Decolonizing the Gaze: Breaking Through the Stereotypes of the South
摘要
This chapter continues to explore the complex interplay between urban space and cultural representation in Naples through literature, cinema, and social critique. The chapter deconstructs dominant narratives and stereotypes of Southern Italy, particularly Naples, by analyzing the works of Peppe Lanzetta, Pappi Corsicato, and Valeria Parrella. It highlights how these artists challenge hegemonic portrayals of the South, offering alternative visions rooted in lived experience, marginality, and resistance. The chapter also critiques media-driven moral panics and cultural shaming, tracing their historical roots to positivist anthropology and post-unification racial theories. Through a multidisciplinary lens, the chapter argues for a new cartography of Naples, one that embraces complexity, contradiction, and the voices of the marginalized. Naples, as portrayed in the works of Lanzetta, Corsicato, and Parrella, becomes a fractal city: its identity is not singular or stable, but endlessly reiterated through the lives, languages, and landscapes of its peripheries.