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A book on Moroccan Immigration in Europe
Italo-Marocchina (Italian-Moroccan, Ed. Diabasis) by Anna Mahjar Barducci is an introspective biographical novel by a young woman, born to an Italian father and a Moroccan mother, who examines her life in two cultures by telling her family story.
The protagonists are six sisters – one of them the author's mother – who grew up together in Kenitra, a town near Rabat. Three of the sisters remained in Morocco, while the others immigrated to three different countries in Europe, where they encountered new opportunities but also experienced alienation and a sense of disorientation.
The book focuses on the identity crisis experienced by the sisters who left Morocco, and by their families. The immigrants are unable either to preserve their Moroccan culture and values, nor to feel completely at home in the new society, which does not accept them. The characters cope with the crisis in different ways: some throw themselves into hedonism and promiscuity, while others turn to religion in an attempt to preserve their sense of identity, and eventually embrace extremism. Especially severe is the plight of the women, who are expected to maintain a traditional lifestyle even as their husbands enjoy the freedoms and succumb to the temptations of life in the West.
The book is in Italian.
Posted at: 2009-05-26
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