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,
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