Sara Forcella
PhD graduate, Arabist, intercultural mediator and teacher of Italian as second language.
I completed a master’s degree in Arabic language and literature at Sapienza University of Rome and then received my PhD from the same university in 2021, with a thesis entitled “Otherness and the Other Sex Within the Frame-Story of The Thousand and One Nights: Texts and Criticism”. In my PhD dissertation, I undertook a detailed philological analysis to explore representations of masculinity and femininity, as well as male-female interactions, within both the Arabic printed versions and the most famous English translations of the story that opens the worldly-famous medieval Arabic collection. I also investigated the way in which these representations, which are constructed upon different intersectional categories defining the relational boundaries between the selves, have been analysed by the extensive body of literary criticism in English and in Arabic targeting The Thousand and One Nights.
However, my research and work are characterized by " a double love", to use the sufi poet Rabi'a al-Adawiyya's words. That is, apart from my engagement with Arabic language, my second field of action is migration studies, in relation to which I am a practitioner and an activist. I took a Master’s in Cultural Mediation and Immigration to give my skills a legal framework, as I have been working in Italian refugee camps since 2012 as a cultural mediator (medical, legal, psychological cultural intermediation), and teacher of Italian as a second language. I am the leading member of an Italian non-profit association (Fuori Passo ETS) that offers support and services for people with a background of forced migration. I am involved in the organization of transcultural-artistic activities that encourage deeper knowledge of the territory in which they reside and take migrant people to places of art and beauty, together with locals. Through the use of culture and art as cognitive, social, and recreational instruments, awareness of and critical engagement with the surrounding reality is fostered, while spaces and conditions to strengthen social cohesion are created.
I write articles and short stories for Melting Pot Europa, The Africa Report, Respond Blog, Comune-Info, Mondita Review, Frontiere News.
I completed a master’s degree in Arabic language and literature at Sapienza University of Rome and then received my PhD from the same university in 2021, with a thesis entitled “Otherness and the Other Sex Within the Frame-Story of The Thousand and One Nights: Texts and Criticism”. In my PhD dissertation, I undertook a detailed philological analysis to explore representations of masculinity and femininity, as well as male-female interactions, within both the Arabic printed versions and the most famous English translations of the story that opens the worldly-famous medieval Arabic collection. I also investigated the way in which these representations, which are constructed upon different intersectional categories defining the relational boundaries between the selves, have been analysed by the extensive body of literary criticism in English and in Arabic targeting The Thousand and One Nights.
However, my research and work are characterized by " a double love", to use the sufi poet Rabi'a al-Adawiyya's words. That is, apart from my engagement with Arabic language, my second field of action is migration studies, in relation to which I am a practitioner and an activist. I took a Master’s in Cultural Mediation and Immigration to give my skills a legal framework, as I have been working in Italian refugee camps since 2012 as a cultural mediator (medical, legal, psychological cultural intermediation), and teacher of Italian as a second language. I am the leading member of an Italian non-profit association (Fuori Passo ETS) that offers support and services for people with a background of forced migration. I am involved in the organization of transcultural-artistic activities that encourage deeper knowledge of the territory in which they reside and take migrant people to places of art and beauty, together with locals. Through the use of culture and art as cognitive, social, and recreational instruments, awareness of and critical engagement with the surrounding reality is fostered, while spaces and conditions to strengthen social cohesion are created.
I write articles and short stories for Melting Pot Europa, The Africa Report, Respond Blog, Comune-Info, Mondita Review, Frontiere News.
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Papers by Sara Forcella
One of these “ordinary” stories is collected here. It testifies to the well-known uncoordinated migration policies within the EU that too often put borders before human beings who remain snagged in their meshes for years, sometimes forever, being stripped away of their rights, having their dignity destroyed and their hopes disappointed.
Riflessioni di lavoro. Letto-scrittura con i migranti analfabeti, qualche considerazione su una pratica di resistenza quotidiana
Parlare coerentemente di fenomeno migratorio e mediazione culturale rappresenta, da qualche tempo a questa parte, una doverosa necessità. In primo luogo doverosa, poiché gli sbarchi che continuano a susseguirsi sulle coste italiane ed europee dopo le “Primavere Arabe” impongono visivamente e fisicamente la presa di coscienza di una nuova realtà in corso, che come tale richiede strategie di intervento e modalità di approccio rinnovate e adeguate. In secondo luogo necessaria, poiché trattare l'argomento con obiettività e serietà, senza cadere nella freddezza dei calcoli statistici e nel materialismo delle quote né, d'altro canto, in atteggiamenti compassionevoli e caritatevoli intrisi di moralismo religioso per sua stessa natura non risolutivi e tanto meno evolutivi, richiede lo sviluppo di idee solide su cui fondare il proprio agire e la pratica stessa della mediazione culturale.
Talks by Sara Forcella
Books by Sara Forcella
provokes, and its relationship with the West makes its positioning in the modern Arabic canon a challenging task.
dei richiedenti asilo in Italia, da una prospettiva di ricerca che unisce il campo
della mediazione culturale a considerazioni di carattere socio-relazionale legate
ad attività artistico-(inter)culturali intraprese con un gruppo di giovani migranti.
Pur focalizzandosi principalmente sui richiedenti asilo, le considerazioni sul tempo
dell’accoglienza qui sviluppate rimangono valide anche per i titolari di una forma di
protezione internazionale e/o permesso, tuttavia sottolineando che questi ultimi, per
effetto della legge 132/2018 (di conversione del cosiddetto decreto Salvini), sono
attualmente gli unici ad avere accesso al sistema Sprar (Sistema di Protezione per
Richiedenti Asilo e Rifugiati) ed oggi, per effetto della suddetta legge, denominato
Siproimi (Sistema di protezione per i titolari di protezione internazionale e per i
minori stranieri non accompagnati), e dunque ad avere diritto ad un’accoglienza
“emancipante” e “integrata”.
Conference Presentations by Sara Forcella
Over the past forty years, a new line of critical scholarship has concentrated upon the frame story of the Arabian Nights and its female protagonist Scheherazade. Perhaps inspired by the rewritings (and, thus, reinterpretations) of the tale in modern and contemporary fiction – like J. L. Borges, S. Rushdie, E. A. Poe, T. Hussein, N. Mahfouz and A. Djebar – the new criticism tries to engage real life with the tale and the figure of Scheherazade. This novel reception of the text testifies to a new sensibility in academic literature.
Narrative is transformed into the open domain of different disciplines, as well as literary cultures at the confluence of the Arab world and the West. Feminist and gender approaches, psychoanalytic readings, and sociocultural and postcolonial perspectives combine literary theories with extra-literary areas of knowledge. The main subject of these analyses falls within the realm of otherness, i.e. the image of the other and the relationship with the other (sex) at the basis of the plot of the frame story, and its metaphorical implications. Their outcomes are often heterogeneous, to the point of generating, sometimes, diametrically opposed visions.
Why is otherness in the frame story capable of embodying images (of the other sex) and meanings within but also outside the literary context? How have scholars received it? Why can their interpretations come to so different – even opposite - conclusions?
The frame story of the Arabian Nights and its ample criticism deserves its own scrutiny. I will, therefore, provide an overview of the main trends in the interpretation of the tale, and how the image of the other and the relationship with the other sex is treated according to the intensions of the scholars, as well as to his/her area of study, theoretical framework and literary culture.
From 2011 till now, Italy has adopted various measure for migrants’ reception, from states of emergency to more organized interventions, and boosting integration. However, especially in first-level reception camps, migrants’ lives often become a “stand-by” due to the prolonged period of stagnation in which only bare minimum treatments are generally provided. As a result, the more proactive attitude which asylum seekers may have when entering the reception system is reduced by exasperatingly long waits. Focusing on esigenze (human requirements; Fagioli 2019), namely the total of aspirations, interests, human relationships and personal prospects which enrich and complete every individual’s life experience, is crucial. Cultural and artistic activities, aimed at soliciting the individual’s sensitivity, critical reflection and interest through an alternative knowledge of the new territory and its social and artistic texture, enable people to keep touch with reality and the ability to bear multiple uncertainties, which they may lose in reception time.
After a brief recap of the evolution of “reception time” in the first and second tier of camps in Italy, this contribution will present some theoretical considerations on esigenze and their importance in order to improve the quality time of people in the reception system. Lastly, I will provide a case-study: a grassroots project undertaken with a group of asylum seekers in the province of Rome that used cultural-artistic activities to boost esigenze, as well as personal resistance. By going beyond “places of need” and bringing people into spaces of beauty and art, these activities also shorten the distance between life in camps and the outside.
Avendo lavorato a lungo e in diversi centri di accoglienza, abbiamo potuto notare la tendenza comune alla marginalità, e comunque la non centralità, di tutto quanto esuli dalla responsabilità delle strutture di assicurare i bisogni materiali minimi. La gestione dei CAS, ma in qualche caso anche degli SPRAR sebbene in misura differente, è incentrata, se non limitata, a garantire la cosiddetta soddisfazione dei bisogni: mangiare, dormire, lavarsi, vestirsi. Spesso per mancanza di mezzi adeguati, sforzi ed energie sono convogliati soprattutto nell'erogazione dei servizi essenziali. Si ha la sensazione che ogni progettualità venga percepita come un di più, un’attività a cui dedicare le risorse a disposizione per quello che si riesce a fare.
L’esperimento qui descritto è partito da queste premesse: dopo aver visto che la soddisfazione dei bisogni essenziali non bastava, ci siamo chiesti se non fosse il
caso di occuparci di quelle che lo psichiatra Fagioli ha chiamato esigenze. Ossia di tutta quella serie di attività altre, apparentemente di utilità minore o di alcuna utilità pratica, che rappresentano la base di una vita umana che possa dirsi propriamente tale. Una vita che si rivolga, una volta assicurati i beni primari, a quel mondo fatto di affetti, relazioni ed interesse per gli altri e per la realtà che ci circonda di cui nessuno può fare realmente a meno, e senza il quale lo sviluppo totale della persona e la possibilità di raggiungere un ben-essere reale non sono pensabili. Ne deriva che l’accoglienza fondata sulle esigenze si differenzia radicalmente dall'approccio assistenziale.
Over the past forty years, a new line of critical scholarship has concentrated upon the frame story of the Arabian Nights and its female protagonist Scheherazade. Perhaps inspired by the rewritings (and, thus, reinterpretations) of the tale in modern and contemporary fiction – like J. L. Borges, S. Rushdie, E. A. Poe, T. Hussein, N. Mahfouz and A. Djebar – the new criticism tries to engage real life with the tale and the figure of Scheherazade. This novel reception of the text testifies to a new sensibility in academic literature.
Narrative is transformed into the open domain of different disciplines, as well as literary cultures at the confluence of the Arab world and the West. Feminist and gender approaches, psychoanalytic readings, and sociocultural and postcolonial perspectives combine literary theories with extra-literary areas of knowledge. The main subject of these analyses falls within the realm of otherness, i.e. the image of the other and the relationship with the other (sex) at the basis of the plot of the frame story, and its metaphorical implications. Their outcomes are often heterogeneous, to the point of generating, sometimes, diametrically opposed visions.
Why is otherness in the frame story capable of embodying images (of the other sex) and meanings within but also outside the literary context? How have scholars received it? Why can their interpretations come to so different – even opposite - conclusions?
The frame story of the Arabian Nights and its ample criticism deserves its own scrutiny. I will, therefore, provide an overview of the main trends in the interpretation of the tale, and how the image of the other and the relationship with the other sex is treated according to the intensions of the scholars, as well as to his/her area of study, theoretical framework and literary culture.
Thesis Chapters by Sara Forcella
One of these “ordinary” stories is collected here. It testifies to the well-known uncoordinated migration policies within the EU that too often put borders before human beings who remain snagged in their meshes for years, sometimes forever, being stripped away of their rights, having their dignity destroyed and their hopes disappointed.
Riflessioni di lavoro. Letto-scrittura con i migranti analfabeti, qualche considerazione su una pratica di resistenza quotidiana
Parlare coerentemente di fenomeno migratorio e mediazione culturale rappresenta, da qualche tempo a questa parte, una doverosa necessità. In primo luogo doverosa, poiché gli sbarchi che continuano a susseguirsi sulle coste italiane ed europee dopo le “Primavere Arabe” impongono visivamente e fisicamente la presa di coscienza di una nuova realtà in corso, che come tale richiede strategie di intervento e modalità di approccio rinnovate e adeguate. In secondo luogo necessaria, poiché trattare l'argomento con obiettività e serietà, senza cadere nella freddezza dei calcoli statistici e nel materialismo delle quote né, d'altro canto, in atteggiamenti compassionevoli e caritatevoli intrisi di moralismo religioso per sua stessa natura non risolutivi e tanto meno evolutivi, richiede lo sviluppo di idee solide su cui fondare il proprio agire e la pratica stessa della mediazione culturale.
provokes, and its relationship with the West makes its positioning in the modern Arabic canon a challenging task.
dei richiedenti asilo in Italia, da una prospettiva di ricerca che unisce il campo
della mediazione culturale a considerazioni di carattere socio-relazionale legate
ad attività artistico-(inter)culturali intraprese con un gruppo di giovani migranti.
Pur focalizzandosi principalmente sui richiedenti asilo, le considerazioni sul tempo
dell’accoglienza qui sviluppate rimangono valide anche per i titolari di una forma di
protezione internazionale e/o permesso, tuttavia sottolineando che questi ultimi, per
effetto della legge 132/2018 (di conversione del cosiddetto decreto Salvini), sono
attualmente gli unici ad avere accesso al sistema Sprar (Sistema di Protezione per
Richiedenti Asilo e Rifugiati) ed oggi, per effetto della suddetta legge, denominato
Siproimi (Sistema di protezione per i titolari di protezione internazionale e per i
minori stranieri non accompagnati), e dunque ad avere diritto ad un’accoglienza
“emancipante” e “integrata”.
Over the past forty years, a new line of critical scholarship has concentrated upon the frame story of the Arabian Nights and its female protagonist Scheherazade. Perhaps inspired by the rewritings (and, thus, reinterpretations) of the tale in modern and contemporary fiction – like J. L. Borges, S. Rushdie, E. A. Poe, T. Hussein, N. Mahfouz and A. Djebar – the new criticism tries to engage real life with the tale and the figure of Scheherazade. This novel reception of the text testifies to a new sensibility in academic literature.
Narrative is transformed into the open domain of different disciplines, as well as literary cultures at the confluence of the Arab world and the West. Feminist and gender approaches, psychoanalytic readings, and sociocultural and postcolonial perspectives combine literary theories with extra-literary areas of knowledge. The main subject of these analyses falls within the realm of otherness, i.e. the image of the other and the relationship with the other (sex) at the basis of the plot of the frame story, and its metaphorical implications. Their outcomes are often heterogeneous, to the point of generating, sometimes, diametrically opposed visions.
Why is otherness in the frame story capable of embodying images (of the other sex) and meanings within but also outside the literary context? How have scholars received it? Why can their interpretations come to so different – even opposite - conclusions?
The frame story of the Arabian Nights and its ample criticism deserves its own scrutiny. I will, therefore, provide an overview of the main trends in the interpretation of the tale, and how the image of the other and the relationship with the other sex is treated according to the intensions of the scholars, as well as to his/her area of study, theoretical framework and literary culture.
From 2011 till now, Italy has adopted various measure for migrants’ reception, from states of emergency to more organized interventions, and boosting integration. However, especially in first-level reception camps, migrants’ lives often become a “stand-by” due to the prolonged period of stagnation in which only bare minimum treatments are generally provided. As a result, the more proactive attitude which asylum seekers may have when entering the reception system is reduced by exasperatingly long waits. Focusing on esigenze (human requirements; Fagioli 2019), namely the total of aspirations, interests, human relationships and personal prospects which enrich and complete every individual’s life experience, is crucial. Cultural and artistic activities, aimed at soliciting the individual’s sensitivity, critical reflection and interest through an alternative knowledge of the new territory and its social and artistic texture, enable people to keep touch with reality and the ability to bear multiple uncertainties, which they may lose in reception time.
After a brief recap of the evolution of “reception time” in the first and second tier of camps in Italy, this contribution will present some theoretical considerations on esigenze and their importance in order to improve the quality time of people in the reception system. Lastly, I will provide a case-study: a grassroots project undertaken with a group of asylum seekers in the province of Rome that used cultural-artistic activities to boost esigenze, as well as personal resistance. By going beyond “places of need” and bringing people into spaces of beauty and art, these activities also shorten the distance between life in camps and the outside.
Avendo lavorato a lungo e in diversi centri di accoglienza, abbiamo potuto notare la tendenza comune alla marginalità, e comunque la non centralità, di tutto quanto esuli dalla responsabilità delle strutture di assicurare i bisogni materiali minimi. La gestione dei CAS, ma in qualche caso anche degli SPRAR sebbene in misura differente, è incentrata, se non limitata, a garantire la cosiddetta soddisfazione dei bisogni: mangiare, dormire, lavarsi, vestirsi. Spesso per mancanza di mezzi adeguati, sforzi ed energie sono convogliati soprattutto nell'erogazione dei servizi essenziali. Si ha la sensazione che ogni progettualità venga percepita come un di più, un’attività a cui dedicare le risorse a disposizione per quello che si riesce a fare.
L’esperimento qui descritto è partito da queste premesse: dopo aver visto che la soddisfazione dei bisogni essenziali non bastava, ci siamo chiesti se non fosse il
caso di occuparci di quelle che lo psichiatra Fagioli ha chiamato esigenze. Ossia di tutta quella serie di attività altre, apparentemente di utilità minore o di alcuna utilità pratica, che rappresentano la base di una vita umana che possa dirsi propriamente tale. Una vita che si rivolga, una volta assicurati i beni primari, a quel mondo fatto di affetti, relazioni ed interesse per gli altri e per la realtà che ci circonda di cui nessuno può fare realmente a meno, e senza il quale lo sviluppo totale della persona e la possibilità di raggiungere un ben-essere reale non sono pensabili. Ne deriva che l’accoglienza fondata sulle esigenze si differenzia radicalmente dall'approccio assistenziale.
Over the past forty years, a new line of critical scholarship has concentrated upon the frame story of the Arabian Nights and its female protagonist Scheherazade. Perhaps inspired by the rewritings (and, thus, reinterpretations) of the tale in modern and contemporary fiction – like J. L. Borges, S. Rushdie, E. A. Poe, T. Hussein, N. Mahfouz and A. Djebar – the new criticism tries to engage real life with the tale and the figure of Scheherazade. This novel reception of the text testifies to a new sensibility in academic literature.
Narrative is transformed into the open domain of different disciplines, as well as literary cultures at the confluence of the Arab world and the West. Feminist and gender approaches, psychoanalytic readings, and sociocultural and postcolonial perspectives combine literary theories with extra-literary areas of knowledge. The main subject of these analyses falls within the realm of otherness, i.e. the image of the other and the relationship with the other (sex) at the basis of the plot of the frame story, and its metaphorical implications. Their outcomes are often heterogeneous, to the point of generating, sometimes, diametrically opposed visions.
Why is otherness in the frame story capable of embodying images (of the other sex) and meanings within but also outside the literary context? How have scholars received it? Why can their interpretations come to so different – even opposite - conclusions?
The frame story of the Arabian Nights and its ample criticism deserves its own scrutiny. I will, therefore, provide an overview of the main trends in the interpretation of the tale, and how the image of the other and the relationship with the other sex is treated according to the intensions of the scholars, as well as to his/her area of study, theoretical framework and literary culture.