Voices of the Scottish Diaspora from the Comino Valley: Narrating, Preserving, and Sharing Identity and Memories

The enduring intercultural bond between the Comino Valley (Southern Lazio) and Scotland traces its roots to the second half of the 19th century, through a unique intersection of large-scale migration and artistic-literary exchanges. This PhD thesis investigates the evolution of this transnational hub, where the valley, famously portrayed as a ‘world within a world’ by D. H. Lawrence, serves as a primary site for the narrative performance of self-identity, group belonging, and collective memory. By adopting Geocriticism as foundational theoretical framework, the research moves beyond a purely historical account to explore the stratigraphic layers of the territory: from the literary influence of Lawrence to the memories of WWII. In line with the National Strategy for Inner Areas, the study primarily aims to enhance the transnational cultural heritage of the Comino Valley by examining how oral diaspora narratives can act as catalysts for place branding, territorial promotion, and, eventually, roots tourism. The methodological core of the research integrates Oral History and Corpus-Assisted Discourse Studies. The study is based on the Italian Scottish Oral Narrative Corpus (ISONC), consisting of fifteen semi-structured interviews conducted with the Scottish community from the Comino Valley across Edinburgh, Glasgow, and the Fife area. Using Sketch Engine, this study performs a dual quantitative and qualitative analysis of pronominal indexicality, examining how the pronouns I, they, and we convey articulate patterns of collective belonging, individual agency, and ‘othering’. By developing targeted CQL strings that combine these pronouns, statistically significant verb tenses, and salient keywords, this corpus-assisted method identifies the primary thematic clusters through which Italian Scots narrate the community’s diaspora, negotiate their dual hybrid identity, balancing successful social, civic, and artistic integration with their Italian ancestral roots. The final outcome of the thesis is the creation of the Italian Scot Voices website and the related digital archive, The Italian Scottish Oral Narrative Archive. By integrating linguistic evidence with digital heritage, both resources preserve unrecorded oral histories, establishing a permanent transnational bridge between Scotland and the Comino Valley. This approach offers a strategic framework for the revitalisation of the area, where the master stories of the Italian Scottish diaspora serve as the foundation for innovative place branding and sustainable socio-economic growth.