Captivity and Creativity: The Cultural and Material Production of Italian Prisoners in Allied Hands (1940-1947) - Couverture souple

Couverture souple

ISBN 10 : 1531513603 ISBN 13 : 9781531513603

Editeur : Fordham University Press, 2026

Synopsis

A groundbreaking volume that represents the first examination of cultural production amongst Italian prisoners of war

Captivity and Creativity explores the artistic and material production by Italian prisoners of war (POWs) and some civilian internees who were captured by the Western Allies in 1940–43 and detained in prison camps scattered across Africa, Australia, India, the United Kingdom, and the United States during World War II. Twelve chapters discuss from different theoretical and histori­cal angles the various artistic activities (e.g., theatre, music, visual arts, architecture, chapels, and material objects), technical contributions (e.g., maps, photography, radio), writings (e.g., memoirs, diaries, letters, and fiction), as well as the documentary evidence that resulted from the diverse experiences and transnational exchanges between the prisoners and their captors as military personnel and local civilian populations in different parts of the globe between 1940 and 1947.

The book describes the prisoners’ economic importance for the Western Allied powers in their war effort to fight Nazi-Fascism and the enforced diaspora through which POWs were moved across different allied countries. It analyzes the prisoners’ daily camp life, work, and treatment before and after the 1943 Armistice, when POWs were asked to sign an agreement to renounce Fascism and become cooperators of war, underlining the different treatment reserved for coop­erators of war and noncooperators of war. The book also investigates the legacy of the prisoners’ artistic and material production, the cultural heritage and the practices of memorialization (e.g., photography, monuments, museums, anniversary celebrations, exhibits) that have derived from the Italian presence in camps in different countries up to this date, through reference to groups and communities that preserve that heritage.

A propos du livre

À propos des auteurs

Giorgia Alù is Chair of Italian Studies at the University of Sydney. She has published widely on literature and photography, photographic culture, travel writing and women's writing, and on aspects of the cultural history of modern Italy. Her publications include the monograph Journeys Exposed: Women's Writing, Mobility and Photography (2019) and the co-edited volume Enlightening Encounters: Italian Literature and Photography (2015). She is the Principal Investigator of the Australian Research Council team project on "Mapping Creativity in Captivity during WWII" and Co-Principal Investigator in the large collaborative ARC Discovery Project "Opening Australia's Multilingual Archive". She is also working on a book manuscript on the function and impact of mining in Italy revealing how human and non-human resources became a platform for political, cultural and social practices and discourses throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

Elena Bellina is Visiting Assistant Clinical Professor in Italian Studies at New York University. Her research and publications focus on war and captivity studies, cultural memory, autobiographical writing, and the performing arts. She is completing two book manuscripts on the literary and artistic production by Italian prisoners of war in Allied hands detained in camps in Africa. She is Co-Principal Investigator in the Australian Research Council funded project "Creativity in Captivity in WWII."

Détails de l'édition

• Éditeur: Fordham University Press
• Date d'édition: 2026
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN 10: 1531513603
• ISBN 13: 9781531513603
• Reliure: Broché
• Nombre de pages: 432
• Éditeur: Alù Giorgia, Bellina Elena
• Coordonnées du fabricant: non disponible
• Personne responsable: non disponible