St Andrews Research Repository

St Andrews University Home
View Item 
  •   St Andrews Research Repository
  • Modern Languages (School of)
  • Modern Languages Theses
  • View Item
  •   St Andrews Research Repository
  • Modern Languages (School of)
  • Modern Languages Theses
  • View Item
  •   St Andrews Research Repository
  • Modern Languages (School of)
  • Modern Languages Theses
  • View Item
  • Register / Login
JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.

Arrivals in Rome : entangling and disorientating the city in contemporary art and text

Date
30/07/2020
Author
Crabtree, Eleanor
Supervisor
Bond, Emma
Funder
University of St Andrews. School of Modern Languages
Keywords
Transnational
Postcolonial
Intermedial
Interdisciplinary
Rome
Contemporary Italy
Modern languages
Autotheory
Entanglement
Street art
Public art
Cities
Memory
Ancient Rome
Metadata
Show full item record
Abstract
This thesis explores heterogeneous forms of trans-national arrival in Rome as they are encapsulated by contemporary creative practices. The arrivals include those of ‘first’ and ‘second’ generation migrant writers (Methnani, Garane, Scego, Ali Farah, Lakhous) and those of non-Italian artists invited to carry out work in the city (Kentridge, Weems, FischerelSani). The final chapter explores how more local border-crossing positionalities from the city’s peripheries, as encapsulated by the street art movement Pinacci Nostri, intersect with these other arrivals. By foregrounding contemporary and historical trans- national trajectories to and from Rome, the creative practices discussed entangle the city with a far more expansive geography than traditional Western conceptualisations of space and time suggest. In their definition of eurocentrism, Shohat and Stam pinpoint Rome as an important reference point for such conceptualisations emerging from the ‘normal view of history’ which projects a ‘linear historical trajectory’ leading from Ancient Greece, via Rome, to the West (Unthinking Eurocentrism, pp. 1–2). Interpretations of Rome in contemporary creative practices demonstrate the difficulties in the contemporary age of thinking spatialities (and the histories from which they emerge) as contained within national borders, or even within ‘direct’ colonial relations. Exploring how each of the creative practices in some way reveals a concern for the legacy of the Ancient Roman Empire against the backdrop of the postcolonial present, this thesis shows how Rome may contribute as an important reference point for developing theories capable of describing the trans-national present. While analysing how creative practices offer readers/viewers ideas about Rome that go against eurocentric ways of thinking space and history, this thesis identifies the qualities of creative expression which facilitate this agency. Turning attention to questions of trans-national positionality and cultural agency also entails critically reflecting on the role of the Modern Languages researcher in exploring such a phenomenon. By drawing on writing methodologies that foreground the researcher in the first person, this thesis experiments with how this subjective positionality can itself serve as a vital theoretical tool to further enquiry.
DOI
https://doi.org/10.17630/10023-20281
Type
Thesis, PhD Doctor of Philosophy
Rights
Embargo Date: 2025-05-18
Embargo Reason: Thesis restricted in accordance with University regulations. Print and electronic copy restricted until 18th May 2025
Collections
  • Modern Languages Theses
URI
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/20281

Items in the St Andrews Research Repository are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.

Advanced Search

Browse

All of RepositoryCommunities & CollectionsBy Issue DateNamesTitlesSubjectsClassificationTypeFunderThis CollectionBy Issue DateNamesTitlesSubjectsClassificationTypeFunder

My Account

Login

Open Access

To find out how you can benefit from open access to research, see our library web pages and Open Access blog. For open access help contact: openaccess@st-andrews.ac.uk.

Accessibility

Read our Accessibility statement.

How to submit research papers

The full text of research papers can be submitted to the repository via Pure, the University's research information system. For help see our guide: How to deposit in Pure.

Electronic thesis deposit

Help with deposit.

Repository help

For repository help contact: Digital-Repository@st-andrews.ac.uk.

Give Feedback

Cookie policy

This site may use cookies. Please see Terms and Conditions.

Usage statistics

COUNTER-compliant statistics on downloads from the repository are available from the IRUS-UK Service. Contact us for information.

© University of St Andrews Library

University of St Andrews is a charity registered in Scotland, No SC013532.

  • Facebook
  • Twitter