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Activist sinology and accented documentary: China on the (Italian?) internet

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 September 2019

Paola Voci
Paola Voci*
Affiliation:
Languages and Cultures, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand
*
*Email: [email protected]
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Abstract

On the Italian internet, the dominant, Italian-centred – and arguably often nationalistic – discourse on Global China, and, by extension, Global Italy, emphasises economic growth and opportunities. The celebratory and homogenising rhetoric of this discourse has been challenged by a counter-discourse on subaltern China, which focuses on the many, localised social inequities and discriminations suffered by the Chinese – or, more accurately, sinophone – workers. In this counter- discourse, an important role is played by small-screen documentaries on displaced migrants both in the People's Republic of China (PRC) and in Italy. I propose that they provide meaningful evidence of an Italian-accented ‘sinologia di sinistra’ or activist sinology, which views research as a transnational practice and advocates a stronger link between academic discourse and civil society.

Nel contesto italiano, su internet, il discorso dominante sulla Cina globale – e, per estensione, sull'Italia globale – è spesso nazionalistico ed opportunista e pone la sua enfasi sulla crescita economica. La retorica celebrativa e omogeneizzante di questo discorso è constrastata da un discorso alternativo sulla Cina subalterna che si focalizza sui lavoratori cinesi – o, più precisamente, sinòfoni – e le disuguaglianze sociali e discriminazioni che affrontano a livello locale. In questo discorso, un ruolo importante è svolto dai documentari prodotti per il piccolo schermo che documentano la vita dei lavoratori emigranti sia nella Repubblica popolare cinese (RPC) che in Italia. Propongo che questi documentari, ‘accentati’ sia a livello linguistico che ideologico, fanno parte di una sinologia di sinistra o, per meglio dire, di una sinologia attivista, militante, che intepreta la ricerca come pratica transnazionale e sostiene lo sviluppo di un legame più forte tra il discorso accademico e la società civile.

Keywords

Italian internetonline discoursesGlobal China and subaltern Chinacivil societyresearch as a practiceactivist sinologyconcerned scholarsdocumentaryvisual conjecturesaccented cinemaItalian-accented documentaries
Type
Research Articles
Information
Modern Italy , Volume 24 , Special Issue 4: Italianerie: Transculturality, Co-creation and Transforming Identities between Italy and Asia , November 2019 , pp. 437 - 456
Copyright
Copyright © 2019 Association for the Study of Modern Italy 

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References

Documentaries

Abbondanza di frutta: storie di italiani nel Guangdong (2013). Dir. E. Rossi Landi and A. Vendemmiati.Google Scholar
Cine tempestose (2013). Dir. S. Basso.Google Scholar
Doris & Hong (2015). Dir. L. Cinieri Lombroso.Google Scholar
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Inside Beijing (2012). Dir. G. Battaglia and C. Pozzoli.Google Scholar
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Mingong (2016). Dir. D. Crudetti.Google Scholar
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The Rural Economy (2018). Dir. M. Geraci.Google Scholar
Seeking Chung Kuo (2019). Dir. W. Liu and Y. Zhu.Google Scholar
Siamo cinesi siamo italiani (2013). Dir. MTV News.Google Scholar
Small Fish (a.k.a Small Fishes in Yongkang) (2013). Dir. Tommaso Facchin.Google Scholar
Understanding Global China (2017). Dir. M. Aiello.Google Scholar

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