The discriminations that the most visible Italian female politician Laura Boldrini has faced when being President of the Chamber of Deputies (2013-2018), show the threat that male politicians have felt when a woman was in power. Because of her female gender, those attacks were on the sexual sphere such as wishes of rape or comparing her to a sex doll. Feminist fights in Italian politics are backed up by a limited number of parliamentarians and need several years and compromises in order for laws to pass. Nonetheless, the current PD-M5S government has the record number of 334 female representatives (of a total of 630) (Blasi, 2019). These examples show that issues linked to the challenge of traditional patriarchal ideas are in all the spheres of the Italian society. The extreme expression of such a system is feminicide. Being this both an emergency and a systemic problem, gender-based violence is the main issue feminists in Italy tackle, and it is represented by the high number of feminicides per year (95 in 2019 and 25 since January 2020). This issue is commonly not approached in the right way by Italian politics and the media by downsizing the problem to individuals that couldn’t contain their anger and, hence, blaming also women for their choice of men, instead of discussing the misogynistic problematics of our society (Imjed & Motta, 2018). Since 2012 the terms femmicidio and femminicidio (feminicide) were introduced in the

46 For more information see “Afroitalian Souls”,”Neri italiani - Black Italians” or the podcast “Pillole Femministe” and “#blackcoffee”

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Italian vocabulary from Anglo-American and Mexican feminism. In 2016 the movement Non una di meno was founded after a demonstration on the day on the elimination of violence against women, taking inspiration from the Argentinian movement Ni una menos formed as a protest against feminicides. The #metoo and #wetoogether movements on social media have then given visibility also in Italy, especially as Asia Argento47 was one of the prominent voices of the #metoo movement coming out to the New York Times about harassment and assault by Hollywood movie producer Harvey Weinstein, but at the same time was accused of assaulting sexually an underaged boy (Domonoske, 2018). These hashtags opened the discussion on and violence as well as discrimination in the cinema industry. The examples show that activists have given visibility and a stronger media presence of the topic of gender-based violence and have found its place in the mainstream politics after the Berlusconi era48 (Bettaglio et al., 2018, pp. 15–17). Important here is also to underline, as explained by Donzelli in her research, that Italian women have always prioritized gender related topics over other intersections and discriminations (Donzelli, 2018, p. 139).

In this study as well, gender-based violence and discriminations based solemnly on the fact that someone was born and grew up female, has shaped all three interviewees’ history and is the reason why they got closer to feminism and became active. Key questions were what type of feminism they consider to be and what is the biggest problem that Italy has to face from a feminist perspective, and which is the biggest change that need to happen49. Even if their path was similar to some extent, all three different answers show how diverse feminism can be. The fact of interviewing three random women has shown three different feminist ideas about Italy. Probably, the difference in age between the interviewees has influenced their answers of this particular question. Interesting has been that the answers of the two older interviewees led back to their childhood and their time when they first realized that they had a different role in the house for being girls and were discriminated because of this. However, they nowadays are living their feminist activism differently. Both Interviewee 1 and Interviewee 2 were aware of their limits at home because of their role as girls to a point. Interviewee 1 painted a good picture of her experience

47 Asia Argento is an Italian actress, director, screen writer, singer and TV moderator 48 With the “Berlusconi era” I mean the years in which he has been an important political figure from 1994, his first election as Prime Minister, until 2013 when he was convicted for tax fraud and excluded from the Senate. 49 See Appendix 2

46 as a little girl by explaining that during that time at home the password was “to endure”50. She further underlines that women, however, found their ways in creating spaces for themselves while pursuing fine arts (sewing and embroidery) or in church, a place where in her experience much social (non-religious) activism was done. Their early awakening was also influenced by the social turmoil of the 60s and 70s, that as stated before, had also a big influence also on Italian feminism. As summarized in chapter two, during that time women were to abide to the Catholic rules, however, they organized themselves in groups, which were formed outside of left-wing politics as Rivolta femminile (Cavarero & Restaino, 2002, p. 187). Importantly, sexual liberation became an important topic during that time and feminists concentrated on the rejection of women’s traditional roles in society and on focused on their self-esteem. Also, the so-called collettivi where a central point that brought together girls and women who were looking for their voice to be heard. Both Interviewees also had a strong experience abroad connecting with foreign feminists that influenced their current activism. Interviewee 3, on the contrary, growing up in an age where gender issues are discussed in university, has gotten close to feminism and topics around this in her twenties through one of her courses and a book51 she had to read. The topic was that of which had then led her to feel the need of doing more and being more involved. Similar to Interviewee 1 and Interviewee 2, she really came close then to feminism through feminists and once she has understood that there was something to change, she wanted to become active, and has never stopped since. All three, once they came close to feminist activists’ realities, didn’t stop being involved.

It is important to underline that this research represents a small effort and a first analysis of white Italian feminist activists’ discourses, but it doesn’t represent Italian feminism on a general level. This is why it is essential to distinguish the three interviewees’ and their discourses clearly. It should represent first empirical data on the topic of the presence of racialized Italian women in feminist activism. The answers of the previously mentioned questions have helped me to create a small overview of their points of view, outlined as follows:

Interviewee 1, who has dedicated time researching on feminism, describes herself as a feminist who is very conscient, and (maybe) a very coherent one. She has always put together her (practical)

50 Translated from the Italian: “[…] dove la parola d’ordine […] era: sopportare.” Taken from the interview with Interviewee 1 51 Io sono una mela intera. Il colloquio d'aiuto come trattamento per superare la violenza domestica (B. Felcini, A. Forteschi 2008) (translation: I am a whole apple. The help interview as a treatment to overcome domestic violence)

47 activism with theoretical knowledge. Important for her has also been the period abroad and the connection to feminists in other European countries. Later on, in the interview, she also underlines two objectives that she has as a feminist: liberation of oneself and taking distance for specific models (as in patriarchal male models). Her need of knowing and exploring things made her less of a risk-taker and has given her an opportunity to explore books, history, and essays that have helped her in practice. The saying ‘recognizing not to know’, as Socrates has put it, is what put her on this path. Hence, in her opinion the biggest issue is the loss of historicity as in the sense of history and of time and the biggest change should be to re-acquire the awareness, because feminism is awareness of your own condition as a woman, and of being a woman. To her, these are two different topics often antithetical. In line with that, she lives her activism through the management of two blogs where she contributes to recounting historical information by collecting the history of Italian and non-Italian feminism.

Interviewee 2, who is aware of the different nuances inside feminist activism, considers herself an eco-trans-feminist and anti-speciesist. Her activism has started through her involvement in politics in Milan and after a period abroad she decided to return to Italy. In her opinion the discourse of oppressions is something that involves everybody and everything: animals, humans and non-humans, as well as being aware that oppressions are different and, hence, intersectionality is important. “There is no possibility of feminism […] if you don’t take on the discourse of the differences in oppressions”52, which can also bring people together. She, hence, essentially defines herself against patriarchy and colonialism. She is active in a trans-territorial assembly called "Terra, Corpi, Territori e Spazi Urbani53" within NUDM.

Interviewee 3, who has just recently started calling herself a feminist, is clear about being an intersectional feminist. She is aware that intersectional feminism in its complexity is hard to implement. This said it is important for her that each one of us works on our privileges and the inequalities we all find ourselves interacting with even when they are difficult to identify with. To Interviewee 3 the problem is the lack of prevention policies, as for example against gender violence which in Italy is still considered as an emergency and not a cultural problem. Her activism starts within the social promotion association (for which she is working) which is a university start-up

52 Taken from the interview with Interviewee 2. 53 Translation: “Land, Bodies, Territories and Urban Spaces”

48 from Rome, which is part of a network called Educazione alle differenze54, and uses books without gender stereotypes to educate teachers, educators and interested parents. She is also very active in fighting for feminist issues with her basketball team at different events.

Giving a background of the interviewees is important in order to analyze the different points they express when talking about current topics related to the fact of being female. To this end, I want to reiterate that intersectional theory is entangled with dynamics of power and social structures of inequalities (Cho et al., 2013, p. 797). All three interviewees have understood growing up that the female sex has been given a specific role in the Italian patriarchal social system and this is reminded every day by right-wing politicians as those who participated to the World Conference of Families. At this point, however, as this represents their starting point, as white women the intersection with race is missing in their discourses. Only Interviewee 2 describes the biggest problem that Italy faces today from a feminist perspective as the political patriarchy and, contrary to Interviewee 1, that the change should be the transformation that is not only for women, but also trans, intersex people and, hence, for everyone. The change is therefore the elimination of the patriarchy. Interviewee 1’s discourses are mostly bi-nary and the only intersectional analysis she did is, when talking about intersectional theory, which is outlined in the next section, criticizing the current use of the theory in some feminists’ movement. Specifically, in the idea of ‘’ that was very strong during the events that different feminists’ movements such as NUDM have organized as protest and awareness raising parallel to the World Conference of Families. However, in her discourse in general the idea of putting the woman on the pedestal against men transpires. Often, she refers negatively to migrant men. It is, hence, clear that Interviewee 1’s point of view is what Lazar describes “taken-for-granted gendered assumptions” (Lazar, 2007, p. 142) that are produced by discourse and are intrinsic in society. This is in line with the idea of benevolent sexism. In their article “Beyond Prejudice as Simple Antipathy: Hostile and Benevolent Sexism Across Cultures” (2000) Glick et al. argue that across different cultures and societies, hostile and benevolent sexism components are rooted within their believes, having as a base patriarchy, gender differentiation and sexual reproduction. The dominant group, in this case men, disseminate such believes and their superiority through ideologies and stereotypes. Both hostile and benevolent sexisms are based on the oppression of women. Hostile sexism is to be understood as all negative stereotypes towards women and is much clearer and visible. More

54 Translation: “Educating to differences”

49 dangerous is, however, benevolent sexism as it relates to when women are described as someone pure who must be adored, but who is weak and therefore needs protection. It has a positive tone that hides the sexist nature of these actions and statements (Glick et al., 2000, pp. 763–765). It is important to underline this point because for me the basis of this research has been this type of feminism. The feminist idea with which I grew up: it is important to be women and to value oneself, but unfortunately this often involves (unconsciously) disregarding other intersections that create oppressions and social inequalities. Common discourses lie on statements such as ‘I don't see colors’ (also described here as color-blindness) to ‘how nice it is to be women’ (as in the discourse of Interviewee 1). This goes also in line with arguments set by Donzelli in her research on gender and race, particularly on the discourses around color-blindness. In her analysis she underlines that the intention of Italian women to avoid stereotypes tends to result in disregarding the different experiences of women and downsizing them to merely testimonies and not transformed into a political action (Donzelli, 2018, p. 138).

As previously stated during this thesis, in her interview, Interviewee 2 underlines the attack to basic rights from the right-wing parties in Italy. One of the biggest threats is the right for (safe) abortion, as in Italy doctors can use the conscientious objection, where they can decide not to operate because of religious reasons, which has made it more difficult for women in certain parts of the country to get a voluntary interruption of pregnancy. As the Lega (and especially their representative Matteo Salvini) got more popular also in the south of Italy and other politicians as the senator who wants to change the divorce law or former Ministry of Family and Disability have gotten more supporters, there has been a strong relaunch of the idea of the traditional family where the sole role of the women is to procreate under the new slogan ‘Italians first’55. This approach is the basis of Interviewee 3’s statement on gender-based violence that it is not seen as a cultural problem in Italy, but just as an emergency. The problem with seeing such problem merely as an emergency is that the answers don’t translate to long-lasting sustainable solutions for a society free of such violence. On the contrary it just supports the idea of every feminicide being a singled-out episode of rage from a man. This same approach has also been addressed largely by NUDM in their manifest against male violence towards women (Non Una Di Meno, 2019a). This is why, as explained by Interviewee 3, there are no prevention measures and no education to emotions, as the

55 Similar to the slogan introduced by POTUS Donald Trump (America First), Matteo Salvini and the League have been using the slogan “Prima gli italiani” (Italians first).

50 latter is considered a family matter. However, most of the violence happens within families (as domestic violence) so this cannot be the place where women can be freed.

I believe that gender-based violence is one of the clearest signs of how patriarchal structures are part of Italy’s society. Moreover, it is of high importance for feminist activists to discuss it and fight against it. Still, how Cho, Crenshaw and McCall outline, “intersectionality is inextricably linked to an analysis of power”, hence, an intersectional perspective is necessary as it reveals “how certain groups of women [are] made particularly vulnerable to abuse and [are] also vulnerable to inadequate interventions that [fail] to take into account the structural dimensions of the context” (Cho et al., 2013, p. 797). Gender-based violence, as underlined in this section, is what has led the three interviewees to get close to feminism. It has created a basis to discuss themselves as persons and their surroundings. This means, they are all more aware of inequalities and dynamics of power. Nonetheless, as whiteness studies have demonstrated, being white makes it comfortable to be in spaces that extend our shape, which makes our skin color invisible to us. This means we are a ‘racial collective’ even if the group feeling is not as present, and hence, often passive (Ahmed, 2007, p. 158; Lewis, 2004, p. 626). Furthermore, Italian problems lack of an intersectional approach, which has its base on the colonial idea of an Italian identity only apparently de- racialized (Donzelli, 2018, p. 102; Giuliani, 2016, p. 555). This is shown, as in the case of all three women, by gender-based violence discourses mostly concentrated on a binary idea of men versus women, in which all men and all women are the same. Taking as an example the discourses upheld by the three interviewees it becomes clear that their mostly white upbringing has influenced the perspectives and limits a proper intersectional approach.

Important is to underline that being feminist because of the experience of growing up as female shows a reconsideration of oneself and an internal reflection of the dynamics they are surrounded with. This is shown in the answers that were given when asked what the biggest change is that needs to happen. Two of the interviewees have outlined the importance of education. On the one hand, in the sense of history (in particular of Italian feminism) and reacquiring this knowledge. On the other hand, the importance of prevention politics (in regard to gender-based violence and discrimination), and the importance of schools and training for teachers. Particularly, Interviewee 2, who is active in Non una di meno, which is known for their intersectional approach, sees that the biggest change should be the elimination of patriarchy as the biggest problem is the political patriarchy. It is clear that a radical change on a political level needs to happen for two of them, but

51 this can happen linked to an awareness and knowledge that is not there, yet. These ideas are important for the current situation of women, LGBTQ+ and minority groups. The actions of NUDM as the besmirching of the statue of Indro Montanelli (Scego, 2019), do change narratives of the Italian history, and hence create awareness to problems of our current society. Little space is created by white feminist activists inside NUDM for racialized bodies to have a voice. However, the lack of an awareness of specific problematics of discriminations and dynamics of power is often still missing. To conclude, and to partially answer the research question: “[…] while gender displays may be optional, we do not have the option of being seen or read by others in gendered ways; similarly, we do not have a choice about being recognized as racial or about which race with which we want to be identified” (Lewis, 2004, p. 629). In this way, the unconscious color-blindness of the three interviewees when talking about central topics such as gender-based violence make experiences of racialized women invisible lacking the opportunity to create a space for their voices inside of the Interviewees’ activism work.

5.2 Awareness is just a starting point: how racialized Italians are included in feminist activism This section will be linked with the previous analysis which will support the previous answer to the main research question. Central to this part of the analysis is following sub-question: How are problems of different races within Italy, especially racialized Italian women, understood (and potentially included or excluded) in different feminist activism work? What role does intersectionality play? In the previous section, after laying the ground on to why white Italian women chose to be feminist activists and what their idea of change should be in Italy, I attempted to answer the main research question by analyzing unconscious color-blindness inside gender- based violence discourses. It is then important to understand the three activists understanding of racialized Italian women’s problems and their inclusion in their activism work. I, hereby, want to underline that this topic was discussed only when direct questions were asked to the Interviewees. Key for the feminist CDA of this part of the interviews has been, a part of intersectional theory, postcolonial and Critical Studies on Whiteness.

When I started this research, it had become clear to me that also in Italy, in recent years, intersectionality has become popular and well accepted, mostly because of the rise of Non una di meno. It was important from my point of view to analyze to which extent intersectional ideas weren’t influenced by unconscious colonial and racist thoughts. This, however, changed when I

52 interviewed Interviewee 1, which also was the first interview I had. She declared firmly that after studying the history of intersectionality,

“[she doesn’t] like [it] at all, [she] thinks it’s unbecoming and also intellectually dishonest […] to translate the concept of intersectionality wanted by [Kimberlé Crenshaw]” and that today it is “simply a synonym of the terrible word ‘inclusive’.”56

She states that it had a great value in the past and still has it today because it has given Afro- American women the tools to see themselves oppressed as women in general, but also, specifically, inside the Afro-American civil rights movement. This is why in her opinion this term cannot be used in modern feminism. However, later in the interview she states that the only exception to her point of view is if intersectionality is intended to be extended to migrant and (economically) poor women as well as working moms. This in the sense that in feminism there has always been some sort of classism that is even more present today. It goes without saying that I find this discourse problematic. There is a clear gap in the understanding of intersectionality as a theory well established in gender studies that serves as a tool that theoretically and methodologically analyzes power relations rooted in society by using different kinds of intersections to analyze how they are intertwined and produce marginalization and inequalities. Particularly, the discourse around using the term ‘intersectionality’ when talking about the discrimination of migrants, economically poor women and working moms shows the actual understanding of intersectionality. By comprehending the discrimination that women face and intersecting the female sex with class, race, or social/legal status, does create an understanding of the power struggles these particular women face. This is understood thanks to intersectional theory.

In comparison, when asked about intersectional theory, both Interviewee 2 and Interviewee 3 described it as an important theory for the feminist activism they were doing. Interviewee 2 stated, as already underlined before, that for her personally, and for the movement NUDM, intersectionality is absolutely important. They have a plan against male violence on women and gender-based violence which is to some degree quite radical for some. It is important to underline that NUDM is doing a strong work in deconstructing the patriarchal system that Italy is living in being active on different fronts. As intersectionality supports the idea of understanding dynamics of sameness and different in social movements (Lykke, 2010), an important point was raised by

56 Taken from the interview with Interviewee 1 done on July 27th, 2019

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Interviewee 3 during her interview. She underlines the significance for each of us to do continuous work on what our privileges are and what inequalities do we find ourselves interacting. Important here is to recognize the inequalities even if sometimes they don’t seem as such but comparing them to other acts of oppression they do seem as such. Nonetheless, as already described earlier, when analyzing how being female supported the women’s thrift to become feminist activists which was supported by their experience with and fight against gender-based violence, little has been said about women who are racialized. I want to reiterate at this point that I understand it is problematic to research about this matter without including the voices of racialized Italians, however, as underlined before, because of the limits this study presents, I am analyzing Italian white women’s discourses. Discourses upheld by white Italian women, as has been shown already in this analysis, do represent a big constrain in the involvement of racialized women in activism in Italy. Even with a conscious intersectional approach to the work they do, growing up white in a mostly white society does bring limits and constraint to people who are racialized.

This is why, as already outlined in chapter four, it is important to discuss problems linked to citizenship and migration issues which have finally found their place in the public sphere. Hence, the issue about race is tricky in Italy for several reasons outlined throughout this study. Donzelli’s work has been important to portray the linkage of the creation of an Italian nation and its implications of being a race and the connotations linked to colonialism (Donzelli, 2018). Emblematic, to create a picture of how this influences current politics, has been the statement of the current President of the Region, Attilio Fontana, who claims that Italians are a white race and that migration would eliminate them (us) (Redazione Milano Online, 2018). Even if Italy has traditionally been an emigration country, it has become an immigration country in the past decades receiving more non-EU citizens than ever, of which many obtain a residency through family reunification (Camilli, 2018; Petracou et al., 2018, p. 6). Politicians supporting right-wing and fascists ideologies have used issues linked to migration as a tool to create fear in order to gain votes. Hence, there is currently a split in the Italian society. On the one hand there are citizens, politicians, and groups that advocate for a welcoming society working towards a more accepting country. On the other hand, there are right-wing fascists groups, politicians, and citizens that declare ‘war’ to NGOs rescuing migrants in the Mediterranean Sea and using a language that remind us of Fascism times against racialized citizens and migrants. The central position of the migration and citizenship topic, however, has pushed the creation of a louder voice of people that want a more diverse society. As previously mentioned, the 1992 citizenship law is based on the

54 ius sanguinis principle: a person is born Italian only if their parents are Italian. Two legislatures ago (in 2015), the government was proposing to change it to ius soli, the principle of which someone born in Italian territories receives the citizenship at birth, but it was strongly opposed by the right-wing opposition. In 2019 this topic has been talked about again, when the son of two Moroccan immigrants was given the Italian citizenship as an honor and gratitude for saving people on a burning bus in Milan (Camilli, 2017; Troilo, 2019). It is clear that, how Donzelli concludes in her study that the “racialization of Italianness as unexpressed whiteness grounds the interaction between citizenship and human mobility policies” (2018, pp. 288-289). Nonetheless, in recent times racialized Italian women have been slowly considered as such (Italians); however, largely only in sports. Example is Fiona May, a black British athlete who received the Italian citizenship, and is fully considered Italian. However, the press is still color-blind. The national women’s team has two black players and when they won second place at the World Championship their sponsor, a big water company, overshadowed them, by putting the advertised water bottle in front of the Black players in the group picture. Public discussions resulted from this episodes. (Pennisi, 2018) Black Italian activists (see section 2.3) have recently done important work on the normalization of the idea that the Italian-ness doesn’t mean being white, but that people do have different skin colors and backgrounds. Still, much more structural work needs to be done.

After the analysis the interviewees’ relation to intersectionality and a summary of the importance of race in Italy, another important outcome of this research is that the issue of citizenship has not surfaced during the discourses of the three feminist activists. The prepared interview had specific questions related to Italian racialized women, however, what has been understood by all three of them is to discuss issues related to women that live in Italy that are not white. Secondary issues such as the limitation that a phone or Skype interview might have had an influence in the understanding of my questions. Nevertheless, as can be seen in Appendix 2 of this thesis, the questions were clearly structured. Taking into considerations the points previously raised in regard to the creation of Italian-ness, color-blindness in modern feminism in Italy and the issues around migration (Donzelli, 2018), this also clearly shows how unconscious a particular idea is: not having white skin is understood as being a foreigner. Therefore, the creation of an unconscious idea of ‘we’ and ‘them’ resulted.

When discussing the activism of the three interviewees, it was important to me to understand if non-white Italian women have an important role in it. This answer was then linked to a follow-up

55 questions on how problems faced by non-white people fit in the interviewees’ feminist movements. Is it an important topic for Italy today?57

The responses and the discourses upheld by the three women gave me an insight on how different such questions can be perceived. On a personal level, this has proven to me that the idea I have of certain topics related to Italy are understood differently by different people. In order to fit these questions into the discussion held, the phrasing was changed in each interview related to what the person was explaining and in relation to the activism work. With Interviewee 1, who doesn’t approve of the use of intersectionality in current feminist activism, the space was given to her to express herself on what she thinks about the inclusion and the problems related to racialized Italian women since in her work as a blogger it has been addressed marginally. While with Interviewee 2, working with NUDM, and being so aware on intersectionality, I was more interested in how racialized Italians, especially women, are involved in the organization and if it is important to talk about their issues. From Interviewee 3, working on educational topics and kids’ books, I wanted to understand what role racialized girls and women have in the work of the start-up she works with. Being these three completely different women working on different issues of feminism, it was interesting to address this topic to these three different women and their work.

Interviewee 2 immediately underlined that for her not only the involvement of racialized Italian women is important, but also women who are not white and live in Italy. Regarding their involvement in NUDM a particular event opened the doors for their more active involvement. During the trans-feminist summit events happening around the World Conference of Families in Verona, NUDM has started slow steps towards the inclusion of racialized voices within their movement. Specifically this happened, as Interviewee 2 explained in her interview, when Marta Dillon (one of the founders of Ni Una Menos in Argentina) did a speech on how we (as in white cis-gender feminist activists) have to stop talking about trans, intersex and migrant people, but give them a voice and a space inside our movements instead. This is in line the Orientalist view of the so-called ‘third world woman’ and Western academics and activists wanting to give the oppressed a voice. Hence, even if in this case unconsciously, it is in line with the postcolonial feminism idea of the Western woman claiming superiority to the non-West (Mendoza, 2015, p. 11). In this case, a postcolonial analysis through Marta Dillon’s critique on avoiding interiorizing colonial feminism and to step back to listen to each other, created the space for a group of black

57 See Appendix 2 – Interview Outline

56 women (Italian and non-Italians) to get organized within NUDM. As seen during the besmirching of Montanelli’s statue, such issues are being introduced in their agenda (Scego, 2019). The main issue faced by them at the moment is that of the times of meeting, as most of the migrant women are caregivers or in general work the whole day, they can only meet at night. This is why NUDM has considered moving their general assembly to a Sunday, which usually is a free day for everyone in Italy. Interviewee 2 recognized that racialized people’s rights are important in Italy, because of the mentality and because migrants live in precarious situations, with slavery-like working and living conditions and their rights are not always respected when arriving to Italy.

Similarly, Interviewee 3 confesses that racialized persons don’t have a participative role in her work in in the university start-up. One of the reasons is that they are rather the final beneficiaries of their work than activists in their association, which doesn’t work directly with boys and girls aged 0 to 6, but with teachers, educators and parents – people who deal with children that age. The importance of such work is that children don't have the concept of stereotype, and it would be absolutely harmful when this is dropped from above. They do a great amount of research work related to the illustrated books, which is not easy, bibliographic research and research of contents without gender stereotypes and then the use of these illustrated books to free the imagination of the girls. However, the color of the skin is addressed marginally in her interview. Again, the lack of an intersectional analysis considering the intersections of gender and race is missing here, especially because the topics of the books are related to stereotyping. Linking this to the discourse of Dillon that has impacted to the creation of a group dedicated to racialized women’s issues inside NUDM, the lack of involvement of people that are not white can be tricky when working towards a stereotype-free world. The risk is that the problems are addressed from a white perspective and, hence, misses the point of a proper intersectional approach on the analysis of power differences (Lykke, 2010). As previously stated, working towards a society that is free of gender stereotypes and eliminates all kinds of violence against girls and women is important, however, a real change can only happen if analysis and actions are extended also to other intersections such as race and class. In this case the whiteness of the association was invisible to the people involved in it. As argued before with the work of Ahmed and Lewis this can lead to issues related to color-blindness when talking about important issues linked to different experiences of children from diverse races (Ahmed, 2007, p.158; Lewis, 2004, p. 625).

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After outlining the issues related to the two organizations of two of the Interviewees, I want to bring the attention back to what is not said during the interviews. As argued before in chapter four, “whiteness is invisible, […] as the absent centre against which others appear only as deviants, or points of deviation” (Ahmed, 2007, p. 157). As Ahmed clearly explains in her essay “A phenomenology of Whiteness” (2007) when racialized bodies inhabit “white spaces” (as in spaces in which are influenced prevalently by white people) they are either invisible (if they adapt) or become “hypervisible” (if they do not pass and stand out). In this case we are talking about white institutions: associations, intersectional feminist movements and webpages for feminist activism founded by white Italians. It is clear from the previous analysis of discourses that the fact that these have been considered white spaces, it is hard for someone to be visible and be part of it. This being said, the issue of race in all the interviews has surfaced only when asked directly.

As Interviewee 1’s activism is limited to two blogs managed by her, which narrate histories of Italian and foreign feminism and feminists’ stories, her view on things represents also her activism as it is not linked to a direct group or association. As the other interviewees’ answers were more general and aware of the lack of participation and involvement of racialized women, Interviewee 1’s answer has been the most problematic one for me to analyze. During the interview her attitude towards foreign women changes from describing migrant women as being victims (in their country of origin and in Italy for being women and foreign) to being strong as they must resist the (migrant) man. This resonates Spivak’s idea of epistemic violence from the West in which the subaltern woman does not have a voice in her discrimination (Mendoza, 2015, p. 9). The risk here is to perpetuate the Eurocentric idea that white women have to save racialized women from migrant men (Mendoza, 2015, p. 11) which is in line with Bonfiglioli’s description of how foreign men are represented in Italy (Bonfiglioli, 2010, p. 72). As postcolonial feminism criticizes the exclusion of race in white feminist discourses and intersectional feminism underlines dynamics of different intersections such as gender, race and class, none really have analyzed the idea of exotifying people or cultures. It has been hard for me to find a way to analyze Interviewee 1’s words towards racialized women and I have found following term to be what best describes it:

From magazine: “exotify (v.) /to render someone or something different from oneself exotic” (Jóns, 2013).

This term has particularly been used to sexualize racialized bodies, e.g. as Giuliani describes the idea of racialized women in post-fascist Italy as symbolic anthropophagy (Giuliani, 2016, p. 555).

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However, for the purposes of this analysis. I want to link the term ‘exotifying’ to the attitudes, ideas and behaviors of some white feminist towards ideas and mentalities of people who are racialized. White women’s need to be allies, to show that their support is not centered to their race, making it possible for some to exotify other race’s feminist behaviors and ideas. After asking Interviewee 1 about the importance of topics around racialized Italian women and receiving an answer that analyzed only migrant women’s situation in Italy, I tried to emphasize on the fact that it was important to me to talk about Italian women:

“A: But what about women who call themselves Italian, but who do not look stereotypically as the Italian white woman?

P: I like them a lot. [...] I like them so much, because they feel strongly [...] in a powerful way, in a positive way, the desire to distinguish themselves. [....] I find it positive [...] all those splendid veils of Arab women scrupulously matched. [....] So, it's not just an aesthetic question, they don't want an approval.”

Throughout the whole interview, when talking about racialized women, she refers mostly to Arab women or Italian women with Arab origins, always underlining their Arab origins. Explanatory is this section taken from an interview with her, in which the idea of Arab women is exotified and limited to the hijab that they use. She further continues explaining how an Italian activist with Egyptian parents has decided to use the symbolic Muslim veil as a protest to Western ideas of Islam. In this sense the risk of the discourse here, is, on the one hand, the creation of the idea of Spivak’s and Mohanty’s subaltern/‘third world woman’ but on the other hand the exotification of that idea of the strong Arab woman who has to endure the Arab man and fight Western ideas in Italy.

One thing has been clear and discussed in all three interviews. Concerning the intersection of gender and race (without considering the nationality aspect), is has become clear through the conversation with the interviewees, that there is an awareness on the fact that migrant women are one of the most discriminated groups in Italy. Interviewee 2 explains that it is especially hard for migrant women, as they experience harassment as caregivers or as farm hands, to live under the oppression of their employers and the male workers. She underlines the need to use an intersectional lens as migration is linked to exploitation (and climate change). As much as this change shows an opening towards racialized people’s rights and voices within the movement, it

59 does also show how a postcolonial perspective from someone from outside, and especially an Argentinian feminist, had to underline the situation before an action could be taken. It is not sure if the problem before was that women who are racialized didn’t find a safe space inside the movement or if white women didn’t realize the importance of giving space to racialized women, but fact is that this happened only when it was pointed out. Regarding Interviewee 1’s contribution on migrant women, what was important is that she pointed out that they are discriminated also by the feminist movements (and the other two Interviewees confirmed it). Important in her analysis was that she underlined the fact that migrant rights in general are more protected and are lacking a real fight for migrant women’s rights. Hence, similar to Kimberlé Crenshaw’s emphasis of the intersection between gender and race in the US American legal system (Crenshaw, 1989), an intersectional approach is missing on migration which leads to the lack of visibility of issues linked to migrant women. However, “the dichotomy citizen-migrant, where the former is implicitly assumed to be white and the latter to be racialized” (Donzelli, 2018, p. 292) has become very clear in this analysis.

This section of the thesis has been key to answering the main research question as to what extent is the presence of racialized Italian women (or lack thereof) in feminist activism due to the discourse upheld by white Italian women because it centralized mainly on the interview questions related to racialized Italian women. It is, however, also central to the analysis of this chapter is what has not been said rather than only what has been said during the interviews. As explained earlier in other chapters of this study, colonialism is not being properly questioned and racism is the basis of different discussions in the public sphere. This creates a lack of consciousness towards ideas related to citizenship and race in the Italian society. Even when intersectionality is central to feminist activism of certain white Italian women (such as two of the Interviewees), racialized Italian women can only be seen in correlation to migrant women but are invisible when talking about Italian women. Also, in the context of the discourses upheld by the three interviewees, Fanon’s idea of the fact that colonialism has made the world a ‘white’ place and, hence, spaces are an extension of white bodies, is the basis of the analysis (Ahmed, 2007, pp. 154-163). Lewis’ analysis on whiteness as a race, in connection to the idea of an Italian race created during the founding of the Italian nation, give an explanation to the Interviewees’ discourses. Specifically, to answer the third sub-question asked in this section the issues of racialized Italian women are not comprehended, which can be explained through the previously mentioned ‘citizen-migrant dichotomy’ and the unaware idea of an Italian race. This leads to a discourse in which these ideas

60 are unconsciously upheld. In contrast, it is important to underline that the issues of racialized women living in Italy is clear to all of them. Nonetheless, the question asked referred especially to Italian citizens. One discourse has been especially problematic as it perpetuated the Eurocentric idea discussed by Mohanty and Spivak of being a white savior for brown women from brown men (Mendoza, 2015, p. 11).

Finally, the sub-question as how problems of different races within Italy, especially racialized Italian women, are understood (and potentially included or excluded) in different feminist activism work, has helped answering the main research question. The follow-up question on the role of intersectionality, especially, has set the basis for the analysis outlined in this section. Hence, to answer the main research question, what has come out from the analysis of the discourses upheld by the three women, is that racialized Italian women are marginally or not involved at all in their specific feminist activism work. One the one hand, this is so because the associations and the blogs are managed by white people whose race is invisible to them, due to reasons of Italian-ness and race outlined previously. On the other hand, the participation of women who are racialized has been initiated from a critical analysis from outside (in one case) and not properly analyzed in the other two cases. Unconscious association of racialized women to migrant women has also supported the idea of the citizen-migrant dichotomy expressed by Donzelli (2018). By seeing the person who is racialized as someone outside of the idea of Italian-ness does perpetuate the idea of an Italian identity invisible of its whiteness.

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6. Conclusion The purpose of this thesis is to analyze to what extent the presence of racialized Italian women (or lack thereof) in feminist activism is due to the discourse upheld by white Italian women. Key for the analysis of such study has been three interviews with three Italian white women who identify as feminist activists. In order to support answering the main research question, I have asked a set of sub-questions. In a first section, I analyzed how being female influences Italian feminist views of an activist, and what kind of problems feminists in Italy face and what solutions they see to overcome them. Later I answered the question as to how the problems of different races within Italy, especially racialized Italian women, are understood (and potentially included or excluded) in different feminist activism work and what role intersectionality plays. Important has been the application of intersectionality, postcolonial feminism and Critical Studies of Whiteness to analyze the discourses upheld by the three interviewees through feminist Critical Discourse Analysis. I want to underline the importance of such study inside of gender studies and particularly, inside Italian studies of feminism. As underlined in chapter two of this thesis, little academic data is to find about contemporary feminism in Italy, and especially regarding the intersections of female gender and race. Particularly, no academic data was found on the specifics of the involvement of racialized Italian women inside feminism activists. The results of this study have been possible also thanks to the willingness of the three interviewees to contribute without hesitation and to being very open about their ideas and opinions.

6.1 How white environments limit white women’s awareness In the first section of the analytical discussion I focused mainly on the experiences of the three interviewed women linked to their female sex and their discourses held on gender-based violence. This analysis was done with the application of intersectionality and notions of Critical Studies of Whiteness. The first clear conclusion has been that, similar to my own experience, the fact of being born female in the patriarchal Italian society is one of the main factors that led the interviewees to start being involved in feminism activism. Mainly, the first topic they have analyzed was that of the discrimination of female bodies and gender-based violence. The two older Interviewees have underlined how they have experienced having a precise role within their families in their childhood for being born female and how this has brought them closer to being a feminist activist today. Interviewee 3, on the other hand, has done so after studying in a university course the topic of domestic violence. As laid out in different chapters of this thesis, gender-based violence in present

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Italian society is a major concern. A popular example is how the former President of the Chamber of Deputies has been attacked with wishes of rape because she is a woman, show that Italian society fears women in power. Even more explicative is the experience of Cécile Kyenge when being a black woman with political power. Associated to the situation of feminicides in Italy, gender-based violence has been one of the most discussed topics in feminist activists as proven by Non una di meno’s manifest and the popularity of the #metoo movement. The lack of prevention measures, the cultural problem Interviewee 2 refers to in her interview and the political patriarchy which she refers to, are the basis of such problems in Italy.

The second finding, which is partially directly answering the main research question, is that it became clear that the topic of gender-based violence in Italy lacks an intersectional approach. If we assume that intersectionality is connected to the power dynamics of different intersection (Cho et al., 2013, p. 797) and is a useful tool to start the analysis of privileges related, in this case in particular, to race, then it is a necessary theory when studying white women’s discourses. Specifically, as male violence against women is considered a major concern by all three Interviewees, the discourses upheld by them show that by being white, an analysis of race is not done in their discourses. This conclusion goes in line with Donzelli’s study (2018), specifically, when she explains the fact that Italian women do prioritize gender related issues over other intersections. She, moreover, successfully analyses the actions of associations in which the political position of migrant women was restrained, and Italian-ness was then defined by privilege over money, time, or possibility to define a political agenda (Donzelli, 2018, p. 139). In her thesis she outlines the fact that these Italian women are not being able to understand other struggles of power, however, because of the previous conclusion I do not believe this is idea is suited for this particular analysis. Nonetheless, I’d like to underline that the awareness that the Interviewees have of privilege and discrimination for being female does not translate to further intersections such as race. This specific dynamic proves what has been outlined by the studies of whiteness in which we, as white ‘racial collective’, are comfortable in the spaces that extend our shape and tend not to realize the importance of skin color.

Specifically, to answer the main research question, the fact that an intersectional lens is missing when discussing gender-based violence, does show a discourse that excludes racialized Italian women participation in feminist activism. If issues related to race are not perceived when discussing a concerning current topic in Italy, then how can their experiences fully be included?

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6.2 Racialized Italian women vs. migrant women in Italy The two first conclusions outlined in the previous section shall serve as a basis for the second part of this study. As a starting point, the fact that, even if being born in a female body and starting a discussion of oneself, all three Interviewees have missed to include a consideration of race in their discourses. Further, in section 5.2 of chapter five, I discuss specifically to what extent problems of different races are understood in different activism work in Italy. By analyzing the Interviewees’ discourses, it becomes clear that the fact that the feminist activists have experienced the discrimination of being a woman on their own skin (as in, to what role society is expecting you to play) and all being aware of different feminist theories, importance is given to the creation of space for racialized people in feminism. Still, I argue that this is not the case specifically in their activism work. This is shown by the fact that in none of their specific activism group, movement or work, racialized people are present or have an important role. As Ahmed argues, racialized bodies are invisible in white institutionalized spaces (Ahmed, 2007). Hence, one can say, that certain Italian women who identify as feminist activists embrace the concept of intersectionality in their work but, when it comes to the intersection of feminism and race, they fail to translate this concept into action on the ground.

There has further been an incongruency during the interviews, when a special attention was given (by me) to the discussion of Italian racialized women and not women who are racialized in Italy (as the interviewees have understood it). They all shifted the discussion towards the topic of migrants, and especially migrant women, in Italy and little has been talked about on the citizenship issue and on their spaces within the activism. As recounted in Interviewee 2’s interview, the only moment their role was discussed inside their associations and movements has been when it this was approached directly. However, only two of the three feminist activists have been able to understand and answer my question. Cleary, as outlined previously, in Non una di meno specifically, the space was not created naturally from within, but attention was put from outside. Same as when discussing the presence of racialized people in Interviewee 3’s start-up, attention was given only when asked directly. The issues concerning migrant women, on the contrary, have been shown quite clearly during the interviews. Even if Crenshaw’s essay concern specifically Black American women, I feel that the analysis of Black women being discriminated twice – for being Black and for being women – applies also in the current Italian context (Crenshaw, 1989, 1991). An essay by Nicole Philipp published on the website of the New York Times with the title

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“My Very Personal Taste of Racism Abroad” (2018) sums up what experiences a Black woman can live while staying in Italy: racism is not made visible by Italians, but experienced by Black women. Discrimination in this sense has nothing to do with nationality (as many may think), but it is internalized racism. Based on the fact that citizenship is passed by blood (ius sanguinis) and the fact that these women have come from abroad (with or without legal papers) to live in Italy, they are seen as the ‘others’ by the Italian society. This why they are discriminated three times: for being women, for being foreign, and for not being white. It goes without saying that migrant women represent one of the most vulnerable groups in Italy.

Nonetheless, as has been reiterated often, the focus of this thesis was not about vulnerabilities and groups that need representation in Italian feminism, but specifically on Italian racialized women. This clearly shows how, unconsciously, the idea of Italian-ness is based on common features linked to the idea of European Mediterranean-ness (Giuliani, 2016, p. 555) and, hence, when introducing race, a focus on migration has to be included. It is important for me to underline at this point that when trying to distinguish Italian women who are racialized and migrant women, I do not want to deny the migratory background of people who are racialized, but rather stress that has become part of a contemporary Italian identity and, hence, there is no need to highlight it as is done by these discourses.

Following this conclusions and findings, backing it up with the discourses explained previously on the idea of citizenship and Italian race, and the intersection of gender and race, I argue that Italy doesn’t recognize its role as colonial hegemony and doesn’t take responsibility for its acts during the colonial times. This is an important aspect that influences the inequality between races in its society where people have different values depending on the color of their skin. A current example of such discourses is the release on the 9th of May 2020 of Silvia Romano, an Italian woman who was working with a small Italian NGO in northern Kenya and was kidnapped by some criminals and sold to al-Shabab58 in Somalia. In just the first two days after her release colonial and sexist ideas surfaced on mass media, from politics and online. One of the main problems that has been identified by many, is that being a woman many has seen the right to criticize her (this has never happened to any man who was kidnapped and released). Secondly, her arrival in Italy with a green jilbab (a Muslim Somali attire) have underlined the colonialist ideas that many Italians still have, by creating the idea of Somalia being a symbol for savage. Igiaba Scego, whose origin are Somali,

58 Al-Shabab is an Islamic terrorist group from Somalia

65 has clearly shown in an interview that because of this hate Italians need to be decolonized from their ideas, and the best thing is to talk about it (Virgilio, 2020). The idea that the other is stupid, inferior, sexually available is rooted in our culture and has never really been questioned. She underlines the importance of talking about colonialism in books, television and schools, and not only from a historical point of view, but also about how it has evolved (Virgilio, 2020). Until the story of colonialism is not faced and told in the right way in order to acknowledge it, it will be hard for feminist activism to be fully intersectional. As Scego describes it, and in line with postcolonial feminism, the history of Italian colonialism has not yet been told in every aspect and we have to do more because there is still a colored line that divides whites from blacks (Virgilio, 2020). Moreover, as outlined by the previous research on gender-based violence and the intersections of race and gender in Italy, work still needs to be done for the rights of women.

Finally, I’d like to answer the main research question as to what extent the presence of racialized Italian women (or lack thereof) in feminist activism is due to the discourse upheld by white Italian women. Firstly, as outlined in the previous paragraph, an unconscious perception of colonialism has created a difference between races in Italy. Secondly, the idea of Italian-ness created since it’s union in 1860 based on a link of blood has created a blurred line in the mind of many Italians between migrants and racialized Italians. These two points have contributed to an unconscious exclusion of racialized Italian women from the feminist activism of all three interviewees, which was noticed and spoken about when directly asked. Reasons for the exclusion are two. On the one hand, the lack of a perception of an Italian identity that is also made by racialized people. On the other hand, as Critical Studies of Whiteness have shown, that white bodies are comfortable in places that extend their shape (Ahmed, 2007, p. 158), do not perceive their race and racialized people that inhabit these places tend to be invisible.

6.3 Way forward Because this thesis represents a first attempt in an analysis on how discourses of white women in feminism activism limit the presence of Italian racialized women, I suggest further research should be done including those who are active in Italian feminist activist movements and are both Italian and women who are racialized. As the limit of this study doesn’t allow a holistic approach to this topic including also voices of racialized bodies, it is clear that this only shows the beginning of the discussion around the topics of citizenship and intersectionality within Italian feminism activism. As already started by scholars such as Giuliani and Donzelli, also this study should support the

66 creation of a new narrative around colonialism in Italy. As postcolonial and decolonial feminist studies have demonstrated, feminism is an important key to change the narratives.

Particular efforts are being done by activists through the internet and other mainstream portals, which are contributing positively to challenging the Italian idea of citizenship linked to blood, which is clearly outdated. Particularly regarding the issues of feminist activism in Italy, it is, hence, necessary to understand in which way safe spaces for racialized people can be created in feminist activism in Italy. The use of a postcolonial and intersectional lens has helped me understand unconscious discourses of the three interviewees, but I understand that the limitation I have also as a white woman. It is therefore necessary to give racialized bodies the space to create their own narrative on this aspect and to shine a light on measures that need to be taken in order for them to be a proper part of it.

Furthermore, Italy is not the only country with a colonial past in Europe. I think that besides researching exclusively on the discourses upheld by Italian women, it would be of interest to compare this to other European countries positioning towards their past as colonizers. Especially, countries that, contrary to the United Kingdom or France, didn’t have a big colonial empire such as Germany. Being myself both Italian and German I see similarities on certain historical events (such as colonialism, migration and Nazism), but in comparison they were, however, dealt with differently. It would, hence, be interesting to understand if that did or didn’t have an influence on today’s perception of racialized people’s questions and their involvement in German feminist activism. Firstly, the same type of study on the creation of a German identity should be done. Especially, how this is shaped by migration movements from the 1970s from southern Europe and Turkey and recent welcoming of Syrian and Afghan refugees. Moreover, it is of interest to compare if the discourses of current German feminist activism include an intersectional or postcolonial lens and to which extend this translates to an effective inclusion of racialized Germans in their organizations or movements. To study this in comparison with what has been analyzed in this study, could lead to a deeper understanding of European dynamics of citizenship and migration policies and discussing a societal change.

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Appendices

Appendix 1 – Thesis Participation Consent PARTECIPAZIONE A TESI DI SPECIALISTICA/PARTICIPATION TO A MASTER’S THESIS

La ricerca/The research

• Questa ricerca di tesi sui movimenti femministi in Italia (titolo da definirsi) di Alice Contini parte di una specialistica in “Gender Studies - Intersectionalty and Change” presso la Linköping University in Svezia. / This research on feminist movements in Italy (Title to be definied) by Alice Contini is part of a Master’s Programme in “Gender Studies – Intersectionality and Change” of the Linköping University in Sweden. • Lo scopo della ricerca è di creare un quadro dell’attivismo femminista in Italia, soprattutto per quanto riguarda il ddl Pillon e la questione migrazione./ The aim of this research is to give a picture of Italian feminist activism, especially in relation to the Pillon bill and the migration issue. • Le informazioni risultanti dalla intervista verranno utilizzate solo a fini accademici e potranno essere utilizzate nella tesi o, in caso di consenso, in altri documenti accademici./ The information coming out from the interview will be used only for Academic purposes and can be used for the thesis or, in case of consent, in other Academic documents.

Metodologia / Methodology

• Le informazioni saranno generate attraverso un'intervista per via telefonica che durerà circa un'ora. /The information will be generated through a phone interview that will last around one hour.

Partecipazione / Participation

• L’intervistat* ha la libertà di decidere se vuole partecipare allo studio o meno. / The interviewee has the freedom to decide whether to participate to the study or not. • È possibile interrompere l'intervista in qualsiasi momento. / It is possible to interrupt the interview at any moment. • È possibile scegliere di non rispondere ad alcune o tutte le domande. / It is possible to choose not to answer certain questions or all of them.

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• È possibile porre domande relative allo studio prima, durante o dopo la ricerca. / It is possible to ask questions related to the study before, during and after the research. • In caso di domande dopo il colloquio, è possibile contattarmi via e-mail: [email protected] o telefono: +39 340 9799590. / In case of questions after the interview, it is possible to contact me via e-mail: [email protected] or via phone: +393409799790. • C’è la possibilità di rivedere la trascrizione dell'intervista e ci saranno a disposizione sette giorni per approvare o integrare le informazioni. Se dopo sette giorni non sono state richieste modifiche, la trascrizione sarà considerata approvata. / There is the possibiltiy to see the transcription of the interview and there will be seven days time to approve or integrate information. If after seven days there will be no request for changes, the transcription will be considered approved. • Nel caso in cui per cause di forza maggiore non sia stato possibile revisionare la trascrizione in tempo, è possibile richiedere più tempo. / In the event that due to force majeure it was not possible to review the transcription in time, it is possible to ask for a longer period. • È possibile richiedere una copia della tesi finale. / It is possible request a copy of the final thesis.

Dichiaro di aver letto e compreso le informazioni fornite e accetto di partecipare alla ricerca. / I declared to have read and understood the provided information and accept to participate to the research.

Data e luogo/ Date and Place______Firma / Signature ______

Liberatoria per le interviste tesi specialistica / Disclaimer for Master thesis interviews

______, ______-

Io sottoscritta/ I, the undersigned …………….. nata a / born in …………………. Il / the ……………., residente a / resident in ………………..

75 in relazione all’intervista tenutasi il giorno / in relation to the interview held on the day …………………… in via telefonica / by telephone.

Autorizzo / authorize

ALICE CONTINI all’utilizzo delle informazioni raccolte, delle risposte date, dei dati e al loro trattamento ai fini della ricerca tesi per la specialistica sopraindicata. / ALICE CONTINI to the use of the information collected, the answers given, the data and their treatment for the purpose of the thesis research for the aforementioned Master course.

Inoltre / Moreover

⬜ Autorizzo ALICE CONTINI all’utilizzo del mio nome e cognome nel documento finale / I authorize ALICE CONTINI to use my name and surname in the final document

⬜ Non Autorizzo ALICE CONTINI all’utilizzo del mio nome e cognome nel documento finale (usando un nome fittizio); / I do not authorize ALICE CONTINI to use my name and surname in the final document (using a fictitious name);

e / and

⬜ Autorizzo ALICE CONTINI all’utilizzo delle informazioni per altri documenti accademici oltre la tesi di specialistica / I authorize ALICE CONTINI to use the information for other academic documents besides the Master thesis

⬜ Non Autorizzo ALICE CONTINI all’utilizzo delle informazioni per altri documenti accademici oltre la tesi di specialistica; / I do not authorize ALICE CONTINI to use the information for other academic documents besides the specialist thesis

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E / and

⬜ Autorizzo ALICE CONTINI alla registrazione dell’intervista / I authorize ALICE CONTINI to record the interview

⬜ Non Autorizzo ALICE CONTINI alla registrazione dell’intervista. / I do not authorize ALICE CONTINI to record the interview

In fede, / Sincerely,

FIRMA/ SIGNATURE ______

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Appendix 2 – Interview Outline 1. Descriviti./Describe yourself 2. Quando ti sei avvicinata per la prima volta al “femminismo”?/ When was the first time that you have come close to „feminism“? 3. Che tipo di femminista ti consideri? / What type of feminism do you consider to be? 4. Conosci la teoria dell’intersezionalità?/ Do you know intersectionality theory? a. Se sì, cosa ne pensi? È parte importante del tuo lavoro da attivista?/ If yes, what do you think about it? Is it important for your work as an activist? 5. Come hai trovato contatto con il movimento/organizzazione femminista di cui fai parte? / How did you come in touch with your feminist movement/organization that you are part of? 6. Descrivi il movimento/organizzazione. / Describe your movement/organization a. Che tipo di attività fa? / What activities does it do? b. Che tipo di metodi usano? / What methods are used? c. Hanno un ruolo importante anche donne italiane non bianche? / Do non-white Italian women have an important role in it? d. Quali sono i macro-temi che vengono affrontati nel tuo movimento/organizzazione?/ What are the macro themes that are facing? 7. Come vengono affrontati i problemi di persone non bianche nel tuo movimento femminista? È un tema importante da affrontare in Italia oggi? /How do problems of non- white people faced in your feminist movement? Is it an important topic for Italy today? 8. Secondo te qual è il problema più grande che l’Italia deve affrontare oggi da un punto di vista femminista? / In your opinion, what is the biggest problem that Italy has to face today from a feminist point of view? 9. Qual è il più grande cambiamento che deve avvenire?/ What is the biggest change that needs to happen?

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