By linking Italy's long history of emigration to all continents in the world, contemporary transnational migrations directed toward it, as well as the country's colonial legacies, Fiore's book poses Italy as a unique laboratory to rethink national belonging at large in our era of massive demographic mobility. Through an interdisciplinary cultural approach, the book finds traces of globalization in a past that may hold interesting lessons about inclusiveness for the present. Fiore rethinks Italy's formation and development on a transnational map through 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.
"Fiore's book is a marvelous read. Glowing with humanity, she wears her knowledge lightly. In this book the study of contemporary postcolonial Italy is filtered through the centuries of the Italian migrant experience. Thus much-used terms such as 'diasporic,' 'hybridity,' and 'liminal' are given human faces. A mastery of the theoretical literature on space, place, and the immigrant/emigrant experi
Goldsmiths, University of London
"A sophisticated and brilliant work of theoretical scaffolding, one that never loses sight of the perils of its own iconoclastic undertaking. Pre-Occupied Spaces' extremely well-crafted structure helps the reader navigate from one text to the other, while the theoretical architecture of the book guides the reader through the impressive proliferation of well-researched texts and critical references
Loyola University Chicago
"Teresa Fiore reminds readers that Italy is a country that has long been defined by 'border crossing, movements, displacements and differences,' Its 'emigrants' and 'immigrants' have sparked similarly troubled preoccupations wherever, whenever and in whatever direction they have moved. Using the tools of cultural analysis, Fiore offers a stunning analysis of the boats, houses, and workplaces where
