Anti-Southern Racism and Education in Post-War Italy

This book investigates the racism against Southern Italian children attending North-Western primary schools between the 1950s and the 1970s. Turin serves as the main case study, having become the "third Southern city" after Naples and Palermo during the considered period.
Far from being a new phenomenon, racism against Southern Italians gained renewed prominence in the context of the post-war mass internal migrations, becoming one of the pillars of the process of nation-rebuilding. However, in spite of its relevance, it has not received the attention it deserves.
By drawing on a wide range of sources - printed, archival, photographic, and oral - and situating itself at the intersection of the history of racism, of education, of psychiatry, and of psychology, the book aims to fill this gap and to add to the debate on the borders that nation-states establish to control the access to power of the different groups inhabiting their territories. Its interdisciplinarity makes it suitable for students and researchers across a variety of subject areas.

List of contents

Introduction  1. Post-war South and Southern migrants in Turin: between imagination and reality  2. Educational otherness  3. Southern children and special education  4. Talking to grown-up children.  Conclusions

About the author

Grazia De Michele obtained her PhD in Italian history from the University of Reading. She is currently working towards a second PhD at the University of Genoa and is a member of the Centre for the History of Racism and Anti-Racism in Modern Italy (CENTRA).

Summary

This book investigates the racism against Southern Italian children attending North-Western primary schools between the 1950s and the 1970s. Turin serves as the main case study, having become the "third Southern city" after Naples and Palermo during the considered period.

Product details

• Authors: Grazia De Michele
• Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd.
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 26.08.2024
• EAN: 9780367607951
• ISBN: 978-0-367-60795-1
• No. of pages: 222
• Series: Routledge Studies in the Modern History of Italy
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > History; Non-fiction book > History > Miscellaneous; Social sciences, law, business > Sociology > Sociological theories; European History, 20th Century, HISTORY / World, EDUCATION / History, HISTORY / Social History, Social & cultural history, 20th century history: c 1900 to c 2000, HISTORY / Europe / Italy, Italy, General & world history, 20th century, c 1900 to c 1999, History of Education, Social and cultural history, General and world history