Sounding Memories: Afterlives and Transmedial Reinterpretations of Italian (Post)Colonial Soundscapes

Abstract

This article investigates the trajectories of appropriation and reinterpretation of Italian (post)colonial soundscapes across a wide range of film products. Songs, melodies, and sonic tropes originally tied to the colonial experience re-emerged in different contexts, where they could evoke nostalgia, naturalise stereotypes, or serve as critical counterpoints. Adopting a transmedial perspective, the analysis traces how these auditory residues mediated shifting perceptions of empire, from the exoticising soundscapes of postwar documentaries to the critical re-significations evident in more recent films such as La via dei babbuini (1974) and Asmarina (2014). In so doing, I intend to highlight how colonial echoes persisted in the aural discourse as dynamic sites of nostalgia, memory, contestation, and reflection within Italian culture.