Italy Meets Africa

Di Carmine (film, Western Illinois U.) analyzes colonial discourses of Italian and African identity in Italian cinema both during and after the major period of Italian colonial intervention in Africa. The three films that provide the focus of the discussion are Attilio Gatti's Siliva Zulu (1927), Mario Camerini's Kif tebbi (1928), and Agusto Genina's Squadrone bianco (1936). The later comparative films discussed are Bernardo Bertolucci's L'assedio (1998) and Christina Comencini's Bianco e Nero (2007). Annotation c2011 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Roberta Di Carmine graduated from the Universita degli Studi Gabriele D’Annunzio in Pescara, Italy, with a Laurea (cum laude) in twentieth-century English and German literatures. She received her MA in foreign languages and literatures from West Virginia University and her PhD in comparative literature from the University of Oregon. Currently, Di Carmine is Associate Professor of Film in the Department of English and Journalism at Western Illinois University, where she teaches a wide range of film courses and directs the interdisciplinary film minor. She has published essays in Wide Screen, The Councilor: The Journal of the Illinois Council for the Social Studies, Dealing with Diversity, and other collections. Di Carmine is the recipient of the 2009-2010 Western Illinois University College of Arts and Sciences’ Outstanding Faculty Award for Internationalizing the Campus as well as the 2010 Provost’s Awards of Excellence for Internationalizing the Campus.