Tunis: In keeping with his reflections, research and studies on the presence of the Sicilian community in Tunisia, writer, essayist and academic Alfonso Campisi, who has just signed a new opus, presented on April 22 in Tunis, "Words and Images of a Minor History: Sicilian migration to Tunisia between the 19th and 20th centuries," published by Arabesques 2024 editions. "Through the personal story of the Campisi family, who settled in Tunisia in 1830, as well as the memoirs and recollections of Sicilians in Tunisia, I wanted to tell the story of migration, its arrivals and departures, with passion and rigour and with respect for history, through the feelings of men and women in a Mosaic narrative where the various stories seem to intersect and intertwine," he said at a panel discussion organised as part of the 38th edition of the Tunis International Book Fair. Co-authored with Italian academic, poet and translator Flaviano Pisanelli, this book (written in French and Italian) tells the stories of men and women who lived in perfect harmony with the Tunisian population, but who, after leaving Tunisia, found it difficult to come to terms with and develop an identity with their homeland, hence the sense of belonging and strangeness in relation to the family homeland, as evoked in the book. "In addition to the intercultural dimension, which concerns know-how, savoir-vivre and the constant dialogue between the customs and traditions of each of the two cultures, these stories also speak of the social and cultural disappointment of some who were worried about "finding a professional life worthy of the name in a country that bore no resemblance whatsoever to their plural Tunisia," he writes. Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse
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