Unstable Memories and Precarious Identities in Black Earth Rising (original) (raw)

DETECt PANEL: Precarious Identities. Female Investigators between Gender Issues, Memories and Borders Unstable memories and precarious identities in Black Earth Rising Massimiliano Coviello In contemporary crime drama the contribution of Nordic Noir genre has proven to be crucial in problematizing the representation of female detectives (Turnbull 2014, Hill 2018) and challenge the traditional sexist heritage of crime genre, a genre whose tension towards an overturn of the order disrupted by a criminal act is usually conservative (Gates 2011). Moreover Nordic Noir’s female detectives represent an identity which reveals itself as precarious: on one hand, they do not feel compelled to adhere to the prescriptions of gender stereotypes anymore, but on the other, in their relationships they face permanent struggle for the recognition of their subjectivity. The precariousness female detectives’ identities is able not only to challenge gender stereotypes but also to complicate the narrative strategies of crime genre. In fact, if every crime investigation always entails an in-depth exploration of mysterious events from the past (Todorov 1977), female detectives are often haunted by the spirits tormenting their memory. Living in the shadow of their traumatic past (Caruth 1996), gives them the ability to develop an empathetic relation with the victims and often the two narrative roles come to coincide. This paper aims to analyse Black Earth Rising (2018) drama series, a case study which is particularly emblematic for the understanding of the interstitial role embodied by female detectives in European television crime series, not only for what concerns narrative structures of crime genre, but also for gender issues. In the series produced and distributed by Netflix, Kate Ashby is an investigator orphaned during Tutsi genocide in Rwanda and adopted by an international lawyer from London. Ashby’s investigations will bring her back to Rwanda, forcing her to cope with traumas and mysteries that still blur her memory, and to confront the violence that gave shape to the history of her country. References Caruth, C. 1996. Unclaimed experience: Trauma, narrative and history, John Hopkins University Press, Baltimore. Gates, P. 2011. Detecting Women: Gender and the Hollywood Detective Film, Suny Press, Albany. Hill, A. Saga’s Story. In Hansen, K. T., Peacock, S., Turnbull, S. (eds.) European Television Crime Drama and Beyond, Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke. Todorov, T. 1977. Typology of Detective Fiction. In Id., Poetics of Prose, Blackwell, Oxford. Turnbull S. 2014. The Tv Crime Drama, Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh.