Black Lives Matter in Italy

Virtual Salons: Discourses on Black Italia
In collaboration with NYU Florence
Black Lives Matter in Italy
Movements & Mobilizations

Ada Ugo Abara, Arising Africans
Rahel Sereke, Cambio Passo
Anthony Chima, Black Lives Matter Bologna
Pierre Aboa, Black Lives Matter Bergamo

Moderated by
Candice Whitney, writer and translator
Angelica Pesarini, NYU

The episode will be broadcast live on Casa’s Facebook Page and website

What does it mean to say “Black Lives Matter” in Italy? Does “Black Lives Matter” appropriately capture the layers of movement building in Italy? From grassroot-led organizing to public education projects that fight for specific issues, activists have been leading an intersectional movement that addresses changing of the Italian citizenship law, death in the Mediterranean, undocumented labor in the agricultural sector, the romanticization of the colonial past, racism in Italian mainstream media, and LGBTQI+ lack of legal rights. In this roundtable, panelists will discuss the impacts and limitations of the Black Lives Matter movement with activists from newly formed Black Lives Matter branches in Italy and other organizations.

In ITALIAN.

About Virtual Salons: Discourses on Black Italia
How can one unpack the intersectional layers of race, identity and citizenship in Italy? Inspired by Professor Angelica Pesarini’s course at NYU Florence, Black Italia, each episode will provide leading scholars, writers, artists and activists an opportunity to dig deep into questions about race, racialization, identity, citizenship, and more in Italy. By the end of the series, viewers will learn: an overview of how race and identity exist in colonial and post-colonial Italy; how racialization impacts immigrants and youth of immigrants with Arab backgrounds; strategies used by artists and journalists of the Mediterranean to tell a story about Italy; the diversity of experiences of Afro-Italian women, as featured in Future, edited by Igiaba Scego; how Black Lives Matter Movement has impacted anti-racism activism and citizenship rights in Italy. This series will be co-facilitated by Candice Whitney, Writer, Translator, and Fulbright Researcher to Italy 2016-17 and Professor Angelica Pesarini, NYU Florence.