2025 Theses Doctoral

Becoming a Witness: Impegno and Testimony in Contemporary Italian Literature and Culture

Mazzi, Beatrice

This thesis examines the relevance of the figure of the witness in contemporary Italian literature and cinema, focusing on how testimonial narratives intersect with key cultural phenomena of our time: the return of the real, the hybridization of genres and the blending of fiction and non-fiction, the autobiographical boom, and a renewed interest in social responsibility. The analysis highlights the growing diffusion of witnessing in hyper contemporary culture, shifting from what Annette Wieviorka has defined as the “era of the witness” to the “era of becoming a witness,” as articulated by Michal Givoni.

By analyzing works across diverse mediums, this research investigates how acts of witnessing construct and express subjectivity while bridging personal narratives with collective histories and cultural discourses. The study situates testimonial narratives within the evolving notion of impegno, tracing its development from postwar Italy to the contemporary context shaped by postmodernism and neoliberalism. The theoretical framework draws from literary studies, cultural theory, memory and trauma studies and feminist theories of the self, to explore the relational and dialogical nature of identity in testimonial narratives.

Through three case studies—Alberto Prunetti’s Amianto (2012), Zerocalcare’s graphic novels Kobane Calling (2016) and No Sleep Till Shengal (2022), and Nanni Moretti’s documentary Santiago, Italia (2018)—the thesis examines how testimonial poetics reclaims silenced histories, fosters ethical reflection, and critiques systems of inequality, while also highlighting the evolution of testimony in response to the demands and dynamics of contemporary media, political and cultural contexts.

At the same time, this work interrogates the ethical implications and limitations of testimonial accounts, addressing how the commodification of personal stories risks trivializing suffering and turning trauma into spectacle. It asks critical questions about the role of testimony in redefining engaged narratives, the political subjectivities it constructs, and the extent to which it can inspire meaningful social and political change in an era of widespread disillusionment. By focusing on the interplay of personal and collective memory, testimonial poetics emerges as both a narrative strategy and a cultural response to contemporary political and social challenges.