ASMARINA: Voices and images of a postcolonial heritage

The Eritrean/Ethiopian community has been present in Italy for at least half a century and it has been actively integrated into the social and cultural life of the city. Starting from the collective memories of the community, on the ground of photo documents, the film gathers together the legacy of personal stories, exploring the different shades of identity, migration and the aspirations of the people. The result of Alan Maglio and Medhin Paolos' research is a collective tale which brings to light  a postcolonial heritage that has been little scrutinized up to now: the everyday life stories of those who have lived in the city for years, those who were born in Italy and the daycare of the refugees who have just arrived.

The filmmakers approach this reality empathically and get involved in it, patiently trying to create a relationship with the protagonists. The research and the filming of “Asmarina” lasted one year and a half and are based on direct witness accounts and the survey of audiovisual material taken from personal and institutional archives.

The screening will be followed by a discussion with Director Medhin Paolos, Dr. Paola Bacchetta, and Dr. Stephen Small.

‍Medhin Paolos is an Italian-Eritrean photographer, electronic musician, and an activist. Her career path has taken her from an international experience with the electronic folk band Fiamma Fumana to her current work with the Rete G2, a national Italian organization mobilizing for the citizenship rights of the children of immigrants in Italy. “Asmarina" is her debut film as a director.

‍Paola Bacchetta is Professor of Gender & Women’s Studies and Vice Chair of Pedagogy at UC Berkeley. She is also Co-chair of the Political Conflict, Gender and People’s Rights Project based at Center for Race and Gender at University of California, Berkeley. Her scholarly interests include: political conflict; transnational feminist and queer theory; decolonial and postcolonial theory; queer of color theory; multiplicities (intersectionality, assemblages, articulational theorizations, co-formations and co-productions); epistemologies of the south; social and critical theory; and theories of spatialities.

‍Stephen A. Small is Professor of African American and African Diaspora Studies at UC Berkeley. His research is organized around the social scientific analysis of contemporary racial formations, and addresses links between historical structures and contemporary manifestations of racial formations in the United States and elsewhere in the African Diaspora.

‍This screening is co-sponsored by Berkeley City College and the University of California, Berkeley