Depictions of the Other in 19th-Century Italian Knowledge Transmission: Islam in the Nuova enciclopedia popolare

Starting from the conceptualization of “culture”, “alterity” and “discourse and knowledge”, this chapter presents the first results of an analysis of several entries concerning Islam in the various volumes of the Nuova enciclopedia popolare. Ovvero dizionario generale di scienze, lettere, arti, storia, geografia, ecc. ecc., a work published during a pivotal period in Italian history: the Risorgimento. In particular, the results of a lexical-textual analysis, focusing on the key terms of the discourse, are presented in order to outline the methodological approach implemented. Furthermore, specific attention is given to certain aspects of the content, such as the religious beliefs and cultural elements of Islam, with the aim of shedding light on the representation of the Muslim world, both in terms of religion and culture, that this encyclopedic work offers to its readers.