Eccentricity and Sameness: Lesbian Cultural Identity in Italy, 1883 to the present day.

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Subject: This project focuses on the cultural representation of female same-sex and lesbian desire and identity in Italian texts, from 1883 to the present day. Context: Recent decades have seen significant changes in legislation on and attitudes towards homosexuality in many western countries. There is a growing body of research on lesbian and gay cultures, both contemporary and historical, but not all cultural contexts have yet been studied in detail; for example, the status and representation of lesbians in Italian culture has received very little critical attention. In Italy, as elsewhere, lesbians have historically been condemned as perverted, marginalised, or simply unacknowledged due to perceptions of lesbianism as socially unacceptable or unspeakable. As a result, they have featured in Italian literature and film as objects of derision. However, we can also identify a strand of writing and representation that seeks to make visible and to celebrate same-sex love between women, especially since the 1960s. Cultural representation has long held great significance for lesbians, as for other sexual minorities, because of its potential to express and make visible desires and identities that mainstream culture had traditionally ignored or vilified. This project is an innovative study that will fill an enduring void in scholarship on this issueAims: The main aim of this project is to research the cultural representation of female same-sex love and desire, and lesbian identities in Italian novels, films, and more contemporary texts such as websites, in order to understand the characteristics of this representation and the ways in which it has changed over time. The time period covered by the project is from the late nineteenth century, the moment when early sexologists began to study and categorise same-sex practices, to the present day. Research will identify and analyse cultural texts, using an innovative critical and theoretical framework. There are three main research questions:1) what terms are used to describe same-sex love and desire in these texts? In particular, what forms of 'difference' (perceived or actual) are identified?2) when, where and how did 'lesbian' identities emerge and develop in Italian culture, and how has the term 'lesbian' been used in cultural texts?3) within Italian cultural representation, how have lesbian situated themselves in relation to evolving understandings of female sexuality in the broader socio-cultural context; for example, how have they responded to claims that lesbians are 'abnormal'? What kinds of 'differences' or similarities, 'sameness' are evoked?Through this research, the project will raise awareness of and enable discussion on these issues within academic and activist communities, as well as among the general public.Outputs: a book in English; a journal article in English; conference papers; university teaching material; talks to the general public and to LGBT communities both in the UK and Italy, made available as a podcast; articles on Italian websites in Italian. This will ensure that the research is disseminated widely in both Anglophone and Italophone contexts.Progress: The research is already underway. I am currently consulting relevant resources in UK libraries. Research will be continued in archives and libraries in Italy. I will discuss the research regularly with academic colleagues as well as with LGBT communities, whose input will contribute to shaping the project.