Migrant Memories

Margherita Sprio is Senior Lecturer in Film History and Theory at the University of Westminster. She studied Fine Art at Goldsmiths (University of London) and the Slade School of Art (University College London) and then worked as an artist internationally before completing her PhD at Goldsmiths. She works on film practice and theory as well as the relationship of film theory to photography, contemporary art and philosophy. Her particular research interests relate to the politics of art and the moving image, globalisation and diaspora, cultural/sexual difference and transnationalism.

Contents: Cultures of Migration - Historicising the Italian Diaspora in Britain - Frank Capra and Anthony Minghella - Comparative Links - Cultural Identity and Assimilation - Memories and Movies - Cultural Memory.

«Standing out from previous similar literature, one of the greatest strengths of 'Migrant Memories' is the meticulous use of a variety of artifacts and objects of memory as parts of the narration [...]. In this creative remembrance of personal memories and practices of home making, the author brilliantly opens up new and promising trajectories that throw an unexpected light on [... the] Italian Diaspora [...]. Academics, theorists, students, migrants, those who lived or are living the diasporic experience, those who can remember their grandparents' memories, will certainly benefit from this wonderful reading; it is a warm and sincere picture of our past and our present that will have a siginificant impact on the way we debate issues of migration and the problematic of integration between cultures.» (Sara Marino, Crossings: Journal of Migration & Culture 5.2-3, 2014)