Shirin Ramzanali Fazel

Growing up in Mogadishu, Somalia, Shirin Ramzanali Fazel was immersed in the language and culture of Italy, Somalia’s former colonizer. Yet when she moved to Italy as a young mother in the 1970s, she discovered a country where immigrants and Muslims were viewed with a mixture of curiosity and suspicion­–where, even today, she and her children must seemingly prove they are Italian. In Islam and Me, Fazel tells her story and shares the experiences of other Muslim women living in Italy, revealing the wide variety of Muslim identities and the common prejudices they encounter. Looking at Italian school textbooks, newspapers, and TV programs, she invites us to change the way Muslim immigrants, and especially women, are depicted in both news reports and scholarly research. Islam and Me is a meditation on our multireligious, multiethnic, and multilingual reality, as well as an exploration of how we might reimagine national culture and identity so that they become more diverse, inclusive, and anti-racist.

Growing up in Mogadishu, Somalia, Shirin Ramzanali Fazel was immersed in the language and culture of Italy, Somalia’s former colonizer. Yet when she moved to Italy as a young mother in the 1970s, she discovered a country where immigrants and Muslims were viewed with a mixture of curiosity and suspicion­–where, even today, she and her children must seemingly prove they are Italian. In Islam and Me, Fazel tells her story and shares the experiences of other Muslim women living in Italy, revealing the wide variety of Muslim identities and the common prejudices they encounter. Looking at Italian school textbooks, newspapers, and TV programs, she invites us to change the way Muslim immigrants, and especially women, are depicted in both news reports and scholarly research. Islam and Me is a meditation on our multireligious, multiethnic, and multilingual reality, as well as an exploration of how we might reimagine national culture and identity so that they become more diverse, inclusive, and anti-racist.

Many great writers have been fluent in multiple languages but have never been able to escape their mother tongue. Yet if a native language feels like home, an adopted language sometimes offers a hospitality one cannot find elsewhere. My Language Is a Jealous Lover explores the plights and successes of authors who lived and wrote in languages other than their mother tongue, from Samuel Beckett and Vladimir Nabokov to Ágota Kristóf and Joseph Brodsky. Author Adrián N. Bravi weaves their stories in with his own experiences as an Argentinian-Italian, thinking and writing in the language of his new life while recalling that of his childhood. Bravi bears witness to the frustrations, the soul-searching, the pain, and the joys of embracing another language.

Many great writers have been fluent in multiple languages but have never been able to escape their mother tongue. Yet if a native language feels like home, an adopted language sometimes offers a hospitality one cannot find elsewhere. My Language Is a Jealous Lover explores the plights and successes of authors who lived and wrote in languages other than their mother tongue, from Samuel Beckett and Vladimir Nabokov to Ágota Kristóf and Joseph Brodsky. Author Adrián N. Bravi weaves their stories in with his own experiences as an Argentinian-Italian, thinking and writing in the language of his new life while recalling that of his childhood. Bravi bears witness to the frustrations, the soul-searching, the pain, and the joys of embracing another language.

Raccolta di letture poetiche attraverso cui Shirin Ramzanali Fazel disegna con intensit ed empatia ricordi, esperienze ed emozioni.La nostalgia della sua terra d'origine e l'attualit degli avvenimenti si fondono creando fotografie di parole che scorrono liete e tragiche, colorate ed oscure, delicate e violente come la vita di ciascuno di noi "uccelli dalle ali spezzate".L'opera presentata da una introduzione del Prof. Luca Paci, docente presso il College of Arts & Humanities Swansea University - Swansea - Wales

"Nuvole sull'Equatore" prevalentemente ambientato nella Mogadiscio degli anni dell'Amministrazione Fiduciaria Italiana in Somalia (A.F.I.S.) e segue le trasformazioni della citt fino alla presa del potere da parte del generale Siad Barre. Racconta in particolare le vicende della protagonista Giulia, una bambina meticcia che vive l'esperienza dell'abbandono e che trascorre, come molte sue compagne di quell'epoca postcoloniale, una parte della sua vita nelle missioni delle suore della Consolata. Il periodo dell'AFIS della Somalia caratterizzato dall'incremento delle nascite di questi ragazzi/e che vengono additati da entrambe le comunit (somala e italiana) come portatori di un forte stigma sociale. In un intreccio di culture e di personaggi cos diversi tra loro, Giulia rappresenta l'anello di congiunzione, il ponte che unisce due mondi cos distanti, rivendicando per con fierezza la sua diversit . Attraverso la sua storia il romanzo rivela un passato poco noto della storia d'Italia.Con una postfazione di Simone Brioni (Stone Brook University, New York)

Questa la storia del viaggio fisico ed emotivo dell'Autrice dalla sua patria devastata dalla guerra, la Somalia.Qualche tempo dopo il colpo di stato militare del 1969 Shirin lasci Mogadiscio e si trasfer in Italia per dare a s stessa e alla sua famiglia una nuova casa ed una nuova vita.Da allora ha attraversato i continenti e ha vissuto in diverse citt , affrontando la sfida dell'integrazione con diversi tipi di societ prima di stabilirsi nel Regno Unito nel 2010.Questo libro racchiude le sue riflessioni sulla diaspora Somala.La postfazione curata da Simone Brioni docente presso l'Universit Stony Brook, NY.

There was time when my country was the country of fairy tales, a country where every child would want to grow and play. This is the story of the author's physical and emotional journey from her war-torn homeland, Somalia. Some time after the military coup in 1969 Shirin left Mogadishu and moved to Italy to make a new life and home for herself and her family. Since then she has crossed continents and lived in several cities, facing the challenge of integrating with many different kind of society before settling in England in 2010.This book encapsulates her reflections on the Somali diaspora.