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No. 3 (2025)

Subaltern geopolitics on the walls: The case of ‘Orso’ in the streets of Florence

  • Francesco Ventura
DOI
https://doi.org/10.3280/rgioa3-2025oa21173
Submitted
ottobre 2, 2025
Published
2025-10-24

Abstract

How do subalterns circulate geopolitical knowledge? The death of the Italian ‘foreign fighter’ Lorenzo Orsetti in Rojava, while battling with the Kurds against the Islamic State, became the occasion to alter the streetscapes of his hometown Florence, Italy, with informal traces. Drawing on participatory observation and in-depth interviews with three types of agents (artists, political activists, and passers-by), this article contributes to the subaltern geopolitical scholarship with two main arguments. First, it emphasises the significance of mundane spaces for subaltern geopolitical knowledge circulation. Second, it explains why and how political graffiti resonates in Florence’s youth and affects the environment, inscribing the Kurdish struggle in the urban fabric.

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