Rhiannon Noel Welch

This dissertation is a study of the convergence of 1) the “southern question”; 2) transatlantic emigration; and 3) African colonization in Italy (ca. 1861-1936), with an emphasis on how these processes created the conditions of possibility for fascist demographic policy. Rooted in narrative analysis, but drawing from recent work in anthropology and postcolonial theory, the project traces the emergence of the metaphor of the Italian national body, and interrogates the moments in which the textual production of individual bodies (racialized, sexualized, laboring) both threaten and strengthen the integrity of this unitary body. Specifically, this study suggests that this metaphor is forged through an intimate connection between labor productivity and biological re-productivity.