Rebecca Latcham-Ford

A brief outline of my research project

My research explores the representation of Italy in works by contemporary Anglophone writers, focusing on Nuruddin Farah, Caryl Phillips and Jhumpa Lahiri. The project compares these representations of Italy as a site of travel and migration, considering how the diverse postcolonial and transnational perspectives of these writers are articulated in relation to Italy. The reception of Italian translations of the texts is analysed to explore how external representations influence conceptions of Italian identity in the Italian cultural imaginary. The project argues that by analysing how these writers collectively imagine Italy in their narratives and how these narratives are translated, circulated and received in Italy, a new understanding of the contours and substance of the Anglophone postcolonial and transnational imaginaries is produced. As such, the project engages with a wider discussion of how Italy’s colonial past and more recent status as a site of migration impact the narratives that underlie the concept of Italy.

Research activities

My academic background

• MA Comparative Literature, University of Kent
• BA (Hons) English and Italian Literature, University of Warwick