Bridge over Troubled Water: Italy and the Black Mediterranean

Abstract

Since ancient times, Italy has served as a bridge between Africa and Europe, facilitating exchanges of goods, crops, legends, human beings, and deities. In recent decades, this role has come back to everyone’s attention because of the flows that have turned the Mediterranean into one of the main crossroads on the global migratory chessboard. Several young Africans have embarked the Mediterranean Passage. Some have arrived to the opposite shore, whereas some have not. The survivors have reshaped the history of the African Diaspora. The history of the Black Mediterranean resonates with that of the Black Atlantic. Moreover, the considerable presence of an African Italian community inevitably leads the country to question itself and its millenary relationship to Africa, and how much this has influenced and continues to influence Italy’s national identity and imagination. The artistic duo Invernomuto has led this exploration in the creative field, mainly by inviting artists and thinkers to join their sonic platform Black Med.