Blog #3 Interviews at Piazza Vittorio

Last Wednesday (Jan 19, 2011) was one of my favorite days in Roma, Italia. I had Italian class in the morning and we had an excursion to Piazza Vittorio’s market. All of us interviewed at least two people - one with an immigrant and one with a native Italian. We asked them about their opinions of Italian immigration, government policies on immigrant to understand the issues better. Before, I had several casual conversations with Italians who work in a café in front of UW Rome Center as a barista; and our gentle and artistic doorman, Roberto but this was the first time that I’m going to engage in a conversation on a certain topic, immigration, with other people so I was excited but at the same time, concerned that the topic would offend or make them uncomfortable. Oh! I was excited to have a conversation with whoever I will be talked to because until now, I had 4 Italian lessons and this would be the best chance to use and practice my Italian and build a positive relationship with people in Roma where I still have more time to stay and probably see them again pretty soon for my grocery shopping.

All of us gathered in front of UWRC around 1:30pm and took a bus, #70. On our way to Piazza Vittorio, I saw different neighborhoods where I saw a completely different atmosphere and ethnic groups from the central Roma. In addition, I saw a lot of stores where Chinese characters are on top of their doors. Finally we all arrived in the place where we should be and scattered in pairs to interview people. I did mine with Marissa. I was a note taker and she was the one who led the conversation and asked the questions. Well… half of the markets were closed or closing at the time we arrived. One of the best ways to approach to them is buying their products or foods so we decided to buy some of their vegetables. As soon as we entered the entrance of the market, most of vendors looked at us and were trying to talk and want us to buy their vegetables. Also they were very friendly to us even before we approach to them. Among friendly vendors, there was a guy who actually came besides us when we were buying some foods and asked where we are from. So our conversation has started smoothly in this way.

There are more than 80,000 Bangladesh immigrants in Roma and about 200,000 Bangladesh immigrants in Italy said by Ahmed whom we interviewed and he is one of them. Ahmed is a 27 year-old man who has lived illegally in Roma for 7 years and waiting for permanent residency (document). Now he is working as a vendor in the market but once he gets his documentation, he wants to run his own business and wants to bring his wife and kid to Roma. His wife and 7 year-old boy is in Bangladesh back home waiting for him to come and live together. While he was talking about himself, especially talked about what he is going to do when he gets his residency, I saw smile on his face and hope in his eyes. I still can recall his big and innocent smile. Ahmed chose to come to Roma to get a job and earn money for his family and when we asked about Italian government and immigration laws in here, he showed neither negative nor positive views on them and just said “fine” It seems to me that he hasn’t really thought about Italian immigration laws itself instead accepting the laws and processes as that is the right and/or normal way to do. He does not feel that he is being mistreated but just accepting everything.

The interesting thing is that our entire conversation was in English. Before I reached to people who work in the market, I was afraid that what if the discussion didn’t turn out well due to language barrier and the questions that I’m going ask are pretty sensitive to them but later I realized what I did was unnecessary. He speaks great English and most workers in that market speak English pretty well. When we asked how he learned English and he told us “I studied English in my country” At the same time, he showed his interests about America and he said he wants to visit America someday but not settle down. During the conversation with Ahmed, I felt that he was pleased when we started to talk to him and bring up with the discussion about their life in Italy and his feelings as an immigrant. Moreover, he didn’t show any negative emotional or physical gestures towards us and he opened himself. I think he shows his extra friendliness to us because we come to know and listen to their stories, not judging them. Also we are not an Italian but people from outside the country who are still considered as “Others” in Italy just like them. If I was an Italian and ask the same questions, the reaction of immigrants might be different and hostility can be build up between interviewer and interviewee and immigrants may feel afraid and scared about being discovered that they are undocumented during the conversation.

Next, Marissa and I exited the market to look, interview and hear a native Italian’s view on immigrants. We met two young guys not far from the market. Both of them are currently enrolled undergraduate students at the Universita Degli Studi di Roma which is right next to the market. One is Alessando who is 22 year-old studying communication and one is Thomas who is 21 year-old studying three languages – Chinese, Japanese, and English. In addition, two of them were lived in Italy for their entire life. When we approached to them and asked few questions regarding on immigration in Italy, they were surprised that they were just talking about that too! I guess immigration on Italy is a growing issue that everyone concerns and starts thinking about. Alessando and Thomas have very positive views on immigrants. They have no problem at all and welcome to come to Italy and work if the immigrants respect their culture and Italian people. Also Alessando added that he can’t understand why Italians think that immigrants are stealing their jobs. People here don’t want the jobs that immigrants have and they want the white collar jobs. Again, he said “Italian complains immigrants because they steal job. That’s not true! Why are they complaining?” I can’t really tell by looking at his face but with his voice, I can feel that he is little bit angry. When they said they are okay with people who are not Italian, we asked another questions asking about their parents’ view on immigration in here, then they replied that pretty much same as what he thinks. Also Alessando added that he does not have negative views on immigrant maybe it is because the place where he lived has lots of American and tourists so he often hung out with them in bar and socialized.

I didn’t expect to get positive views on immigrants in Italy from native Italians. I thought many of Italians are still unaccepting or have negative perspectives on the immigrants because the immigration in Italy is pretty recent and people may not understand “Others” yet. At the end of our conversation with two young Italian guys on campus, Thomas said something to us and it got stuck in my mind which is “It’s not the right way to see the world. We live in one world. French, Italian, American… they are same. There’s no difference” I think these two young Italians’ views represent the views of younger generation as a whole in Italy. Moreover, with the positive younger generation’s mind on immigration, I try to imagine the future Italy. Overall, I had so much fun while I was doing this assignment and I feel like my understanding of immigration situation in Italy getting enriched by listening actual immigrants’ stories and native Italians view on them. It is totally different from just learning and knowing from the book. Surprisingly all of our interviewees speak English very well; therefore Marissa and I had no problem at communication also I guess our interviews were ended up great!

Ciao,

Blog #2 Who are Italians?

Roman or Italian identity influences an outsider’s perspective by the way they dress. I think that they are very fashionable and trendy; they make and eat amazing pizza, pasta and gelato every day. I also feel that the Romans and/or Italians often use hand motions while they are talking and consume more alcohol than water; which is a characteristic that I have observed while in Rome. Again, these are just my personal observations which are mainly derived from the media; especially movies. In addition, generally when I think of an Italian, he/she should be the person who has a strong pride for their country, speaks Italian as a first language (mother tongue) and has an Italian passport or citizenship no matter the skin color or what ethnicity they come from. Moreover, historical, social, cultural, and physical conditions shaped the Italian’s identity (Grillo & Pratt). So how Italians would describe themselves? In contemporary Italy, the identity of an Italian is debatable and pretty ambiguous because they have been experiencing a mass immigration for the last fifteen to twenty years - there are an increasing number of immigrants from Eastern Europe, Northern Africa, China and Philippines who have come to Italy. Following that, it seems that Italians themselves have had a struggle to find and/or are in a slow progress of getting an exact characterization of their own identity. Therefore I would say that at least for now, there is no concrete or specific definition for an Italian.

For past three weeks that I have lived in Roma, I have noticed that lots of Italians do not speak English at all or barely speak English except the younger generation. Probably it is from a preconceived notion that their country, culture, language and food are the best and they feel superior among others; therefore, they have a lack of awareness as well as understanding of learning other’s cultures and languages. They may feel their superiority because people in Roma or Italia, were told from their childhood about the legend/myth of how the city of Roma has built – briefly the story of Romulus and Remus is that both brothers had built their own cities in different parts of the hill and when Remus visited Romulus and made fun of his wall by jumping over it and saying how easily it could be breached. Romulus was so annoyed that he killed Remus and said that he would kill anyone who mocked his city or tried to break through the walls of Roma (Margaret Brucia’s lecture; Myths of Rome). Even though this story is neither based on fact nor can it be said to be truth, people in Italy see this myth as their own history of identification which makes them feel proud of being who they are and what they are. In addition, this mindset has influenced the “native Italian” causing them to see immigrants with a negative point view, impression or bias and create a border between immigrants and themselves. Again until now the majority of the older generation does not accept the people who look different from themselves, speak different language, and eat different food – Immigrants, Roma, and second generation. Furthermore, I would say that such a strong pride of their identity, their culture hasn’t been changed and was able to be preserved until nowadays.

As I have mentioned it before, the identity is shaped by social, cultural, and physical forces. From what I have observed, the social forces which build Roman or Italian identity are language and locations where sub communities live within Italy. For example, how groups of immigrants, Roma, and “true Italian” – so called, compacted in certain areas and settled down in Italy and create their own community within host community just like Piazza Vittorio where lots of Chinese and Bangladesh people are living and running their businesses. Another example is that how Roma people live in a certain area which is called as campland. Again, the language is one of the key elements to create strong sense of belonging as an Italian. Next, what people wear, eat and believe seem to me as cultural forces that shape their uniqueness. In Italy, people just eat their foods which are mainly pasta, pizza, and bread. They do not accept other’s food because they believe that their foods are the best! Again, whenever I walk in campo dei Fiori, I can simply tell who are Italian and who are not by how and what they wear. Just like how I can pick up who is who, dress acts as an important element to shape their identity. In addition, Italy is considered as the holy land of the catholic community where churches play important role. By that, I see people here that are very conservative and determined that people try to stick to what they have been taught, believed, and seen. Therefore, they have pretty negative perspectives on ‘new’ and prefer ‘old’. Lastly, as physical forces, cobble stones; architectures; and the physical appearance of people in Italy adorn their distinctiveness. Most of the buildings in Italy, especially in Roma, are very old and which gives me an impression that they are trying to tell the history of them. Also high ceiling with paintings, cobble stones on every streets, ornaments on every building… those are just shaping the identity of Italy itself. Again, we cannot ignore that how important physical appearance is to define the identity of Italy.

I think that a person, who was born in here, spent his childhood in Italy, speaks perfect Italian and who has citizenship is considered as an Italian. However, Italian perspectives on people who belong to them are different from what I think. Native Italians admit or recognize people who have the same “blood” with them and who have lived in Italy throughout the generations as an Italian. People who do not apply to these categories which Italian think that’s the “real Italian” then they become an outsider or considered as “Others” just by looking different and spent less time in Italy no matter if they have citizenship, born and lived their entire life in Italy, and speak fluent Italian without an accent. From what I have learned and from the people who I’ve met here, I think that immigrants, second generation, and Roma people are not accepted by “real Italians” and are treated differently. I remembered when we had a guest speaker from G2 (seconde generazioni), Ezequiel said that even though he was born here, went to school in Italy, and speaks fluent Italian, when people see his last name, suddenly he is treated as an “other” and people are surprised that his Italian is perfect! Furthermore, although technically Roma people are citizens of Italy, they are treated differently as “Others” by the government and the country. Also they had been segregated and the government has made and put them in certain areas with a fence which is similar to concentration camps from back in the day. For the immigrants in Italy, the real and perceived status of them is marginal and different. Italians did not want immigrants but they are useful as “Others” and actually they are helping Italy’s underground economy so nowadays it seems the Italian government is accepting more immigrants working for their country but that does not mean Italians will admit immigrants as part of their culture nor community. In addition, after the unification, Italy was divided into North and South. Even within in their country, Northern people, who are considered as “higher class”, do not think Southern people belong to them but as different people who have a different language, appearance, and political system.

In sum, immigration is a relatively recent problem raised up in Italy and as more and more immigrants are coming to Italy and therefore ethnic groups of people are getting more diverse and wider, people (native Italians and immigrants) are confusing or starting to question their identity. I would say Italy now is in a period of transition to multiculturalism and becoming a land of heterogeneous mixed immigrants and the “true identity” of Italy is changing day by day.

Ciao

Blog #1 Ciao Roma

Every morning when I wake up I think to myself: “I still can’t believe that I’m in Rome.” Oh my God! Only a week has passed since I moved into my new apartment in Italy. Every day of this past week has seemed very long and I feel like I’ve been here for a year. Then I realize that only a week has passed. Now I only have nine weeks left of this amazing program in Rome. It may feel as if I have more time to stay and explore Rome; but actually there isn’t. Time goes by fast! And even though I haven’t left yet; I feel like I’m already missing Rome.

On the very first day when I traveled from Seattle to Leanardo da Vinci Airport on my way to Rome; my heart began to beat so fast. I was so excited and thrilled to be standing in Rome although I was so tired. Somehow, to me Rome is not a strange or unfamiliar place. This could be because this is the second time that I have been in Rome. I was in Rome three years ago to visit a friend who studied here; while I was enrolled in the CHID study abroad program in Prague, CZ. The transition to Rome could be easier because I have lived and been a stranger in foreign countries my entire life.

In Seattle, I live near campus, about a five minute walk to school. Also, I don’t have a driver license, No car for me! Therefore, my range of activities is quite limited to the campus, University district and University Village. At the same time, I tried to stay within those three areas and not venture too far out. Because of this, I see a lot of people who are my age or older. Sometimes, I see preschoolers walking down the streets guided by their teachers. But in Rome, I see all different generations everywhere I go. I see babies on strollers sleeping, or children carrying balloons everywhere I look around Piazza Navona. Around this surrounding area I see groups of teenagers walking along the streets with loud voices. Though I can’t understand what they are talking about. I have also observed couples eating in restaurants as well as seniors. I especially see this group of people come out to restaurants late at night.

For the past week, I have seen many Italian youth wherever I go. Though many Italian individuals seem to be very mature for their age; which makes it hard to know how old they are. Nonetheless, my impressions of youth are ambiguous because I really have no chance to meet any local youth since I got here and I don’t know what they are thinking; but I think that they are more active during night. They seem to be in a party mood all the time. Unlike the places that I have lived, in Seattle and Indonesia; people in Rome do are very active at night and tend to party regardless of the cold. I have seen a lot of youth gathered around bars at night time in Campo de Fiori. I have noticed that they are very loud. Back in the States, people who are under the age of twenty-one, are not allowed to drink but I have heard it is different in Europe – so I’ve heard. In addition, in Rome, people tend to drink and socialize outside whereas people in the States do this inside.

Ciao,