Mutamenti e oscillazioni nel discorso sull’Europa orientale in Italia (1994-2009)

The collapse of Socialism in Eastern Europe in 1989 created the possibility of a profound change in the way Eastern Europe is perceived in the West. Nevertheless, the chance of a far-reaching restructuring of the classical Eastern Europe discourse has been strongly challenged by the social and political impacts the implosion of Socialist Europe has had on Western Europe. In this article the results of an enquiry on the evolution of the Eastern Europe discourse in Italy in the two first decades after 1989 are presented. Through a quantitative and qualitative analysis of the occurrences of the expression Europa dell’Est ‘Eastern Europe’ on the pages of Italy’s main newspaper “Corriere della Sera” an attempt is made to define the nature of the discourse on Eastern Europe circulating in Italy after 1989 and to highlight its evolutionary path: from post-revolutionary and enthusiams to disappointment and fear at the end of the ’90, and finally to new hopes with the EU enlargment waves. More generally, this paper intends to be a contribution to cultural studies on the constructionist nature of discourse on Eastern Europe, its reproduction and persistence in Italy.