Upon arriving to the market at Esquilino and the Piazza Vittorio, it became evident that we had entered an area culturally and ethnically rich and diverse. Here, it seemed hard to even spot an Italian face or and Italian restaurant in the area. It was in this region that my partner Sha and I were able to conduct casual interviews with the immigrants as well as Italians in the area to learn more about their personal stories and views on the issues surrounding immigration.
Not wanting to come off as intruding their personal beliefs and stories, we decided to take an approach which made us look as quizzical tourists rather than bothersome American students impeding on their lives. We made sure to keep our notebooks hidden and smiles on our faces. Sha and I started off in the indoor market where we would meander around each of the shops, showing interest in many of the goods waiting for an opportunity to try and connect with the vendors. Within the first few stands people were already making the effort and reaching out to talk with us by asking us where we were from and saying a friendly “hello.” This became the perfect opportunity for us to strike up a conversation about their insight on immigration and their personal stories on this topic.
The first two men we spoke with worked at a meat stand in the market. They had kindly approached us speaking English knowing we were American. We took the opportunity and flashed a smile while displaying interest in their meats. We hoped this would result in them feeling more comfortable and in the end open up more about their stories and experiences with Italian immigration. The man at the front that we spoke with was from Bangladesh and about thirty years old. He moved to Italy three years ago with his family. He moved to Italy because he “likes money” and according to him, Italy is a good place to be successful. When we asked about education of the immigrant youth, he stated that his children do not go to school and slyly changed the subject to talking about our program in Rome. We took this as a hint that we dove into too much personal information. This interview got me thinking if our backgrounds had influenced the responses we received. Since we were American, and highly value education, he might have felt judged and wanted us to change subjects. We said “ciao” and moved on to try and interview others.
Only a few stands later we come across two men from Bangladesh who welcomed us with smiles and offering us fruit. Again, we casually glanced around at their goods and asked them questions about where they were from and their immigration to Italy. With the little English they could speak and our gestures, we were not able to get too far. The only subject we were able to commonly understand was about Barack Obama. After stating that we liked our president, their response entailed machine guns and laughs along with phrases of their native language, which we did not understand. With such a language barrier, the situation quickly turned awkward and we swiftly moved on. With this group, I began to wonder if we were able to speak the same language, what interesting stories they would have shared with us? They seemed like they had an interesting background and were knowledgeable on a lot of subjects but neither of us had the means to communicate with each other.
After not having too much success in the fruit and meat market area, we decided to move on into the clothing section of the market. Quickly upon entering this section of the market, we came across a twenty four year old man named Robbie who spoke very good English at a clothing stand. After wondering around a little more we decided to go back to his stand and try to strike up conversation with him since he seemed to be able to carry on a conversation in English very well. We started by looking at an “Italy” sweatshirt he was selling until he approached us asking where we were from. We approached him in a friendly manor and did not bring up the topic of our assignment right away in hopes that he would open up more to us as we became friends. Our conversation ranged from talking about where he lives in Italy to his upbringing. He moved to Italy when he was ten from India and learned his English in the Italian school system. It was obvious that he was of a higher class than many of the other merchants since he owned many of the shops around us and spoke of traveling the world being a pilot. He lives an hour away and commutes to the market everyday. After introducing our subject of immigration and Italian youth identity, our subject then shifted to speaking more about immigration. He spoke of his father who emigrated from Germany to Rome many years ago. I later introduced what we were doing as our final project and my interest in looking specifically at how immigrant’s health is affected by immigrating to Italy and their access to healthcare. After trying to explain about the healthcare system presently in place in Italy, it became obvious of his eagerness to want to help in anyway he could. He later offered his Facebook to contact him with any more questions. Compared to many of the other immigrants we had talked to, Robbie seemed to be adapted well to life here in Italy through speaking many languages and through his success in the market. This success makes me wonder what others can do to follow his success and to intertwine so successfully into the Italian culture while also maintaining his Indian identity? After speaking with Robbie, I began to wonder what his economic and family background was and if this was a determining factor that set him apart from the other immigrants that we spoke with?
We then decided to look for an Italian to ask about immigration and their views on the subject. After not seeing many Italians in the market area, we decided to wander the surrounding streets in search of approaching an Italian. After a long walk we finally decided to approach a middle-aged man and ask him about his opinions on immigration. He stated how he did not approve of the immigrants residing in Italy. When asked to elaborate on his dislike for the immigrants, he just kept repeating “not good, not good” while shaking his head. This man called this area of Rome “Chinatown” due to the high amounts of immigrants. China, Bangladesh as well as the Arabic countries were among the most prevalent immigrants in his eyes. In the past ten to eleven years, he has witnessed a great increase in the numbers of immigrants in this community in Rome. One interesting comment he proposed about these immigrants was how, in his opinion, the immigrants were receiving money from the mafia to buy apartments and set up shops in the area. I later questioned what brought him to this belief. Although his beliefs on this issue of immigration are strong, he reassured me that many of his friends and family felt similarly. I began to wonder if his thoughts were truly widespread beliefs across Rome or even within this neighborhood? In addition I wonder what led him to share this information with us? Maybe it was because we were not immigrants or maybe it was because it was evident we shared the same economic status. Either way, I found it an interesting comment to share with strangers.
Many of this man’s beliefs followed closely to those beliefs discussed in Grillo and Pratt’s “The Politics of Recognizing Difference.” This piece discussed how Italians were beginning to deliberate the complications, consequences and implications of their own identity as a result of the rush of immigrants into Italy. The Italian man we interviewed believed that this influx of immigrants would result in only complications for himself and other Italians and therefore should not be welcomed into his neighborhood or country. It is important to look into the social, political and economical structure of immigrants that cause this man as well as other Italians to have these negative thoughts about immigrants.
It was clear upon arriving in Piazza Vittorio that we had been introduced to an area of Rome rich in ethnic diversity. Through our many interviews, we were able to get a better understanding of immigration within Italy from a variety of viewpoints. Hearing immigrant’s as well as Italian’s perspectives on the issue surrounding identity and immigration allows for a more personable experience with these issues. Although we were not able to get deep insight on issues of immigration due to language barriers in addition to us being American, we were still able to take a lot from the experience. I am sure that if we were both fluent in Italian as well as coming from a different background, we would have been able to gain more from our trip. Upon leaving Piazza Vittorio, I was confronted with many questions. What brings so many immigrants to this particular area? Has this area always been full of immigrants or is this a recent phenomenon? These questions will only be answered through conducting more research as well as returning to Piazza Vittorio and asking questions.
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