Migrazione e Esperienza Teatrale. Dinamiche Transnazionali ed Integrazione nell'incontro tra un migrante senegalese e la società italiana

This paper is drawn from the data collected during the research fieldwork that I carried out between June and December 2003. The present article reconstructs and analyses the experience of a Senegalese migrant who arrived in Italy in 1987 and achieved the own social recognition as actor in a contemporary drama company. A first theoretical part draws a critical review of anthropological literature concerning the phenomenon of "migration" and the concept of "performance". Sustained by these theoretical premises, the research will be directed toward the comprehension of his theatrical experience (by a human and professional point of view), and the genesis of a form of métis theatre (intercultural) which develops from the common contribute of Italian and African migrant artists. To this regard, I focus the attention on the particular meanings and value assumed by the traditional figure of the griot (the core figure in the oral tradition of many African populations) through his artistic dramatisation. This paper aims at shedding light on the transnational dynamics that shapes the experience of this Senegalese migrant and at showing how, in this case, the theatrical space can become both the common ground where people of different culture develop a confrontation and new means of expression, and the meaningful context where an immigrant is able to face and attribute a new sense to the dramatic existential condition that he had to endure after the forced decision of migrating.