Amedeo Osti Guerrazzi, I campi di concentramento per civili in Italia durante la Seconda Guerra Mondiale / Concentration camps for civilians in Italy during the Second World War, pp. 797-820

The essay deals with the origin and development of the idea of concentration camps in Italy during the Fascism. In particular, it considers the WWII period when it was decreed to establish about fifty camps for the internment of both Italian citizens and aliens deemed dangerous to the management of the war. These camps are a further proof of how hasty and approximate had been the process of readying for the war. Most of detainees, were accommodated in improvised, pre-existing structures like abandoned factories or even convents. With the lengthening of the war, the inadequacy of hygienic conditions and food system became severe with serious consequences on the prisoners. The newly built camps were just a minority. Best known was the large Ferramonti Tarsia camp for Jewish (Cosenza Province, in Calabria). The essay continues with the study of the classes of inmates, and final remarks on what happened during the Repubblica Sociale.

Gerald Steinacher, L’Alto Adige come regione di transito dei rifugiati 1945-1950 / The Alto Adige region, a temporary haven for refugees (1945-1950), pp. 821-834

After WWII, there were millions of refugees in Germany, Austria, & Italy. By 1946, those who could be were repatriated. But a new wave of Holocaust survivors, ethnic Germans, and anticommunists from the East was to follow. Only solution for these: integration into new countries or emigration overseas. For the occasion, Italy became a transit route. The shortest way to seaports such, as Genoa, ran over the Brenner and other passes. At first it was mainly Italian forced labourers from Germany, making that route to go home. Former Nazi camps, like Bolzano’s, became refugee camps. Many Holocaust survivors used the route to Genoa & Trieste for a passage to Palestine. Meran too became a station for Jewish refugees, and war criminals. According to S. Wiesenthal, some survivors and their perpetrators spent the night under the same roof in South Tyrol: the Nazis on the first, the Jews on the second floor. Smuggling people across the border became a business.

Matteo Sanfilippo, Per una storia dei profughi stranieri e dei campi di accoglienza e di reclusione nell’Italia del secondo dopoguerra / Towards a history of the asylum seekers and of the refugee and detention camps in Italy after the Second World War, pp. 835-856

We do not know much about post-war camps in Italy. Partly, they were internment camps built and run by the Allies, partly they were organized by Italian authorities restoring previous Fascist camps. It is evident that in 1944-1945 internees were still the older ones. In the following years Italian authorities tried to ship them back to their homeland, but it was not always simple. At the same time, new refugees came from Central-Eastern Europe. At this point, old Fascist camps had to be recycled en masse as camps for refugees, while the Allies transformed their own camps but relinquished control over them to International organizations.

Luca Bravi, Nando Sigona, Educazione e rieducazione nei campi per “nomadi” / Education and re-education in the camps for the “nomads”, pp. 857-874

This article outlines a brief history of Roma and Sinti camps in Italy identifying in it continuities and discontinuities. In the concept of education/re-education of the Roma and Sinti people it points out a leitmotiv linking to the concentration camps for Gypsies of the 1940’s the «nomad camps» that as they appeared in the late 1960s were believed to be as a simple bureaucratic expression and a “positive” solution to the “problema zingari”. The alleged nomadic lifestyle of Roma and Sinti, which for the Nazi geneticists was caused by a specific gene, the “wandertrieb”, is still used today to justify and legitimise the existence of camps and the physical segregation of the inmates. The camps are built and managed by the local authorities despite the reality that the number of Roma and Sinti families still pursuing a traditional itinerant lifestyle is a tiny minority compared to the total of the Roma and Sinti living in Italy.

Mara Dinunno, L’accoglienza dei boat people vietnamiti in Italia / How the boat people from Viet Nam were received in Italy, pp. 875-886

After the Viet Nam war a mass of people left the Country by sea. Ethnic problems added to the economic & social reasons which had caused the war made this exodus into a tragic event. To explore solutions, and appeal to solidarity, the UN (1979) gathered in Geneva a Conference about Indo-Chinese refugees. In June 1979, while the Orderly Departure Programme was on, a humanitarian mission, well supported by the public, left Italy to help the boat people. The documents relating to this were further studied through a Master research at the “Roma Tre” University. As a result of this mission and in agreement with the UN, between 1979/80 2000 people entered Italy. The Red Cross took them first; later, they were sent to several Italian provinces according to job opportunities. They did not qualify; still received refugee status. This study shows a lack scientific accuracy still present today in matters like the right of asylum and migration.

Paola Bonizzoni, Turisti e vagabondi: dinamiche dell’incertezza a Lampedusa / Tourists and vagrant people arriving in Lampedusa: what to do?, pp. 887-902

This paper draws on an ethnographic research carried out on the island of Lampedusa (Sicily) during the summer of 2003. It focuses on the strong opposition of the inhabitants of the island to the building of a new CPTA for undocumented immigrants. My aim is to interpret the reactions of the local residents in light of theories about post-modern insecurity; in particular Z. Bauman’s theory of unsicherheit.

Leda Acquasana, Centri di Permanenza Temporanea e Assistenza (CPTA): i nuovi “contenitori” dell’immigrazione / Centers of temporary residence and assistance (CPTA): the “new solutions” to the emigration problem, pp. 903-917

This paper studies the genesis of the Italian Centri di Permanenza Temporanea e Assistenza (CPTA). The first part analyzes the laws regulating the centres for illegal immigrants, while the second shows how these centres work in Sicily. The study concludes with two interviews: the first to a bureaucrat of the Ufficio Immigrazione of the Questura di Ragusa, the other to a young illegal immigrant. These exchanges help the reader to bring the history and legal genesis of the centres into the daily reality of the people going through the experience.

Paola Corti, Dal “ritorno” alle visits home: le tendenze di studio nell’ultimo trentennio / From “re-entry” to home visits: trends in immigration studies in the last twenty years, pp. 927-946

The article deals with an issue often neglected in the studies about the exodus of the Italians, and offers statistical evidence about the re-entry rate from the great migratory wave at the beginning of the new millennium. It draws also some conclusions from the data collected so far; data that range from discussions about the remittances, to the most recent investigations about “trans-nationality”. The study examines further the stages of development of the process throwing some light on the transformations of the criteria to interpret migration during the last thirty years. Starting from the elaboration of different typologies for migration, and from the emphasis given to the consequences of re-entry upon the society of departure, we developed a perspective where what matters is the interaction among the generations of migrants in the social environment made up by different territorial references and the coming and going of people.

Sergio Bontempelli, La tribù dei gagè. Comunità Rom e politiche di accoglienza a Pisa (1988-2005) / The gagè tribe. The Roma and Sinti in the political debates of the municipality of Pisa (1988-2005), pp. 947-968

Studies on Roma and Sinti people take for granted that “gypsies” are the same: all come from India, all speak one language, and keep up the same traditions. However the Pisa case study shows this to be wrong. Gypsies come from different countries, don’t speak the same language, and their cultural traits aren’t so clearly identical. Still, they all live in “nomad“ or illegal suburban camps: this could be why they are believed belonging to the same ethnic group. This stereotypical image of “gypsy” has changed during the last years. Policies about Roma people and minorities have been the subject of a hot debate in the municipality of Pisa. This paper reviews the stages of this debate, and proves that the discussions about nomad camps, housing, etc., taught people not to generalize when it comes to gypsies. Although limited to a local situation, this paper proposes a wider assumption: the “ethnic identity” of Roma people is not a fact, it’s only a label to make social interaction easier.

Domenico Verdoscia, I musulmani fra tre fuochi: integralismo, secolarismo ed egemonia occidentale / The three challenges of the Moslems: integralism, secularism, and the hegemony of the West, pp. 969-986

After September 11th any talk about Islam appears to add fuel to the fire of the media frenzy. Many people study Islam today thus circulating a wealth of information both for the curious and the expert. It’s a fact that a fair amount of these discussions are tainted with ethnocentrism, differentialism which tend to turn all Muslims into a monolith of sorts, removing them from their social, historical context. The spreading of international of terrorism tied to radical movements such as Al-Qa’ida, etc. have influenced Western perception to the point of producing arbitrary, over-generalized, caricatures of the Muslim. This process ignores the historical, social and individual variability in the Muslim society and forgets that all religions could be turned into a political weapon. This article’s aim is to sensitize public opinion, and to improve the knowledge of true “Islam” by discussing “fundamentalism” and the rational attitudes that oppose it.

Chiara Rossitti, Seconde generazioni: differenze culturali in alcune scuole di Roma / The Second Generations: cultural differences found in some schools in Rome, pp. 987-998

This study has been undertaken in order to investigate second generation immigrants, aged 16 to 20, attending some second-degree secondary schools in Rome. The six technical and professional Institutes that were chosen are located in different neighbourhoods of the city, and have been purposely selected for the high rate of non-Italian subjects in their student population. This text wants to explore the actual modalities and the potential for communication and cultural integration among these teenagers. We keep in mind that today the need to be recognized is becoming more and more imperative, and it is strictly tied in with the concept of identity.