The Transnational Samurai: Nation-building and Community Searching in the Twentieth Century Italian Far-right

This talk explores the origin and development of the Italian fascination with Japanese samurais in the aftermath of the 1904 Russo-Japanese War and the rise of a young, nationalistic movement in Italy. Far from representing a simple, exotic, and monolithic image, the samurai warrior inspired multiple adaptations ranging from the loyal soldier to the spiritual interpreter of an ancient ethic. However, all these interpretations shared an attempt to translate bushidō (“the way of the warrior”) in light of the predominant foundational myth of Italian nationalism.

The talk will be followed by a conversation between Michele Monserrati and Federico Marcon, Professor of East Asian Studies and History, and Chair of the Department of East Asian Studies at Princeton University.

Michele Monserrati is an Assistant Professor of Italian Studies and World Literatures at Smith College, with varied and interrelated interests in diaspora, mobility, and environmental humanities. Through his research, he examines the cultural formation of Italian spaces and communities beyond the peninsula to investigate how they redefine the place of Italian culture in the world. In his most recent book Searching for Japan: 20th Century Italy’s Fascination with Japanese Culture (Liverpool University Press, 2020), Monserrati argues that a unique set of historical circumstances, which projected both Italy and Japan as late-comers on the modern world stage, allowed Italy to develop a “fascination” with a model of nation-building and empire-formation that, like Italy itself, was challenging the existing world order.

Monserrati is currently immersed in a new book project, provisionally titled Familiar Grapes. Mapping Italian Migrants, Winemaking, and Cultural Landscapes, the first monograph to examine how the cultural practice of winemaking and the representation of the landscapes of vines inscribe Italian migrants into a specific class and racial order. He has published articles on transnational relations between Italy and Japan, Cold War literature, and Italian colonialism in various peer-reviewed journals, including “California Italian Studies,” “Forum Italicum,” “Italian Studies,” and “Modern Italy.”