PoliticalPrisoners · Political prisoners: a transnational question in 19th century Italy

Political prisoners: a transnational question in 19th century Italy

During the 19th century, a great number of Italian activists, intellectuals and patriots spent part of their lives in prison as a consequence of their struggles to obtain Italian independence or unification, and based on this experience they created an identity founded on concepts of martyrdom and sacrifice. Although nationalism and the reconfiguration of punishment in the 19th century have figured in the historian’s agenda, the study of the relationship between political repression, nationalism and humanitarian debates in a transnational dimension has been largely understudied. The following gap may also be seen as the result of an underestimation of the role played by political convicts in the history of nationalism and in the international awareness of this phenomenon. PoliticalPrisoners examines the international role and representations of Italian political prisoners during the 19th century. Its goal is to investigate how and to what extent political prisoners were key figures not only in the construction of an Italian nationalist discourse, but equally in the foreign understanding of and commitment for the Italian Risorgimento (the movement for Italian independence). Moreover it delineates how humanitarian debates operated in the commitment towards a national political cause. The experience of imprisonment influenced both the detainees’ political activities and identities and the representation of the Italian national movement abroad. Thanks to media and political strategies the treatment of political convicts became an international and diplomatic concern: political detainees fighting for freedom or emancipation became heroes ready to sacrifice their lives for the nation or for political liberalism. There is a running thread between these historical issues and questions concerning political prisoners in the world today, and the international awareness about them which has recently grown because of the rising number of both imprisoned political activists and refugees escaping persecution. There is a strategic opportunity here: the study helps to understand the phenomenon of political repression and solidarity in contemporary societies. Debates on these issues have become intense with the political and economic crisis that has recently engulfed the world: the question of political prisoners is a persisting one. Both European and extra European countries are involved by the problem of political detainees, and different EU institutions have proposed resolutions calling for the release of political detainees in foreign countries. The research helps to understand the European historical sensitivity and a commitment towards political detainees, and people persecuted for political opinions and the evolution of international protection and humanitarian discourses. The overall objective of PoliticalPrisoners is to provide a compelling argument for the role of political prisoners as transnational and patriotic actors of the 19th century, stressing the European commitment towards political detainees and people persecuted for political opinions. It thus analyses the transnational and humanitarian impact of practices of political imprisonment of Italian patriots, as well as their connection with international debates on punishment, nationalism and humanitarianism circulating during the Restoration (1815-61). More specifically, the research examines the currently understudied question of political prisoners in 19th-century Italy, questioning the notion that political detainees became an international concern only in the 20th century and analysing the transnational role of political prisoners as actors of the Italian Risorgimento.

Data: CORDIS, © European Union