While Italian pundits and politicians purport a world of cultural-religious friction, systematic monitoring of the Italian mediascape and extensive ethnographic fieldwork illuminate a far more... Show moreWhile Italian pundits and politicians purport a world of cultural-religious friction, systematic monitoring of the Italian mediascape and extensive ethnographic fieldwork illuminate a far more complex picture. Ambiguous everyday encounters coexist with structural inequality and exclusionary discourses. The periodic controversies dominating the popular media—over religious symbols, migration, and “Islam”—chart moral (and even theologically laden) political visions that function to inculcate new mechanisms of social control and boundary making in Italy. Show less
Arab immigrants in Italy, forced to live in a rough area of Milan, try to enlarge their territory through urban routes. They cross social and spatial borders in their attempts to move to less... Show moreArab immigrants in Italy, forced to live in a rough area of Milan, try to enlarge their territory through urban routes. They cross social and spatial borders in their attempts to move to less ethnic areas and to improve their social status. They combine and position pieces and signs of their original culture throughout the city. Their residential, leisure, and consumer spaces contain elements of resistance and hybridity. Show less
