Seeing the Italian culture through the eyes of Ferzan Ozpetek: Queers, immigrants, global nomads and the changing nature of Italian society

In this article, I analyse Ferzan Ozpetek's representation of queer narratives within the changing Italian culture and analyse his fusion of accented and cosmopolitan film aesthetics to narrate the hybrid queer and non-queer identities that his characters embody in three of his films: Le fate ignorant (His Secret Life) (2001), Saturno Contro (Saturn in Opposition) (2007) and Mine vaganti (Loose Cannons) (2010). Due to their multicultural nature, Ozpetek's films often represent in-between and multifaceted characters and exemplify culturally complex dynamic storytelling. I mainly focus on the representation of queer and immigrant identities, displacement and replacement, notions of home and the idea of family.

Global nomads, cultural chameleons, strange ones or immigrants? An exploration of Third Culture Kid terminology with reference to the United Arab Emirates

The term ‘Third Culture Kid’ (TCK) is commonly used to denote children living in a host culture other than their passport culture during their developmental years. However, its meaning in relation to other terminology referring to a similar concept is a source of interest for many stakeholders. This paper opens up opportunities for further exploring and critiquing the definition of TCK, and opening this up to case studies within the context of the United Arab Emirates and more widely. It is critical to clarify the terminology in light of unprecedented levels of international migration throughout the world. This paper reviews the meaning of culture in relation to TCKs, and explores the meaning of the TCK concept as well as a number of other terms used as alternatives to TCK. A contextualization of the literature follows in relation to the researchers’ own lived experiences in the United Arab Emirates. The term TCK can be seen as part of the general stock of theoretical concepts. This paper acknowledges that it cannot catch all nuances of migrant children in the global context.