Expanding Diasporic Identity: What Does It Mean to Be “Italian” Today?

Anthony Julian Tamburri, John D. Calandra Italian American Institute
This talk springs from Anthony Julian Tamburri’s book Expanding Diasporic Identity: A Multi-directional Path to the New Italian Writer (Ethics Press, 2025), which examines how the “Italian” writer has changed in a global, migratory world. Tamburri argues that contemporary Italian writing now emerges from multiple locations and experiences, necessitating new notions of nationality. The book considers three overlapping groups: writers who left Italy and write in Italian, writers from other countries who write in Italian, and writers of Italian origin who live abroad and write in the language of their host country. The central notion is that “Italian” should no longer be understood as merely a geographic or national label. Tamburri posits it as a transnational and relational identity shaped by movement, translation, and diaspora. His approach broadens Italian literary studies by linking Italy to its global communities and showing how diaspora redefines cultural production.