Onehundred and fifty years of nationhood. But what does it mean? Laura Ruberto and I thought it might be useful to consider what the legacy of that moment in history might be as Italy is changing demographically after a period of zero growth. With less than a clear memory of its own history of migration, Italy now faces the reality of having to deal with a growing immigrant population. As internal forces are pushing for a disintegration of what we have come to know as Italy, a new Italy is slowly emerging that will be different in many ways. Ironically, Unification might in the end be strengthened by its new residents rather than those who see themselves to be as the only "legitimate" italians.
I am not an Italian, the migration of people from my own country -Egypt- is one of the reasons Italy is now watchful for the those strangers who are invading its culture. Ironically - as you said - those strangers view Italy as a whole and united country. But do you think they invent an image that Italians adopt to view themselves or it is the threat they represent that forces some Italians to recognize their common ground in order to face that emerging force that may "destroy" their character?
ReplyDeleteSpeaking about "legitimate Italians", what do you mean exactly? Paperwork?
no, not even having papers makes one "legitimate" in the eyes of many...i mean it in the sense that italian citizenship laws are founded on blood inheritance...that's the only "legitimacy" that some recognized...even if you have papers it's going to be a long hard road for some (i hope not most) italian to consider an immigrant "legitimately" italian...
ReplyDeletelegitmacy makes me think of italo-argentines/italo-brazilians returning to italy in recent years, getting "back" their "papers" but not being accepted by italians as authentically italian (whatever that means).
ReplyDelete...and there's Miss Italia 1996, Denny Mendez...
have to mention the problamatic way in which Italian history and culture has been understood/conceived in relationship to the 26 million emigrants (and their descendants), who collectively represent a 150 year long critique of the "emigrant nation." Italians have discovered the Italian diaspora at a time they are struggling with the multi-ethnic, multi-racial place Italy has become. some people are trying to make the connections, while others simply lack the willingness to empathize and ultimately reimagine who they can become.
ReplyDeleteJoseph
Exactly, Joe! It was just academics (and hip hop artists of course!) talking about these connections for well over a decade, now all of Italy has discovered their emigrant roots! (The reconnections, as you say, can be fruitful and positive, but it still takes time, and some committment to change.)
ReplyDeleteNot so sure that Italy has acknowledged its emigrant history...the politicians cynically moved toward recognizing it only as long as it might benefit them (which they miscalculated but even those who gained from it have not paid much attention to it)...and as far as most of the work on Italian emigration that has been produced in Italy that too has become another way to abuse that history and those masses that left by appropriating the work that has been done abroad by Italian Canadians and Italian Americans mostly and not even referencing it when it is obviously "quoted" or used in their writings..i have read and heard a lot of Italians say/write things that i know were done by someone on this side and not a mention was made of it...read Siamo tutti Albanesi...it's full of appropriations...and Laura hate to contradict you but it's more like 30 years...when we founded the Association of Italian Canadian Writers back in 1986 we had already been working on this stuff for a while...and of course some of the grandfathers of the field like Gambino, Lagumina and others stretches it back quite a while...maybe not with the overall consciousness of it but with a direction nevertheless... and yes, Joseph, you are right, we do represent a standing critique of that nation by our mere presence...we represent its failure and maybe that's why they'd rather not deal with it...
ReplyDeletecerto, pasquale, as soon as i wrote that i knew it was wrong--way more than 10 years!!!
ReplyDeletei have been writing and researching about the changing face of italian and italian american spaces for quite some time with many academic pieces, and blogs on i-italy.org. based on that and other non-academic experience, i heartily agree with laura and pasquale's observations about both the earlier lack of attention to the problem and about how the right wing has used the issue of racial and ethnic change to frighten and solidify its bases in both the usa and italy. i also agree with joe that appeals to a common 'emigrant/immigrant/diasporic' experience are unlikely to have much positive effect on the problem. being a mixed italian american and having children who are wonderfully even more so, i look forward to the inevitable demographic solution to the problem when most italians and italian americans are like my grandchildren. i also think that the problem of the right in the usa and italy is far more dangerous than currently recognized and that racial, ethnic, and cultural issues are only enhancements not causes its rise. in this regard we need only look at arizona and elsewhere in the southwest (and west) that has attracted so many i-a's in recent decades, who, with many exceptions of course, have joined or even led the chorus against immigrants of all sorts.
ReplyDeleteYes, Jerry...thanks for your comment...I watched as the SD City Council voted on a resolution against the Arizona laws and who turned out to be the lone vote against...yes, a guy with an Italian last name...
ReplyDeleteRegarding the thread of the ‘legitimization’ of Italians and emigrants, the discourse gets further complicated (and manipulated) by the rhetoric (particularly by the political right) concerning the ‘profughi giuliani e dalmati’ that resurfaces particularly in Italy. I will spare everyone the frustrations I have had with any discussions of ‘italianità’ (among, friends, colleagues, and government officials) but I would like to point out the manipulation of the refugee issue regarding both the history of Istria and Dalmazia and the modern/current influx of immigrants to Italy that renders the discourse even more thorny.
ReplyDeleteWhat are your thoughts on the _ItaloItaliani_ film made by RAI in 2000?
ReplyDeletehttp://videodidattica.ning.com/video/996454:Video:668