Lorenzo Prencipe, Migranti, costruttori di società. Diverse appartenenze, una città / Migrants, builders of society. Different memberships, one city, p. 3

Il 30 novembre 2005, in occasione del Centenario (1905-2005) della morte di Mons. Giovanni Battista Scalabrini, vescovo e fondatore dei Missionari di San Carlo (Scalabriniani) per l’accompagnamento socio- pastorale degli emigrati italiani nel mondo, il CSER (Centro Studi Emigrazione di Roma), il SIMI (Scalabrini International Migration Institute) e la Fondazione Scalabrini, hanno organizzato, in Campidoglio a Roma, un Convegno di riflessione-testimonianza sull’apporto positivo dei migranti alla “costruzione” della società comune a quanti abitano il territorio romano. Roma, infatti, ha dimostrato nella storia e dimostra oggi di essere una “città aperta”, una città che crede nelle relazioni tra persone perché le politiche sociali, culturali, urbanistiche, di sicurezza realizzate nella città hanno come fine quello di creare “collegamenti” tra le persone che hanno scelto Roma come luogo di vita. Roma è una città alla quale non fa difetto la capacità di accoglienza… anche e soprattutto verso coloro che arrivano a Roma e in Italia nella speranza di un futuro migliore. Immigrati che vanno accolti e che devono trovare nella città le condizioni per poter vivere e integrarsi. In questo numero di «Studi Emigrazione» riproponiamo alla riflessione dei lettori i tre interventi magistrali, tenuti da Zamagni, Sanfilippo e Ambrosini in occasione del convegno, che – ognuno nel suo ambito – sottolineano il cammino comune a migranti e autoctoni nella creazione di un nuovo tessuto sociale che, valorizzando l’apporto positivo delle diverse origini e appartenenze, metta in primo piano una convivenza pacifica, rispettosa e dialogante.

Stefano Zamagni, Migrazioni e politiche d’integrazione economica: un esame critico / A critical examination of migration and economic integration policies, pp. 5-18

After noticing that migrants are both wanted and unwanted in contemporary societies, this paper examines economic integration policies by applying the “Principle of Simon” and the “Principle of Selectively Delayed Economic Integration”. The conclusion is that migration policies should not be forged at a national, but at a multilateral level, and advocates the establishment of a World Migration Organization.

Matteo Sanfilippo, Migrazioni a Roma tra età moderna e contemporanea / Migrations in Rome between the modern and contemporary time, pp. 19-32

Since its beginnings, the history of Rome is the history of a “melting pot” city, where the presence of immigrants is relevant. We found documents and analysis about that presence in the writings of classicists, medievalists or in the pages of Middle Ages and Modern Times historians, but nobody tried to synthesize this information. This essay proposes a new approach, dealing with a long run perspective of Rome as a city of migrants.

Maurizio Ambrosini, Gli immigrati e la religione: fattore d’integrazione o alterità irriducibile? / Immigrants and religion: a factor of integration or of insurmountable opposition?, pp. 33-60

After noticing the renewed interest by researchers on the role of religion in the migration experience, this paper examines some conclusions reached by scholars in the North American model of migration. Religions and their institutions have provided spiritual, material and social resources to migrants during the integration process. Going beyond the functions of providing refuge, respect and resources, religions have also played a role for community building and in the transnational process. The American experience, however, cannot be simply transferred to the European case, where the secularization process is more widespread and Islam is considered with preoccupation and uneasiness.

Massimiliano Fiorucci (a cura di), Dossier: La mediazione interculturale e le sue forme:contesti, esperienze e proposte. Introduzione / Intercultural mediation and its forms: contexts, experiences and proposals. Introduction, pp. 61-72

Cultural mediation is an important subject of study and research within the wider field of intercultural pedagogy. However, with the expression “cultural mediation” one very often refers a professional set up where some migrants are engaged as language-cultural mediators. They perform a function of liaison and connection between migrants and services, institutions and structures of the welcoming society. Still, considering the issue in these terms one runs the risk of falling into reductionism that is to take into account only one aspect, even though essential, of a wide and multi-faceted reality. The introduction essay of Massimiliano Fiorucci is an attempt to enlarge the scope of reflection and survey through a multidisciplinary approach to the issue. With this premise, the author shows in what different levels intercultural mediation is subdivided and practiced.

Donatello Santarone, Mediazione letteraria e immagine europea dell’Oriente: l’India di Moravia e Pasolini / Literary mediation and European vision of the Orient: The India of Moravia and Pasolini, pp. 73-84

A literary work, can be seen among other things, as a place of encounter between author, society and different cultural traditions. Literary genres like reportage, travel diaries and tales of distant peoples and countries symbolically contain all the traits of the cultural mediation, the powerful, creative, and cognitive device that taking worlds that are remote and diverse it confronts them together often in a conflicting and partial manner. The essay analyzes how two twentieth-century Italian writers depict the non-Western world. The journey to India of P.P. Pasolini and A. Moravia will take them to a lot of spots in the big Asian country and to write two travel books. Starting from their titles, the books evoke two different, and very often opposite ways of looking at the Other: “The smell of India” (Pasolini) and “An idea of India” (Moravia). The essay mixes both books together in order to illustrate the hugely different ways in which the authors read a reality like that of India during the Sixties. A country mainly unknown except for its exotic character and mysticism. Nowadays things have not changed much, but the mystic vision has been substituted (even though sometimes coexistent) by the idea of an India as the country of technology and computer sciences.

Igiaba Scego, Il gusto degli altri, quando a mangiare sono i migranti. La mediazione culturale nel piatto / Other people tastes: a look at the food of the immigrants. Cultural mediation in your dish, pp. 85-106

From time immemorial, eating good food has been regarded as one of life’s most hedonistic pleasures. Food is knowledge, way of living, and feelings. Everybody eats, everybody drinks, everybody has recipes for special days. Food unites people all over the world. The migrant leaves his home, his family, but not his food: recipes travel with him, change along with him. Food becomes a new language against the clash of civilizations. Sometimes food brings out sadness and problems too. In this essay we analyze the relationship between food and migration with the help of Amara Lakhous’ Scontro di civiltà per un ascensore a Piazza Vittorio, (Clash of civilizations for an elevator in Piazza Vittorio) one of the most important novels in the new migrant Italian-speaking literature.

Massimiliano Fiorucci, La formazione dei mediatori: indicazioni e proposte / The training of mediators: indications and proposals, pp. 107-113

The essay reflects on the vocational training of cultural mediators. It starts from the results of a survey made by CREIFOS (Research centre on Intercultural education and Development training) of the Department of Education Sciences of the University of Roma Tre about cultural mediation in Italy (fields of intervention, professionals, training paths). The author formulates some proposals about the training of cultural mediators both in terms of methodology and didactics that take into due account their degree of education (mostly high) and their adult status.

Anna Belpiede, La formazione delle professioni sociali di prossimità: i mediatori interculturali di strada. L’esperienza di Torino / Training for the social professions of proximity: street intercultural mediators. The Turin experience, pp. 115-125

The article discusses the need for vocational training in order to bring into existence new professions working in proximity to minority, migrant, and native populations living at the margins of society. The author, who planned and managed the training process, reports on the model she used to build the experience of the street intercultural mediators in the city of Turin. Being aware of the limits and difficulties emerged in previous street experiments, the City of Turin tried out a model linking the various stages: the preparation of the team of trainers, the planning of a course for street intercultural mediators, the management of the mediators’ vocational training, an inductive training method, and the creation of a technical system to accompany the working experience. All the stages of the experiment have been supervised by Lucien Hounkpatin, Director of the Ethno-psychiatry Centre Devereux of the University of Paris 8. The interventions of the mediators in the neighbourhoods of Turin have started in 2000 and are still going on, as it is the maintenance of the accompanying system for the mediators. Since 2004 the mediators have been working for a private association that cooperates with the City Council of Turin.

Marta Castiglioni, Il ruolo del mediatore linguistico-culturale in un progetto di promozione comunitaria della salute / The role of the linguistic-cultural mediator in a project of community promotion of health, pp. 127-140

The experience of the linguistic-cultural mediation, developed since 1991 by Kantara, has been the source of a constant stimulus to reflection. These years of work has convinced us to abandon the experimental phase by drawing a model of intervention applicable to different contexts. The challenge has been to draw strategies and develop modes of intervention and liability that would be able to account for diversity by offering the population ever more needed customized services. The building of a model of intervention in the socio-sanitary field has gone through various stages of development. A long journey that started with the use of the mediator purely as an interpreter to facilitate the communication between operator and user due to the linguistic barrier, up to the interventions of integrated work with various operators where the decoding of the cultural aspects and of possible conflicts/disputes has become central. The final stages of this path of experience and reflection view the linguistic-cultural mediators not only in side-by-side interventions with single operator/user, but also involved in projects of prevention and promotion of mental health within the very communities of foreigners.

Aldo Morrone, Alessandra Sannella, Salute, immigrazione e mediazione culturale / Health, immigration and cultural mediation, pp. 141-154

The essay considers the relationship between health, migration and cultural mediation. Starting with some data about the health situation of the world poor countries, it describes the evolution of the Italian migratory phenomenon, its repercussions on the national health services, and the relation between health and socio-economical conditions of the patients, by focusing on the correlations that exist between health and levels of education. In the second part the author mainly describes the role and function of cultural mediators in the medical field with reference to the experience of the Complex Structure of Preventive Medicine of Migration of Tourism and of Tropical Dermatology in the San Gallicano Institute of Rome, managed by the author himself.

Graziella Favaro, Parole a più voci. I mediatori linguistico-culturali nella scuola / Linguistic-cultural mediators in the schools, pp. 155-168

For some time, new vocational figures have been active in the Italian Schools that are becoming increasingly multicultural and Multilanguage: the learning helpers and the linguistic-cultural mediators. The role of these last ones, in particular, is one of support for the children and newly immigrated young people during the welcoming phase, in order to facilitate the dealings with foreign families, translate written messages and oral information, and make the intercultural approach more concrete. Nonetheless, there can exist, sometimes, the risk of a certain confusion and overlapping of roles; the linguistic–cultural mediator is often asked to help with linguistic (i.e. teaching Italian as a second language), academic or relational needs that are not is competence. The essay traces back the brief history, of the linguistic-cultural mediators in the Italian Schools and identifies three different phases. It underlines the potential and positive role of the mediator as “intercultural solicitor” and alerts about risks and improper use of this new figure. The main point of this essay is that being a mediator in the context of stories, diversities and different competences is an essential and inalienable component of the educational profession. Today more than ever, the privileged role of “bridge” and “helper” belongs to the teacher.

Lorenzo Prencipe, Associazioni italiane nel mondo: una realtà in evoluzione da non dimenticare / Italian Societies in the world: an evolving reality not to be underrated, pp. 169-171
Rino Giuliani, L'associazionismo sociale all'estero ed il ruolo della Consulta Nazionale Emigrazione-CNE / Italian societies abroad and the role of CNE (National Consultation of Emigrants)Italian Societies in the world: an evolving reality not to be underrated, pp. 172-178
Laura Garavini, Politiche regionali per l'emigrazione. Un'analisi comparativa delle Consulte / Regional migration policies. A comparative analysis of the consultations, pp. 179-196

The Societies connected with CNE: ACLI, AIE, AITEF, ANFE, Azzurri nel Mondo, CSER, CTIM, CTIM, FILEF, Istituto F. Santi, MIGRANTES, MCL, UCEMI, UNAIE, with the participation of FUSIE, have organized on December 13th, 2006 a convention at the Casa San Bernardo in Rome about “L’associazionismo sociale all’estero” (Societies and Grouping Abroad). On this occasion there was a review of the different forms that the Italian associations take in the world, a comparison was made between the various regional policies regarding emigration. Finally, the encounter revamped the function of CNE as the legitimate representative; all the association were then invited to maintain open the channels of communication even after the election of the members of parliament for the different areas abroad, and to set up an effective line of cooperation for the benefit of all the fellow citizens residing abroad.

Flavia Cristaldi, Giulio Lucchini, I Cinesi a Roma: una comunità di ristoratori e commercianti / The Chinese in Rome: a community of restaurant workers and tradesmen, pp. 197-218

Compared to other European countries, the Chinese immigration to Italy is more recent. Since they first came to Italy in the early 80’s, the Chinese settled mainly in the larger cities, and only later spread over the whole territory. Rome, in particular, was for a long time one of the most important poles of attraction for the Chinese immigration to Italy. In Rome, the Chinese community has expanded, both numerically and commercially, starting from certain areas of the historical centre and moving to the less expensive areas in the East side thus creating a true social and commercial network between the outskirts and the centre. During the more recent years, following the pattern of success of their homeland, the relationships between the centre and the surrounding areas have noticeably increased, giving rise to new professional figures inside the community. Due to this growth, the Chinese community has achieved greater visibility in the life of the city thus provoking a variety of reactions in public opinion and in the institutions.

Alfredo Tagliavia, La formazione professionale degli immigrati: problematiche e possibilità operative / Professional training of immigrants: problems and operative potential, pp. 219-233

The article begins with an exhaustive description of the problems encountered by immigrants in the course of their professional training; then it proposes a viable model of formation suitable to this social category. The article continues with a quick review of the actual relationships between immigrants and formation systems in societies that welcome foreigners; it concludes with a report on the Italian situation. Keeping on the subject, it focuses on the major causes that keep immigrants from using professional training systems. These difficulties in particular are connected with the near impossibility for them to enter the secondary job markets, which denies them upper mobility; the failure to have diplomas and degrees obtained in their original countries recognized; the cultural and linguistic differences (different representation of labour, school and formation; poor mastery of Italian). The final part of the article deals with the elaboration of a formation program aimed at facilitating the integration of immigrants into Italian society. This project is characterized by a multifaceted approach that addresses the social and economic inadequacy of immigrants and helps them to cope with the cultural and linguistic problems.

Franco Pittau, Previsioni sul pensionamento degli immigrati in Italia (2006-2020) / A pension for the immigrants residing in Italy? A forecast for the period 2006-2020, pp. 235-240

The immigrants residing in Italy are still fairly young (average 31 years of age) but, in time, they will age and be ready for retirement. What will be the dimension of this phenomenon? The question is addressed by this note that attempts to conjure up a likely scenario for the years 2006-2020. The experts foresee that up to the year 2010, 4000 immigrants will apply for a pension; for the following five years such applications will increase up to 20.600 units, and, after that, they will reach the number of 35.500 units.