Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-4rdrl Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-05T07:14:10.911Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Ethnic enclave or transcultural edge? Reassessing the Prato district through digital mapping

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 September 2019

Francesco Ricatti Open the ORCID record for Francesco Ricatti [Opens in a new window] ,
Matteo Dutto  and
Rita Wilson Open the ORCID record for Rita Wilson [Opens in a new window]
Francesco Ricatti*
Affiliation:
School of Languages, Literatures, Cultures and Linguistics, Monash University
Matteo Dutto
Affiliation:
School of Languages, Literatures, Cultures and Linguistics, Monash University
Rita Wilson
Affiliation:
School of Languages, Literatures, Cultures and Linguistics, Monash University
*
*Email: Francesco.ricatti@monash.edu
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Relations between Italy and other countries – such as China – are often imagined within a binary frame that essentialises national and ethnic communities and fails to recognise the complex transcultural ramifications of an increasingly globalising world. This is particularly problematic when studying those social and cultural spaces that Ilaria Vanni (2016) has described as transcultural edges. These are marginal spaces of transition and encounters between different cultures and societies, which have the potential to create new, innovative and productive ecosystems. We argue that one such space is Prato, an industrial town near Florence, well known for its textile district, and host to one of the largest Chinese communities in Europe. Significant academic attention has been devoted to the Chinese community in Prato, including studies of its social and economic impact on the host local community and the textile industry. Most of these studies tend to isolate the Chinese community from the ethnic complexity of the area, within a binary frame that fails to acknowledge the large presence of other migrant groups and the reciprocal permeability and transculturation between the Chinese community, the Italian community, and other ethnic groups. As part of a larger project, a group of scholars is currently digitally remapping Prato, to include quantitative and qualitative geolocalised information collected through a multidisciplinary method that includes ethnography, media analysis, translation studies, transcultural studies, and digital participatory action research. Through a brief description of the aims and characteristics of this research project, the paper will discuss the importance of rethinking the relationship between Italy and China, and between Italians and Chinese, within a more complex and nuanced transcultural frame.

I rapporti dell'Italia con altre nazioni, compresi i rapporti fra Italia e Cina, sono spesso immaginati all'interno di una costruzione binaria che essenzializza la natura delle comunità nazionali e etniche e non rende conto delle complesse ramificazioni transculturali di un mondo sempre più globalizzato. Questo è particolarmente problematico quando si studiano quegli spazi sociali e culturali che Ilaria Vanni (2016) ha descritto come ‘transcultural edges’. Questi sono spazi di transizione e incontro fra culture e società diverse; spazi che hanno la potenzialità di creare ecosistemi nuovi, innovativi e produttivi. In questo articolo sosteniamo che uno di questi spazi è Prato, una città industriale vicino Firenze, che è conosciuta per il suo distretto tessile, e in cui vive una delle più grandi comunità cinesi d'Europa. Molti studi accademici si sono concentrati sulla comunità cinese di Prato, compresi molti studi sull'impatto sociale ed economico sulla comunità locale e il suo distretto tessile. La maggior parte di questi studi tende ad isolare la comunità cinese dalla complessità etnica di Prato, all'interno di una cornice binaria che non riconosce la presenza significativa di altri gruppi di migranti, e la reciproca influenza transculturale fra la comunità cinese, quella italiana e gli altri gruppi etnici. Come parte di un progetto più ampio, un gruppo di studiosi intende mappare digitalmente Prato, per includere informazioni quantitative e qualitative geolocalizzate, che vengono raccolte attraverso un metodo interdisciplinare comprendente l'etnografia, l'analisi dei media, gli studi sulla traduzione, gli studi transculturali, e la ricerca digitale partecipativa. Attraverso una breve descrizione degli obiettivi e delle caratteristiche del progetto, l'articolo sostiene l'importanza di ripensare le relazioni fra Italia e Cina, e fra gli italiani e i cinesi, all'interno di un quadro transculturale più complesso e articolato.

Keywords

Chinese in Italydigital participatory action researchPrato (Italy)migrationtranscultural
Type
Research Articles
Information
Modern Italy , Volume 24 , Special Issue 4: Italianerie: Transculturality, Co-creation and Transforming Identities between Italy and Asia , November 2019 , pp. 369 - 381
Copyright
Copyright © 2019 Association for the Study of Modern Italy 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abdul Gondaf, R. 2003. ‘Migranti Pakistani a Prato’. In Migranti a Prato: il distretto tessile multietnico, edited by Ceccagno, A., 197–227. Milan: FrancoAngeli.Google Scholar
Ambrosini, M. 2016. ‘From “Illegality” to Tolerance and Beyond: Irregular Immigration as a Selective and Dynamic Process’. International Migration 54 (2): 144–159.Google Scholar
Baldassar, L., Johanson, G., McAuliffe, N. and Bressan, M., eds. 2015a. Chinese Migration to Europe: Prato, Italy, and Beyond. Hampshire, UK: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
Baldassar, L., Johanson, G., McAuliffe, N. and Bressan, M.. 2015b. ‘Chinese Migration to the New Europe: the Case of Prato’. In Chinese Migration to Europe: Prato, Italy, and Beyond, edited by Baldassar, L., Johanson, G., McAuliffe, N. and Bressan, M., 1–26. Hampshire, UK: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
Baldassar, L. and Raffaetà, R.. 2018. ‘It's Complicated, isn't it: Citizenship and Ethnic Identity in a Mobile World’. Ethnicities 18 (5): 735–760. DOI: 10.1177/1468796816684148.Google Scholar
Bracci, F. 2010. ‘Oltre la pratesità: due indagini su identità ed appertenenze nel contesto pratese’. In Oltre la ‘pratesità’. Identità e appartenenze nella città multiculturale, edited by Bracci, F., 55–264. Prato: Asel.Google Scholar
Bracci, F. 2015. ‘The “Chinese Deviant”: Building the Perfect Enemy in a Local Arena’. In Chinese Migration to Europe: Prato, Italy, and Beyond, edited by Baldassar, L., Johanson, G., McAuliffe, N. and Bressan, M., 83–100. Hampshire, UK: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
Bracci, F., Mamaj, L. and Sambo, P.. 2006. Guardarsi e non vedersi. Uno studio sulle rappresentazioni sociali dell'altro a Prato. Rapporto Immigrazione della Provincia di Prato 2005–2006: Asel-Provincia di Prato.Google Scholar
Ceccagno, A., ed. 2003. Migranti a Prato: il distretto tessile multietnico, Vol. 423. Milan: FrancoAngeli.Google Scholar
Ceccagno, A. 2004. Giovani migranti cinesi: la seconda generazione a Prato. Milan: FrancoAngeli.Google Scholar
Ceccagno, A. 2007. ‘Compressing Personal Time: Ethnicity and Gender within a Chinese Niche in Italy’. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 33 (4):635–654.Google Scholar
Ceccagno, A. 2009. ‘Chinese Migrants as Apparel Manufacturers in an Era of Perishable Global Fashion: New Fashion Scenarios in Prato’. In Living Outside the Walls: the Chinese in Prato, edited by Johanson, G., Smyth, R. and French, R., 42–74. Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.Google Scholar
Ceccagno, A. 2017. City Making and Global Labor Regimes : Chinese Immigrants and Italy's Fast Fashion Industry. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
Colombo, E., Leonini, L. and Rebughini, P.. 2009. ‘Different But Not Stranger: Everyday Collective Identifications among Adolescent Children of Immigrants in Italy’. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 35 (1), 37–59, DOI: 10.1080/13691830802489101Google Scholar
Dei Ottati, G. 2009. ‘An Industrial District Facing the Challenges of Globalization: Prato today’. European Planning Studies 17 (12): 1817–1835.Google Scholar
Dei Ottati, G. 2013. ‘Il ruolo della immigrazione cinese a Prato: una rassegna della letteratura’. In Prato: il ruolo della comunità cinese, edited by Prato, IRPET, 21–38. Florence: Provincia di Prato – IRPET.Google Scholar
Gal, T. 2017. ‘An Ecological Model of Child and Youth Participation’. Children and Youth Services Review 79: 57–64.Google Scholar
Glick Schiller, N., Basch, L. and Szanton-Blanc, C. 1992. ‘Transnationalism: a New Analytic Framework for Understanding Migration’. In Toward a Transnational Perspective on Migration, edited by Glick Schiller, N., Basch, L. and Szanton-Blanc, C.. New York: New York Academy of Sciences.Google Scholar
Glick Schiller, N. 2011. ‘Scholar/Activists and Regimes of Truth: Rethinking the Divide between Universities and the Streets’. Transforming Anthropology 19 (2): 162–164.Google Scholar
Glick Schiller, N. 2012. ‘Situating Identities: towards an Identities Studies without Binaries of Difference’. Identities 19 (4): 520–532.Google Scholar
Glick Schiller, N. 2015. ‘Explanatory Frameworks in Transnational Migration Studies: the Missing Multi-scalar Global Perspective’. Ethnic and Racial Studies 38 (13): 2275–2282.Google Scholar
Glick Schiller, N. and Çağlar, A.. 2013. ‘Locating Migrant Pathways of Economic Emplacement: Thinking beyond the Ethnic Lens’. Ethnicities 13 (4): 494–514.Google Scholar
Glick Schiller, N. and Schmidt, G.. 2016. ‘Envisioning Place: Urban Sociabilities within Time, Space and Multiscalar Power’. Identities 23 (1): 1–16.Google Scholar
Goodson, L. and Grzymala-Kazlowska, A.. 2017. ‘Researching Migration in a Superdiverse Society: Challenges, Methods, Concerns and Promises’. Sociological Research Online 22 (1).Google Scholar
Guercini, S., Dei Ottati, G., Baldassar, L. and Johanson, G., eds. 2017. Native and Immigrant Entrepreneurship: Lessons for Local Liabilities in Globalization from the Prato Case Study. Cham, Switzerland: Springer Science and Business Media.Google Scholar
Jace, R. and Zejnati, Q.. 2003. ‘La comunità albanese di Prato’. In Migranti a Prato: il distretto tessile multietnico, edited by Ceccagno, A., 167–196. Milan: FrancoAngeli.Google Scholar
Johanson, G. and Denison, T.. 2010. ‘Mobile Phones, Diasporas and Developing Countries: A Case Study of Connectedness among Chinese in Italy’. In ICTs for Global Development and Sustainability: Practice and Applications, edited by Steyn, J., Van Belle, J.-P. and Villanueva Mansilla, E., 176–188. IGI Global.Google Scholar
Johanson, G. and Fladrich, A. M.. 2015. ‘Ties that Bond: Mobile Phones and the Chinese in Prato’. In Chinese Migration to Europe: Prato, Italy, and Beyond, edited by Baldassar, L., Johanson, G., McAuliffe, N. and Bressan, M., 177–194. Hampshire, UK: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
Johanson, G., Smyth, R. and French, R., eds. 2009. Living Outside the Walls: the Chinese in Prato. Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.Google Scholar
Laaroussi, M. Vatz. 2017. ‘Participatory Qualitative Methodology: a Promising Pathway for the Study of Intergenerational Relations Within Migrant Families’. In Situating Children of Migrants across Borders and Origins, edited by Bolzman, C., Bernardi, L. and Le Goff, J.-M., 173–194. Dordrecht, Netherlands: Springer.Google Scholar
Latham, K. and Wu, B.. 2013. Chinese Immigration into the EU: New Trends, Dynamics and Implications. London: Europe China Research and Advice Network.Google Scholar
Lazzeretti, L. and Capone, F.. 2017. ‘Liabilities in Prato's Industrial District: an Analysis of Italian and Chinese Firm Failures’. In Native and Immigrant Entrepreneurship: Lessons for Local Liabilities in Globalization from the Prato Case Study, edited by Guercini, S., Dei Ottati, G., Baldassar, L. and Johanson, G., 149–167. Cham, Switzerland: Springer.Google Scholar
Marsden, A. 2014. ‘Chinese Descendants in Italy: Emergence, Role and Uncertain Identity’. Ethnic and Racial Studies 37 (7): 1239–1252.Google Scholar
Marsden, A. 2015. ‘Second-Generation Chinese and New Processes of Social Integration in Italy’. In Chinese Migration to Europe: Prato, Italy, and Beyond, edited by Baldassar, L., Johanson, G., McAuliffe, N. and Bressan, M., 101–118. Hampshire UK: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
Matras, Y. and Robertson, A.. 2017. ‘Urban Multilingualism and the Civic University: a Dynamic, Non-linear Model of Participatory Research’. Social Inclusion 5 (4): 5–13.Google Scholar
Ministero dell'Istruzione, dell'Università e della Ricerca – Ufficio Statistica e Studi. 2018. Gli alunni con cittadinanza non italiana A.S. 2016/2017. Available from http://www.miur.gov.it/documents/20182/0/FOCUS+16-17_Studenti+non+italiani/be4e2dc4-d81d-4621-9e5a-848f1f8609b3?version=1.0.Google Scholar
Paciocco, A. 2018. ‘Performing Chinese Diasporic Identity through Mandarin: the Case of Italian-Schooled Chinese Migrant Youth in Prato (Italy)’. Journal of Language, Identity & Education 17 (4): 1–15.Google Scholar
Paciocco, A. and Baldassar, L.. 2017. ‘Italian-Schooled Chinese Migrant Youth in Prato: the Liability of Outsidership and Social Identity Formation’. In Native and Immigrant Entrepreneurship: Lessons for Local Liabilities in Globalization from the Prato Case Study, edited by Guercini, S., Dei Ottati, G., Baldassar, L. and Johanson, G., 97–114. Cham, Switzerland: Springer Science and Business Media.Google Scholar
Pedone, V. 2018. ‘In the Eye of the Beholder: the Orientalist Representation of Chinese Migrants in Italian Documentaries’. Journal of Italian Cinema & Media Studies 6 (1): 81–95.Google Scholar
Pieraccini, S. 2008. L'assedio cinese. Il distretto senza regole degli abiti low cost di Prato. Milan: Il sole-24 ore.Google Scholar
Portes, A. and Rumbaut, R., eds. 2001. Legacies: the Story of the Immigrant Second Generation. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Provincia di Prato. 2017. La scuola pratese: rapporto 2016. Osservatorio Scolastico. Available from http://www.filprato.it/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Rapporto-Scuola-anno-2016.pdf.Google Scholar
Raffaetà, R., Baldassar, L. and Harris, A.. 2016. ‘Chinese Immigrant Youth Identities and Belonging in Prato, Italy: Exploring the Intersections between Migration and Youth Studies’. Identities: Global Studies in Culture and Power 23 (4): 422–437.Google Scholar
Semmaa, N. and Salvati, A.. 2003. ‘L'immigrazione marocchina in Italia e a Prato’. In Migranti a Prato: il distretto tessile multietnico, edited by Ceccagno, A., 229–260. Milan: FrancoAngeli.Google Scholar
Shamrova, D. P. and Cummings, C. E.. 2017. ‘Participatory Action Research (PAR) with Children and Youth: an Integrative Review of Methodology and PAR Outcomes for Participants, Organizations, and Communities’. Children and Youth Services Review 81: 400–412.Google Scholar
Smith, M. P. and Guarnizo, L. E., eds. 1998. Transnationalism from Below. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers.Google Scholar
Ufficio di Statistica, Comune di Prato. 2018. Popolazione straniera al 31.12.2017. Available from http://statistica.comune.prato.it/?act=f&fid=6370.Google Scholar
Vanni, I. 2016. ‘The Transcultural Edge’. PORTAL Journal of Multidisciplinary International Studies 13 (1).Google Scholar
Wu, B. and Liu, H.. 2014. ‘Bringing Class Back In: Class Consciousness and Solidarity among Chinese Migrant Workers in Italy and the UK’. Ethnic and Racial Studies 37 (8): 1391–1408.Google Scholar
Xue, M. A. Grigoras, Lee, H. and Ross, K.. 2018. ‘Sensing the Chinese Diaspora: How Mobile Apps Can Provide Insights into Global Migration Flows’. arXiv preprint arXiv:1803.08256.Google Scholar
Zhang, G. 2017. ‘Chinese Migrants, Morality and Film Ethics in Italian Cinema’. Journal of Modern Italian Studies 22 (3): 385–405.Google Scholar
Zimmermann, P. R. and De Michiel, H.. 2017. Open Space New Media Documentary: a Toolkit for Theory and Practice. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar