Gendering Commitment: Re-Thinking Social and Ethical Engagement in Modern Italian Culture

Notions of engagement, commitment and impegno continue to provoke debate amongst academics researching contemporary Italian culture, and yet--be it by accident or by more conscious selection--critical work has tended to posit these concepts as a predominantly male and, often, heteronormative domain. This collection of essays challenges this assumption, and analyses more closely the fluid and fragmented nature of commitment, and the work of Italian intellectuals and cultural practitioners associated with it. The volume's contributors engage with those who have typically been excluded from such debates: female writers, filmmakers, artists and cultural practitioners, alongside males whose work has often been denied the designation of impegnato. The chapters all focus on individuals who insist on the need to question, interrogate and denounce social realities. Employing a range of theoretical perspectives, and bringing into dialogue individuals not typically associated with terms such as engagement and commitment, this volume offers an original and distinctive contribution to a discussion that persists in Italian studies.