Projects

The Language and Culture of Migrants

Conference, 14 - 15 November 2008

Description
As part of this year's Settimana della lingua italiana sponsored by the Italian Institute of Culture, we are currently organising a 2-day conference on the language and culture of migration entitled 'Into Italy and Out of Italy: The Language and Culture of Migrants'.

The aim of the conference is to bring together, for the first time, two different but related strands of research surrounding the language and culture of migration within the Italian context. The first concerns the mass emigration of circa 26 million Italians (Haller 1997) out of Italy during the late 19th century and the first half of the 20th century to such countries as the UK, Germany, USA, Canada, Latin America and Australia. The second involves the more recent phenomenon of immigration into Italy from, for example, former eastern European communist states and North Africa. In both cases, there arise significant questions about the cultural and, in particular, linguistic integration of such immigrant communities in their host country. Key in this respect is the issue of national identity, which, especially in subsequent generations, is increasingly defined by linguistic competence in the migrant language (characterised by growing attrition and hybridism; Gonzo & Saltarelli 1989) and that of the host country (characterised by ever greater competence). This leads to complex and often unstable and shifting concepts of native language or mother tongue, which can vary greatly across the different generations of the migrant community. The proposed conference will therefore examine these issues from two distinct but complementary perspectives, bringing together leading (socio)linguists in the field and a number of scholars working on migrant Italian literatures. The former will provide both general overviews and in-depth case studies of the structural and social development of Italian varieties spoken in representative immigrant Italian communities around the world, whereas the latter will introduce and explore issues and themes that specifically characterise Italian migrant literature and film (e.g. national and linguistic identity, cultural conflict, integration), as well as presenting detailed studies of some of the most influential literary figures in the field. Particularly important in this respect from a historical perspective are the parallels that can be drawn between the use of Italian as a literary language in previous centuries by authors whose mother tongue was one of the many dialects of Italy (the so-called Questione della lingua) and the use of Italian by modern migrant writers, both in and out of Italy, for whom (standard) Italian might not be their mother language.

To reinforce this integrated approach to the study of the language and culture of migration, which, to date, has been characterised by little, if any, collaboration between linguistic and literary scholars, the conference will include not only a number of individual conference papers, but also a number of interviews with a selection of modern migrant authors, including T. Lamri (Algeria, now in Ravenna), C. Ali-Farah (Somalia, now in Rome) and from an earlier generation G. Pressburger (from Hungary, now in Rome and Trieste), as well as an interview with the film director G. Amelio (Rome), with a showing of his film Lamerica. Given the themes of the conference and its integration into the events of the annual 'Settimana della lingua italiana', which aims to raise the profile of Italian language and culture among the general public, it is envisaged that the conference will be of interest not only to researchers, postgraduates and teachers of Italian at all levels, but also to the general public and, in particular, the large Italian community in the UK. The conference presentations will be based on the expertise and research of the various contributors, and the interviews with migrant authors will also offer the possibility to explore and test directly new ideas and hypotheses about recent linguistic and literary developments in a number of migrant communities in and out of Italy. From this synergy we trust that new insights, reflections and stimuli for further original projects will emerge.

Further information about the conference will appear in due course. For any informal inquiries, please contact Dr Adam Ledgeway

PROVISIONAL PROGRAMME

Papers

Camilla Bettoni (University of Verona) Tra lingua, dialetto e inglese: mezzo secolo di emigrazione italiana in Australia
Jenny Burns (University of Warwick) Into and out of Italian: the mobility of language(s) in immigration literature in Italian
Kathy Burrell (De Montfort University) 'We are Italians but we don't have nothing in common': social ties and cultural identities in a small Italian community
Antonio d'Alfonso (Montreal) Born Italian in Montreal
Fabrizio De Donno (RHUL) Dismatriati: orfani d'Africa e cultura migrante in Italia
Fabiana di Brazz� (University of Udine) Voci dall'Italia del Nord-Est: scrittura narrativa di immigrati
Derek Duncan (University of Bristol) Language and migration in Italian cinema
Francesco Goglia (University of Exeter) The Igbo-Nigerian community in Italy: languages and cultures in contact
Herman Haller (CUNY) Italian immigrant speech in the years of mass migration: Language at play in Eduardo Migliaccio's 'Macchiette'
Carla Marcato (University of Udine) Plurilinguismo vecchio e nuovo nell'Italia del Nord-Est
Laura Pariani (Milan)Il linguaggio degli italiani del Rio de La Plata e l'influenza di tale lingua composita sulla letteratura
Domenico Pietropaolo (University of Toronto) Italiese: Language loyalty and the culture of immigration
Loredana Polezzi (University of Warwick) Polylingualism and self-translation in Pietro di Donato's 'Christ in Concrete' and Giose Rimanelli's 'Familia'
Arturo Tosi (RHUL) The language of Italians in Britain
Stefania Tufi (University of Liverpool) Degrees of visibility of immigrant communities in the linguistic landscape of Genoa and Cagliari
Nigel Vincent (University of Manchester) Tra fiorentino e milanese: la Divina Commedia nelle versioni di Carlo Porta

Interviews

Cristina Ali-Farah interviewed by Federica Mazzara (UCL)
Gianni Amelio interviewed by Guido Bonsaver (University of Oxford)
Tahar Lamri interviewed by Marta Niccolai (UCL)
Enrico Palandri interviewed by Monica Francioso (University of Dublin)
Giorgio Pressburger interviewed by Emma Bond (University of Oxford)
Organising Committee
Adam Ledgeway (University of Cambridge) & Anna Laura Lepschy (Universities of UCL & Cambridge), with the collaboration of Pierluigi Barrotta (Italian Cultural Institute, London), Guido Bonsaver (University of Oxford), Lorenzo Losi (Ente Nazionale Acli Istruzione Professionale), Carla Marcato (University of Udine), Federica Mazzara (UCL), Domenico Pietropaolo (University of Toronto), Naomi Segal (Institute of Germanic and Romance Studies), Nigel Vincent (University of Manchester).

Oral History [Storia orale]

Memories from Emilia-Romagna and Sicily
[Memorie degli Immigrati Italiani nella Valle del Lea e a Londra]

The project aims to record the memories of those people who migrated to this country from the regions of Emilia-Romagna and Sicily from the 1950s onwards.
Our project will explore the reasons for coming over here, the feelings, the achievements, the failures and frustrations of two distinct communities working in the food trade, catering in London by those predominantly from the region of Emilia Romagna, and people from Sicily who came over to work in the nurseries of Hertfordshire and Essex.
The experiences of the Italian migrants and those of their families in many ways reflect the experiences of other communities of migrants. Their life histories are important in oder to understand the roots of this community in the present for future generations. [...]

To read more click here or choose "Oral History" from the menu above.

Lo scopo del progetto di storia orale Rimembranze dall'Emilia Romagna e dalla Sicilia sará di raccogliere le memorie di Italiani emigrati a questo paese dagli anni cinquanta in poi, e come, attaverso il loro lavoro e coinvolgimento nella vita locale, abbiano contribuito al patrimonio culturale sia economicamente che culturalmente sin dal loro arrivo.
Il progetto esplorerá le ragioni dell'emigrazione, i sentimenti, i successi e le mancanze di successi e le frustrazioni di due gruppi di Italiani provenienti rispettivamente dall'Emilia Romagna e dalla Sicilia, lavoratori nel settore alimentare e di ristorazione; gli Emiliani impegnati nel settore servizi di ristorazione in centro di Londra e i Siciliani impegnati nella produzione di verdure nelle regioni dell'Hertfordshire e dell'Essex.
Le esperienze degli immigrati Italiani e le delle lore famiglie rispecchiano le experienze e vicende di altri gruppi 'etnici'. É importante raccogliere le lore storie per il beneficio delle generazioni che verranno. [...]

Per saperne di piú clicca qui o scegli "Oral History" dal menu in cima alla pagina.

Strategies of freedom [ Strategie di libertá ]

"An Enaip project investigating good practice in work-life balance
and the role of gender stereotypes in male participation in family life"

The project originates from the programme "The Community strategies for equal opportunities 2001/2005". This programme has guided the planning and implementation of our activities. "Achieving a better balance between domestic life and professional life is a challenging part of social life as a whole, for example falling fertility rates in Europe and changing traditional family structures." "Balancing domestic and professional life is important for both men and women... the politics of reconciling these two spheres do not have to relate exclusively to women, in contrast to traditional practices that have concentrated their attention on women, on part-time work, on flexible contracts, working hours, working environment and on the availability of nurseries. All of these issues are still pertinent but it is now clear that, for an efficient reconciliation between domestic life and professional life, an environment that supports equilibrium between work and family, for both men and women, is necessary. "It is necessary to promote new ways to encourage men and women to share domestic responsibilities equally"

Objectives

to inform about existing tools, legislation and planning so that they can facilitate the sharing of domestic responsibilities
to locate and promote good practice and good experience which is potentially transferable
to identify cultural resistance and organisational difficulties
to create awareness in an environment that is culturally favourable to the themes of reconciliation involving parent groups and local communities in the target area
to devise a mainstreaming of gender approach in social policy to support work-life balance
to plan and lasting initiatives between associations, institutions and social groups
to monitor and evaluate the effect of a wide range of on-going activities
to systematise and disseminate the results to support future projects

Activities

national

To document legislation at European, national, regional and local level
To map successful experiences
Research to build networks and to identify difficulties relating to the issues highlighted by the project
Information and awarenessraising workshop
Education workshop
Planning workshop

common

Communication and image
Monitoring and evaluation
Dissemination of project results

transnational

Exchange
Comparing
Creating networks between the practices and experiences of four European countries: France, Germany, Italy and United Kingdom

The transnational activities will consist of seminars to be held in each of the four countries involved, in order to lay down common guidelines, compare activities, evaluate and publicise the results.

Outcomes

Sharing of good practice between countries and within the same country
Activating international networks based on the themes of the project
Increase general awareness in order to promote a new balance between men and women in family life
Developing the motivation of men to share domestic responsibilities
Reinforcing competence in mainstreaming of gender in social policies
Institutions and social groups to implement longlasting organisational practices that allow worklife balance
New tools and methodologies to be made available for future projects

The Arena Project

The Arena Project is a partnership between Camden Drug Action Team, The City Lit and Enaip. The Arena Project has been set up in response to community concerns around drug activity. It will provide a forum for people to:

explore the complex issue of drug activity
learn about different drugs, their use, effects and social impact
learn about the range of services and initiatives addressing drug activity in Camden
contribute their individual experiences and local knowledge to initiatives that will make South Camden a safer place to live and work

The Arena Project will support people in accessing funding for projects which provide solutions to drug related issues in their communities.

The project will offer participants a 15 hour programme covering a range of topics covering local concerns.