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Dr. Fiore’s book Pre-Occupied Spaces: New Prize, Invited Lectures and Reviews

Posted in: CHSS News, Homepage News and Events, Inserra

Feature image for Book Presentation - Pre-Occupied Spaces Remapping Italy's Transnational Migrations and Colonial Legacies by Teresa Fiore (12/11)

In May 2019 Pre-Occupied Spaces: Remapping Italy’s Transnational Migrations and Colonial Legacies was assigned the Runner Up Gadda Prize which is granted by the University of Edinburgh. Fiore’s book was selected among 93 monographs in the Established Scholars category. The Award Ceremony will take place at the Scottish Parliament on Wednesday 26 June, 6-8pm.

The book had previously been awarded the 2017 AAIS/American Association of Italian Studies Book Prize in the 20th-21st centuries category, received an Honorable Mention at the 2018 MLA Marraro Prize in Comparative Literature involving Italian, and was nominated for the 2018 Bridge Book Award.

Dr. Fiore’s award-winning book also continues to be part of and to foster rich discussions about migration on different campuses, while it is still reviewed in journals around the world (Italy, Brazil, England) two years after its publication.

The book was at the center of a diverse series of commitments at The Ohio State University of Columbus when Dr. Fiore was invited as scholar in residence. As part of the Migration, Mobility, and Immobility Project of the Global Arts and Discovery Theme she gave a public lecture on “Italy in the Transnational Space of Migration and Colonial Routes,” visited two classes, introduced a film screening of Nuovomondo (The Golden Door, Crialese, 2006) with the Global Mediterranean Working Group, attended a meeting with graduate students, conducted a workshop with the Migration Studies Working Group on “Transnational Cities: Reading Spaces as Texts of Mobility,” and met with members of the Italian American community of Columbus.

In April 2019 she was invited to Miami University at Oxford, Ohio where she gave a lecture as part of the L. P. Irvin lecture series. Additionally, she gave an in-class talk about recent immigration from Italy to the U.S.

Pre-Occupied Spaces was also presented in the NJNY area in May: Calandra Institute as part of their scholarly series and the Montclair Public Library as part of their Adult Classes.

The book is still reviewed by scholars active in different disciplines.

  • Review by Loredana Polezzi (Translation Studies, Comparative Literature) in Crossings: Journal of Migration & Culture (April 2019)
  • Review by Joseph Viscomi (Modern European History) in H-net Reviews in the Humanities and Social Sciences (Feb. 2019)
  • Review by David Aliano (Italian Transnational and Comparative Studies, History) in Journal of Modern Italian Studies (Feb. 2019)
  • Review by Caterina Romeo (Literary Criticism and Theory, Gender Studies) in Italian American Review (Winter 2019)
  • Review by Alessandra Mattei (Statistics) in Oblio: Osservatorio bibliografico della letteratura italiana otto-novecentesca (Winter 2018)

Increasingly so, the book is also the occasion for commissioned publications in peer-reviewed journals as well as interviews in the media, such as by We The Italians (May 12, 2019) and Quotidiano di Sicilia (June 1, 2019).

By linking Italy’s long history of emigration to all continents in the world, Fiore rethinks Italy’s formation and development on a transnational map including Egypt, Argentina, France, Ethiopia and the U.S. through the cultural analysis of travel, living, and workspaces as depicted in literary, filmic, and musical texts. By demonstrating how immigration in Italy today is preoccupied by its past emigration and colonialism, the book stresses commonalities and dispels preoccupations.

More information on the book as well as a comprehensive view of prizes, reviews and presentations can be found here.