Antonio Gramsci and Igiaba Scego. For a Postcolonial Education through Literature

Abstract

This article investigates the pedagogical potential of literature, specifically contemporary postcolonial literature, from a Gramscian perspective. Starting from the observation that Antonio Gramsci has been a major influence in Anglophone postcolonial theory, it aims to translate his thoughts to the context of contemporary Italian postcolonial literature. To this end, it focuses on Gramsci’s outlook on pedagogy in relation to literature and culture, the theme of subalternity, and subject formation as described in the Quaderni del carcere. It confronts his thoughts with a case study of Figli dello stesso cielo. Il razzismo e il colonialismo raccontati ai ragazzi (2021) by Igiaba Scego. This children’s book combines history, lived experience, and fabulation, in order to explain how Italy’s fascist and colonialist history still affects the present. Making use of Gramscian concepts, this essay explores how this and similar narratives could contribute to a postcolonial education in, and possibly a critical transformation of Italian society and its inhabitants.