Whose hostage? Irregular migration and the struggle for recognition

Abstract

In debates about strategies of in/visibility and recognition in the Italian migratory context, the right to look is almost exclusively attributed to Italians. This essay explores the work of contemporary writers and filmmakers, who reframe the seen/seer dichotomy and focus on the migrant gaze to demand a reevaluation of the frontiers between host/guest, Italian/foreigner. It approaches the issue of recognition through a critical reading of two philosophers, Derrida and Hegel, who root identity in reciprocal relations and emphasize the importance of mutual recognition in disrupting static categories of identity. While the first part presents an analysis of Khouma’s Io, venditore di elefanti in the light of Derrida’s discussion of the laws of hospitality, the second part focuses on Hegel’s dialectics of recognition to examine the laborious entanglement of Italians and migrants in de Caldas Brito’s ‘Io, polpastrello 5.423’ and Garrone’s Terra di Mezzo.