The Southern Question and the Colonial Mediterranean

Catalog description

This course examines Antonio Gramsci's interpretation of the Southern Question (quistione) in an attempt to better understand the politics and culture informing the colonial Middle East. Through an analysis of Gramsci’s critique of Southernism –the representation of Southern Italy as a semi-barbarous territory inhabited by “biologically inferior beings”– and his sociological description of pre-World War II Italy, we will acquaint ourselves with some of the key-concepts characterizing his political thought. Next, we will examine how critics of European colonialism in the Mediterranean have adopted this rich epistemological and analytical vocabulary.