Shaping translingual writing and translation as intersectional practices: Nadeesha Uyangoda’s L’unica persona nera nella stanza and Sulla razza as case studies

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article takes into consideration those studies which have contributed to the development of an intersectional approach to translingual writing and translation by envisioning a new conception of language as a place to be shared and a border to be crossed, as well as a tool to interrogate the intertwined categories of race and gender. Specifically, it analyses Nadeesha Uyangoda’s memoir L’unica persona nera nella stanza (The Only Black Person in the Room) along with the podcast Sulla razza (About Race), written and co-hosted by the same author with Natasha Fernando and Maria Catena Mancuso. Both productions focus on the lived experience of Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) women in Italy who articulate, question, and re-imagine notions of race, ethnicity, citizenship, identity, belonging, and homemaking, while publicly denouncing power imbalances and acts of injustice. The memoir and the podcast also highlight the resonance that Black Italians may have in the contemporary Italian political context.