Pluriviolences in Negretta. Baci Razzisti, by Marilena Delli Umuhoza

Abstract

In the literary works of Italian writers of African origin, at least two scopes are evident: to denounce racism in all its nuances and to show that contact with immigrant cultures enriches Italian societies. In this work, I approach both, especially the first. Different types of racism are revealed through characters with characteristics and experiences of their authors or immigrants from the African diaspora in Italy, a fact that deserves investigation in various fields of study. When this “pluriviolence” comes to the fore, it annoys and upsets part of the society that “ignores” the Italian colonial past and the ballast that comes from it, as it points to the scarcity of both public policies for minorities and ethnic-racial representations. The relationships between the characters of the narrative fiction work Negretta. Baci razzisti (2020), by Marilena Delli Umuhoza, an Italian writer of Rwandan origin, indicates how colonialism practiced by several countries has delegitimized the identities of black bodies (RIBEIRO, 2019), whether in the bonds between white and black characters or between black characters themselves. Negretta brings the point of view of a black character who faces racial violence at various institutional levels in the discriminatory and prejudiced Bergamasca society in the 1990s. By presenting “distracted” and “unconscious” nano racisms (MBEMBE, 2016) that perpetuate a generalized humor about stereotypes absorbed in the cunning normality that keeps racial separation defined, Marilena Umuhoza’s characters reveal the moral damage that they suffered because of institutional and recreational racism (MOREIRA, 2019), which impacts on their realities and those of their descendants.