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In this article the author explores the cultural movement called Afrofuturism, tracing its origins, features, simbology, and its historical and political meanings. Starting from the (supposed) discoursive gap between African and African American people on one side and technology and science fiction on the other, this paradigm addresses themes related to the intersection of African Diaspora and African cultures with technology and science fiction, with the aim to recover the history of slavery and racism through the projections into alternative space-time contexts. In particular, the author explores the feminist afrofuturism perspective in order to examine the specific oppression and cultural production of African and African American women. In doing so, the author analyzes the development of afrofuturism in Italy, focusing on the work of the singer and beatmaker Karima 2G.

The Human Rights topic is increasing its relevance in the field of legal studies and in the agenda of inter/transnational actors. The Sociology of Law is deeply engaged in this dialogue, but some of its contributions seem to share a common lack of concern about the dimensions of cultural legitimacy and politics of imagination. Refusing the "simplistic" vision of «legal transplants», the approach in term of regionalization and the genealogical theories (i.e. the so called generations of human rights), the thesis aims to outline a multidisciplinary frame, trying to merge the anthropological and the socio-legal knowledge to shed light on the «anthropologies of human rights». The use of the plural suggests several orders of realities: firstly, it reflects the high fragmentation which characterizes the epistemological and methodological debate of contemporary anthropology, as a disciplinary field. An "internal" multiplication of points of view which becomes even more striking in its interactions whit the HR subject and its own kind of internal dissemination. Secondly (and consequently), it enlightens that the "pluralisation" of human rights discourse could be better understood as a proliferation of world-visions and axiologies. In this second meaning, the summoned «anthropologies» have to be intended in term of theories on human beings, on social reality and social order, shaped by cultural assumptions, taken-for-granted and (shared) symbolical repertoires. Deeply merged within every manifestation of the «humanitarian transnational narration», these world-versions need to be studied as sources of influence and inspiration for legal claims, texts and declarations that build the corpus of international humanitarian law. Lastly, this plurality which stems from the relationship between the macro-narrative of the International Bill of Human Rights and its situated appropriations points out the potentiality of a cultural analysis of the social life of (human) rights in avoiding the dichotomist models (universalism versus relativism, global versus local and so on) in favor of a representation in term of narrative encounters between different conceptions of human dignity, human beings, normative orders and social realities. To grasp this mutual and multilayered overlapping, the first part of the thesis builds an analytical framework destined to be applied, in the second part, to the specific context of the «African system of human rights». This choice was dictated by the peculiarities which seem to distinguish it from others regional systems: amongst these features, the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights deserves a special place, considered its aspects of relevant innovation and creativity as well its signs of criticism and its lack of real efficacy. In the first chapter we start from the general liaison between Law and Culture, looking for a «relational paradigm» which rejects determinist or reductionist presentations of this organic link. Adopting a pluralist point of view (centered on the idea of «normative pluralism» preferred to the classical one in term of «legal pluralism»), we borrow some insights from early anthropological researches on «primitive law» and on the co-existence of plural normative orders in colonial settings. The second chapter deals with the concept of «legal culture», trying to discuss a cardinal notion of sociology of law that often pretend to exhaustively grasp the complexity of law/culture nexus. We explore the richness and the pitfalls of influent theorizations about this topic, sorting out three dimensions which seem to require a deeper engagement: the power, the (construction of the) collective identities and the pluralism. In strict dialogue with the studies on «legal consciousness» and «legal socialization», we move towards a textual description of culture. The third chapter sketches a theory of culture in term of cognitive and normative interface between men and the meaningful world they try to create (and to live in). Borrowing from Clifford Geertz the fundamental ideas about the «social traffic of meanings», the textual dimension of cultures and the law as a way of world-making – or better, of imaging the reality –, we keep developing our model in a more comprehensive perspective which dismisses the "literary" constraints entrenched in the idea of «text». The forth chapter deals with some assumptions of the so-called «narrative paradigm», trying to "dissolve" the persisting rigidities of the textual frame into a larger and (more) universal human ability: the narrative competence. We examine the coalescence between narrative attitude and normative attitude, stressing the similarities and the constitutive power of both of them. Starting from narration as a meta-model for the social construction of reality, we move towards the specificities of «legal narration» as expression of the legal construction of social reality. This narrative standpoint can be synthesized as follow: the human skill to produce, to understand and to manipulate tales (and other sources of narrative production) is the key that ensures the transmission and the socializations of cultural meanings, representations and symbols. Trough the narrativization of culture it becomes easier to conceive the narrativization of legal cultures as shared, contested, polyphonic repertories of legal and social ideas. In the fifth chapter we start applying our theoretical framework to the human rights topic. We begin with a preliminary set of issues regrouped under the label of «spatial problematic». It underlines the paradox of the Universalist project, with its claims of cultural independence and planetary applicability on the one hand, and the need of cultural resonance and local relevance on the other. We explore critical contributions about the «globalization talk», which stress some traps of this overriding way of representing social and socio-legal phenomena in the contemporary world. Aiming to reject monodimensional explanations, we merge the «rhetoric of flaws» with the sensibility for «friction events» generated by and trough the encounters between transnational narratives and specific local (and cultural) settings. The concept of «vernacularization» helps us to conceive these interactions/intersections between global flows and punctual frictions. The sixth chapter introduces the main elements of the African context, starting from a sketched portrait of what we define its «radical normative pluralism». In order to cope with the complex reality of the African human rights system, we outline a historical (and political) description of the events that preceded the creation of the Organization for the African Unity, the institutional body which had the main responsibility in the consolidation of the system itself. We also examine various "legal" precedents (the so-called Lagos Law, the Universal Declaration of the Rights of Peoples and so on) which influenced the elaboration of the African Charter with their moral and political authority. Whit the seventh chapter we finally land the heart of our topic: the narrative analysis of the African Charter of Human and Peoples' Rights. After a quick identification of the focal features of the document, we approach the meaningful core of the Charter: the organic/holistic relationship between individual human rights and collective dimension of peoples' (human) rights. We split our investigation in two different but related paths: the individual/people pole and the rights/duties pole, assuming they are two dissimilar strategies to arrange this underlying "cohabitation". We also draw to several pronunciations of the African Commission of human and peoples' rights exploring the potential meanings of people and peoples' rights to clarify the official/institutional position on the subject. Anthropological and sociological studies on the ongoing modifications of collective frames of reference (the family, the ethnic group and other strategies of kinship allegiance) in contemporary Africa are employed to complete our inquiry. In the eighth chapter we (temporary) leave the African Charter in favor of other documents and protocols produced by the African system, strictly related to the «culture variable»: the Pan-African Cultural Manifesto, the Cultural Charter for Africa and the Charter for African Cultural Renaissance. After that, we approach three other texts more engaged on the promotion and protection of human rights for specific categories of people: the African Charter on the rights and welfare of the child, the Protocol to the African Charter on human and peoples' rights on the rights of women in Africa and the African Youth Charter. Our aim is to show how cultural assumptions about the subjects concerned shape or influence the normative prescriptions designed to protect them. The ninth chapter, finally, outlines a general evaluation of our analytical model trough the exploration of its weakness and its points of strength. It shows the hermeneutical advantages provided by the «gius-narrative» key, which enabled us to trace and emphasize the links between myths and foundational narratives of social groups and theirs normative constructions. It also stresses the need for a cultural study of social life of human rights, to (try to) grasp the many faces that the struggle for human rights is showing in its continuous spread around the world.

The ISMU annual Report on migration enters its 27th edition in 2022. Over time, the Report has become a useful reference for people working on migration, both within and outside Italy. This edition analyzes both the impact of the pandemic on migration flows and immigrants and the consequences of the Afghan crisis on migration. As the health emergency subsided in the second half of 2021, public interest on migration resurfaced along with the challenges that migration poses to Italy and the European Union. In addition to the traditional areas of interest (health, work, education, and the legal framework) and to statistical aspects (ISMU estimates that 5,576,000 foreigners live permanently in Italy as of 1st January 2021), the 27th edition of the Report devotes particular attention to the attitudes and orientations of Italian people towards migration, as well as to the experience of migrant women in terms of discrimination and positive valorization. The volume contains in-depth studies on refugees and humanitarian action, on how migration affected local elections, on alternatives to detention, and on foster care for unaccompanied foreign minors. Finally, special attention is devoted to Europe – especially to new directions in EU migration policy after Merkel – and the world – especially bilateral political initiatives involving African countries.

For this paper I shall look at ways of coordinating politics and entertainment, or in slightly other terms aesthetics and politics, as they have been used to construct ancient tragedy as a means to the good society. In my title this aspect of tragedy is identified as "home", to indicate tragedy's preoccupation with community. This is a note repeatedly struck in discourse about tragedy, both by the earliest commentators and by those negotiating the development of the nation-state, and of political reform, in the eighteenth, nineteenth and twentieth centuries. This essay thus first considers some of the different ways in which tragedy has been associated with the goal of the good community, by the theoretical works of Plato, Aristotle, Schlegel, Williams and Eagleton, as well as by harnessing productions and performances to the political effort of nation-building. The essay will then contrastingly explore tragedy's "homelessness", the ways in which it uproots its characters and sets them in restless motion. These latter reflections are prompted by recent receptions of tragedy that have responded to the global migrant crisis, and that are thus in dialogue with earlier critical understandings of tragedy which were more likely to foreground a sense of civic identity associated with the polis. I thus consider productions of Aeschylus' Suppliant Women in Syracuse and Edinburgh, and the new ancient trilogy, acted by Syrian women refugees, which has unfolded since 2013, in the Middle East and Europe, under the creative guidance of Omar Abu Saada and Mohammad Al Attar. The new focus is born of and gives voice to new global realities. Barbara Goff is Professor of Classics at the University of Reading, UK. She has published extensively on Greek tragedy and its reception, especially in postcolonial contexts. Her most important books include Your Secret Language: classics in the British colonies of West Africa (London: Bloomsbury, 2013), Crossroads in the Black Aegean: Oedipus, Antigone, and dramas of the African diaspora (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007), and The Noose of Words: Readings of Desire, Violence and Language in Euripides' Hippolytos (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990). Her most recent publication is a collection, co-edited with Introduction, titled Classicising Crisis: the modern age of revolutions and the Greco-Roman repertoire (London: Routledge, 2020). Keywords: tragedy, exile, home, refugee, Syria

Secondo il Report IFAD sulla povertà rurale, nel 2008, circa due terzi della popolazione africana viveva nelle aree rurali ed era in qualche modo coinvolta in attività agricole commerciali o di sussistenza (IFAD, 2011). L'agricoltura rappresenta il più importante settore economico per la popolazione africana e le donne risultano cruciali per la produzione agricola: rappresentano infatti il 62,8 per cento della forza lavoro (FAO, 2014). Dopo la crisi alimentare del 2007-2008 si è andato intensificando il fenomeno delle acquisizione di terre su larga scala in paesi del Sud del mondo, in particolare nel continente africano, da parte di multinazionali, governi, aziende nazionali e singoli soggetti privati. Questo processo è stato denominato anche land grabbing dalle principali organizzazioni internazionali e della società civile e ha avuto grande impatto mediatico a livello internazionale. L'intensificarsi del fenomeno ha portato a una progressiva perdita di controllo e accesso ad ampie porzioni di territorio da parte delle comunità locali, che non possono più disporre delle risorse naturali collegate alla terra. La cessione di ampi terreni avviene in molti casi senza trasparenza informativa, con violazione dei diritti umani e senza il consenso delle comunità che vi abitano e che coltivano tali aree, e a cui viene imposto un cambio radicale di vita. La terra è una risorsa centrale per l'identità, il sostentamento e la sicurezza alimentare di una comunità, dunque le conseguenze sono molteplici a livello sociale, culturale, economico e politico. Gli impatti sulle relazioni di genere e in particolare sulle donne delle comunità rurali risultano essere cruciali nel discorso sullo sviluppo. L'obiettivo di questo lavoro è indagare come le relazioni di genere, a seguito delle trasformazioni nella gestione della terra, si modificano amplificando squilibri già esistenti e creando conseguenze sulle logiche di potere delle comunità rurali e sulle vite delle persone che ne fanno parte. ; According to the IFAD Rural Poverty Report, in 2008 about two thirds of the African population lived in rural areas and were involved in agricultural activities in some form, either for commercial purposes or subsistence (IFAD, 2011). Agriculture is the most important economic sector for the African population and women are crucial within its production, representing 62,8 % of the workforce (FAO, 2014). After the food crisis of 2007-2008, the phenomenon of large-scale land acquisitions in developing countries by national and transnational companies, governments and individuals has been intensifying, particularly seen in Africa. This process, also referred to as land grabbing by the main international organisations and civil society has had a strong media impact at an international level. The intensification of the phenomenon has led to local communities progressively losing control and access to large pieces of land, no longer able to use the natural resources derived from it. As land is fundamental for the identity, the sustenance and the alimentary safety of a community, land grabbing therefore has had a variety of consequences at a social, cultural, economic and political level. The transfer of control often takes place without informative transparency or agreement from the local communities living and working in these areas, who are forced into a radical change of life, often accompanied by human rights violations. The impacts on gender relations are crucial to this narrative, in particular how women from rural communities are affected. The aim of this work is to investigate how these gender relations are changed as a consequence of the shifts in the management of land, where existing imbalances are amplified, with a strong impact on the distribution of power in rural communities and the lives of the people who belong to them.

I 'foreign fighters' sono un gruppo estremamente eterogeneo di migliaia di persone che proviene da un centinaio di paesi in tutto il mondo. Questa ondata di miliziani si muove dai propri paesi di origine, o di immigrazione, per cercare di raggiungere altri estremisti radicali in Siria ed Iraq. Attualmente circa 30.000 persone hanno già raggiunto quelle terre dove nel 2014 è stato fondato il Califfato e tra morti in battaglia, bombardamenti e foreign fighters di ritorno ad oggi nello spazio compreso tra Siria ed Iraq ve ne potrebbero essere ancora circa dodicimila. Tra costoro circa 4-5.000 verrebbero dai Paesi dell'Unione Europea e quasi 3-4.000 da solamente Francia, Germania, Regno Unito e Belgio. Le cifre vanno prese con molta cautela e variano a seconda della fonte utilizzata. La variabilità dei dati è molto ampia anche per quanto concerne le cifre fornite sui rientri in Europa. Secondo le autorità italiane dovrebbero essere un migliaio circa. L'identikit che descrive i 'foreign fighters' provenienti dai Paesi europei è abbastanza chiaro: per lo più si tratta di soggetti giovani e di sesso maschile, ma le donne pare costituiscono una quota decisamente significativa del gruppo dei foreign fighters, vale a dire il 17%. Sono per lo più di origine maghrebina o balcanica ma non mancano quelli di origine asiatica. Soprattutto tra coloro, che provengono dal Regno Unito, il livello di istruzione e lo status socio-economico, generalmente basso, si fa più elevato. ; Foreign fighters (FF) are an extremely heterogeneous group composed of thousands of people from a hundred countries worldwide. This wave of militia moves from their countries of origin and immigration, to reach other radical extremists in Syria and Iraq, where in 2014 was established the Caliphate. About 30,000 FF have already reached these lands - - and at the present, after bombings and battles, and returns, around twelve thousand FF might still be in the region. Among them, about 4-5,000 are estimated to be from EU countries, of which 3-4,000 from France, Germany, United Kingdom and Belgium only. These figures should be taken with great caution, because they vary depending on the source used. The variability of the data is very wide with regard to figures on return waves to Europe Italian authorities estimate the number of FF that have already found their way back to Europe to be approximately one thousand. The profile of the FF coming from European countries is quite clear: they are mostly young males, although women seem to account for ~ 17% of total FFs. Their origin is mostly from North African or Balkan countries, but there are also those of Asian descent. Generally, the education level and socioeconomic status among FFs are generally low; interestingly however they seem higher among the United Kingdom's militias.