Volume 39, Number 1, Spring 2025

FR:

Dans son roman Une femme à la fenêtre (1988), l’écrivaine italo-québécoise Bianca Zagolin explore les thématiques de la migration et de la condition féminine. Elle y raconte l’histoire d’Aurore, veuve et mère de trois filles, qui quitte l’Italie conservatrice de ses origines pour s’installer au Québec dans l’espoir de reconstruire sa vie. L’oeuvre, imprégnée d’échos autobiographiques, reflète les préoccupations de son auteure en fusionnant quête d’identité féminine et expérience migratoire. Dans notre analyse, nous mettrons en lumière la double subalternité de la protagoniste – à la fois femme et immigrée –, dont la trajectoire identitaire complexe est marquée par le choix d’un nouveau départ, la progressive redécouverte de sa féminité et la rupture avec les normes oppressives de sa culture d’origine. En effet, malgré son destin tragique, Aurore demeure une figure exemplaire pour réfléchir aux enjeux migratoires et de genre propres à la communauté italo-canadienne au xxe siècle.

IT:

Questo contributo esamina la conformazione dei repertori linguistici di quattro comunità italiane all’estero e di tre gruppi di emigranti di ritorno residenti in tre piccoli comuni irpini. L'analisi si basa sulla proposta elaborata da Dal Negro e Iannaccaro (2003) per le minoranze linguistiche in Italia, in cui sono stati individuati alcuni parametri che si dimostrano validi anche per le comunità di lingua ereditaria. Inoltre, la comparazione tra più contesti permette di mettere in evidenza la variazione tra diverse comunità italiane che si distinguono per la storia migratoria e, conseguentemente, per gli usi linguistici, con particolare riferimento alla gestione del bilinguismo tra lingua ereditaria e lingua maggioritaria del paese di immigrazione. Il risultato principale del contributo dimostra l’importanza di un approccio sociolinguistico per lo studio delle lingue ereditarie, il cui uso può essere compreso pienamente solo considerando la complessità dei contesti in cui esse sono parlate.

EN:

This article examines the repertoires of four Italian communities abroad and three groups of returnees settled in three different villages in Irpina (Italy). The analysis builds on the parameters proposed by Dal Negro and Iannaccaro (2003) for linguistic minorities in Italy, demonstrating that these parameters are also effective for describing heritage repertoires. Furthermore, the comparative analysis highlights the variation among Italian communities abroad, where the history of migration has led to differing pattern of use regarding heritage varieties and the dominant language of the host society. The paper’s main finding underscores the importance of the sociolinguistic approach to heritage languages, whose uses can only be fully understood by considering the social contexts in which they are spoken.

EN:

“Home Sweet Rome!” (2023–to present), a Canadian–Italian co-production aimed at a young audience, provides an emblematic case for examining the circulation of cultural identities and racial representations in contemporary transnational media. The series follows Lucy, an American teenager who moves to Rome with her father and his new Italian wife. The series also introduces audiences to Charlotte, Lucy’s Franco-American and Afro-descendant classmate, who embodies a transatlantic identity that challenges traditional narratives of ethnicity and belonging and functions as a crucial counterpart to the protagonist. Drawing on cultural studies and Black diaspora studies, this article analyzes key sequences selected from several episodes, with a focus on framing, editing, music, and online audience reception. Positioned within the context of international co-productions and platform-based production models, Home Sweet Rome! emerges as a hybrid text mediating between local and global logics. The aim of the article is to show how the series, while following the conventions of preteen entertainment, challenges stereotypes and explores complex dynamics of cultural identity and social integration. In this sense, Home Sweet Rome! becomes a site of negotiation for transnational identities and new, albeit ambiguous, forms of inclusion within European media culture.