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Francesco è vivo, e lotta insieme a noi! Rebuilding local identities in the aftermath of the 1977 student protests in Bologna

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 January 2016

Andrea Hajek
Andrea Hajek*
Affiliation:
Institute of Advanced Study, University of Warwick, UK
*
∗Email: andreahajek@gmail.com
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Abstract

The decade spanning from 1968 to 1980, known also as the anni di piombo, is among the most difficult and traumatic periods in Italian post-war history. One of the most memorable years of this decade was 1977, when a new student movement stood up against the established order. The so-called Movement of ‘77 manifested itself among others in Bologna, where it had a predominantly creative and joyful character. Nevertheless, the protests were violently struck down when left-wing student Francesco Lorusso was killed by police forces during clashes, resulting in an urban guerriglia. This incident worsened the relationship between the historical left and younger generations of (more radical) left-wing activists, and marked the beginning of the end of the Movement of ‘77. The chapter on 1977 was, however, never really closed, and a ‘counter-memory’ has continued to divide the local community ever since. In this article, we shall see how different memory communities in Bologna have dealt with this ‘collective trauma’, focusing on the former Movement of ‘77 and the way it has used public commemorative rituals to rebuild a collective identity for itself in subsequent years.

Keywords

collective traumapublic commemorationsmemory communitiesnegotiation1977student protests
Type
Articles
Information
Modern Italy , Volume 17 , Issue 3 , August 2012 , pp. 289 - 304
Copyright
Copyright © Association for the study of Modern Italy 

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