ABSTRACT

Italy and Somalia share a common history that started with Italian colonialism in the Horn of Africa. The label 'Somali Italian' defines a specific cultural encounter, which has been shaped by the uneven relations of power that exists between the two nations because of colonialism. Somali Italian literature addresses some forms of discrimination, including the marginalization of immigrants, diasporic subjects, and their descendants in Italy. Despite the relevance of the themes addressed in Somali Italian literature, only a few of the works have been released by publishers with strong distribution networks, and most of them have limited access to the cultural market. Somali Italian literature can be considered minor because the study of the colonial legacy in Italian culture has become a vibrant field of research only in the last twenty years. The chapter also presents an overview of this book. The book assesses Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari's model and its relevance to the specific Somali Italian case study.