KU Eichstätt-Ingolstadt
Am Marktplatz 2
85072 Eichstätt
Feliciana.Chiaradia@ku.de
Feliciana Chiaradia pursued her studies at the Alma Mater Studiorum University of Bologna, the Universitat de Barcelona, the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, and La Sapienza University of Rome. She earned a Bachelor’s degree in Romance Studies (2018) with a specialization in Linguistics from the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität in Munich, where she conducted an experimental thesis in cognitive linguistics. Her research explored metaphor as a grammatical device, analyzing it as a potential framework for dysphemistic categorization related to grammatical gender.
Subsequently, she obtained Master’s degrees in Intercultural Communication (2021) and Film and Media Culture (2022) from Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität in Munich. For her final project in Intercultural Communication, titled “Belonging or Not Belonging? That is the Question: A Reflection on Identities in the Mazara del Vallo Community – Between the Red Prawn War and the Idyll of Cross-Cultural Resonance”, Feliciana conducted an analysis of a critical incident. The study examined the limitations of citizenship under the ius sanguinis law in Italy, the consequences of rigid legal interpretations, and the identity challenges faced by second-generation immigrants.
For her Master’s thesis in Film and Media Culture, she analyzed the organization of space in Agnès Varda’s documentaries. Her research investigated how the filmmaker’s movements inform the transition from “implicit” to “explicit” narration, examining its degree and functionality in relation to spatial theories and cinematographic techniques.
Her current research focuses on the (self-)representation of identities within two specific groups: the ‘Ndrangheta in Calabria (Italy) and the Cártel de Sinaloa in Mexico.
(De-)Constructing Mafia Identities: Production Design Practices in and about the Italian ´Ndrangheta and the Mexican Cártel de Sinaloa
This research explores the (de-)construction of Mafia identities through an analysis of production design practices and their relationship to place in selected films and series representing the regions of Calabria (Italy) and Sinaloa (Mexico). By focusing on how visual environments are constructed and aestheticized, the study highlights the crucial role of spatial design in shaping the cinematic imagination of criminality by covering case studies about the ‘Ndrangheta, the Calabrian criminal association tightly bound by family ties, and about the Cártel de Sinaloa, from the North-West Mexican region described as the place “where magical realism once prevailed” and where now “a fascinated hyperrealism has emerged” (Herlinghaus 2016: 246).
The analysis centers on contemporary Schlagbilder, recurring visual stereotypes and behavioural archetypes associated with the ‘Ndrangheta and narcoculture, emphasizing the interaction between objects and their environment. The decision-making process behind production design of films or series about criminality not only defines atmosphere and tone but also mediates the audience’s perception of place, transforming Calabria and Sinaloa into symbolic territories of “otherness”. In facts, symbols associated with these Mafia narratives reinforce biases against “places”/“non-places” – such e.g. Calabria – defined from Sergi (2024) as a “furnished hell” (“inferno ammobiliato”), a place where each struggle and attempt to change the status quo ends in a process of “embellishing” the misery these communities are living in.
Drawing on Warburg’s concept of Schlagbilder (Diers 1997: 8–9), the research argues that designed spaces act as symbolic forms permeated with emotional and cultural meaning. The repetition of certain visual motifs contributes to the stabilization or distortion of collective identities. In recent years, cinematic portrayals of Mafia and narco-organizations have embraced aesthetics of spectacle, luxury, and hyperrealism, turning criminal imagery into a commodity and making it “desirable”: the “recited society” of De Certeau (1984: 186) is nowadays even more tangible as we are living what Augé (2010) defines as “a mise en spectacle du monde”.
Methodologically, the study combines Actor–Network Theory (Latour) with the notion of (Production) Design as “Da-sein” – an intertwining of existences (Oosterling 2009) – to examine the agency of objects, settings, and spatial arrangements in visual storytelling. Through selected case studies, it will demonstrate how production design participates in constructing spatial narratives that reinforce or challenge stereotyped imaginaries of place and identity.
References:
Augé, Marc. Pour une anthropologie des mondes contemporains. Paris: Flammarion, 2010.
De Certeau, Michel. The Practice of Everyday Life. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1984.
Diers, Michael. Schlagbilder. Zur politischen Ikonographie der Gegenwart. Frankfurt am Main: Fischer, 1997.
Herlinghaus, Hermann. “Narcocorridos – Narconarrativas – Narcoépicas: Espacios heterogéneos de imaginación / representación.” In Narcoficciones en México y Colombia, edited by Brigitte Adriaensen and Marco Kunz, Frankfurt a.M./Madrid: Vervuert Verlagsgesellschaft, 2016.
Oosterling, Henk. “Dasein as Design, or: Must Design Save the World?” Premsela Lecture, 2009.
Sergi, Anna. L’inferno ammobiliato. Di ’ndrangheta, di memoria e di Calabria. Blonk, 2024.