Immigrant Women And Feminism In Italy

The influx of female migrants to Europe has posed challenges to established European feminist movements. In this book the author assesses the significance of female immigration to Italy and its impact on Italian feminism by analyzing the way in which immigrant and Italian women have constructed their relationships over the past 30 years. The book provides comprehensive overviews of the Italian women's movement and the history of immigration to Italy before examining the formation of immigrant women's groups, the treatment of immigrant women by Italian women's associations, and the forging of new relationships in multicultural women's organizations. Broader comparisons on European migration are made to contextualize immigration to Italy and Southern Europe more generally. By drawing from a variety of research materials such as structured interviews, participant observation and empirical data, the book contributes to an interdisciplinary approach to the study of gender, migration and contemporary Italian history. The book is of interest for scholars and postgraduates in the fields of women and gender studies, migration studies and contemporary European history.

The book examines the experiences of Black women in Italy from the 1970s to the 1990s. Although Italy is still perceived as a recent immigration country, the book demonstrates how Black women were among the first groups of new migrants to the country. Black women migrating to Italy were employed almost exclusively as live-in domestic workers and detailed attention is paid to the history and political organization of this sector. Unlike much published work in Italian, this book adopts an integrated form of analysis where gender, ethnicity and class are seen to be interconnected constructs. The book also situates Black women within the framework of the national constituency of gender. This approach challenges the ideology surrounding the Italian family and demonstrates that while live-in domestic work created specific forms of social marginality for Black women, it paradoxically allowed Italian women to express their new social identities within and outside the family. The book concludes that Italian women have largely failed in their attempts to transform the division of labour within the home and that the decision to employ other (migrant) women to fulfill household tasks is a trend which sits uneasily within the framework of an inclusive feminist project for women.

"This study takes place over a decade, between 1990 and 2001, when in Italy international migration became a major theme in national politics and a topic of heated discussion all over the country. Along with Turinese Italians, the primary subjects of this study are migrants from various parts of Africa - especially Nigeria, Senegal, Somalia, Morocco, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Kenya, the Ivory Coast, and other parts of the continent - as well as Latin America and the Philippines. These migrants arrive from the specific historical context of decolonization, born into a political climate of newly independent states that recently underwent a search for 'authentic' national identity." --introd.

Recent migratory flows to Europe have brought about considerable changes in many countries. Italy in particular offers a unique point of view, since it is possible to observe not only the way migration has changed specific features of the country, but also how it is intertwined with gender relations. Considering both the type of migration that has affected Italy and the consequent measures adopted by the Government, a variety of distinctive elements may be seen. By providing a broad and more complete picture of the Italian perspective on gender and migration, this book makes a valuable contribution to the wider debate. The contributions consider the problematic linkage between gender and migration, as well as analyse particular aspects including Italian colonial past, domestic work, self-determination, access to social services, second-generation migrant women, family law, multiculturalism and religious symbols. Taking an empirical and theoretical approach, the volume underlines both the multifaceted problems affecting migrant women in Italy and the way in which questions raised in other countries are introduced and redefined by Italian scholarship. The book presents a valuable resource for researchers, academics and policy-makers working in the areas of migration and gender studies.

This book considers cultural representations of four different types of labor within Italian and U.S. contexts: stories and songs that chronicle the lives of Italian female rice workers, or mondine; testimonials and other narratives about female domestic servants in Italy in the second half of the twentieth century (including contemporary immigrants from non-western countries); cinematic representations of unwaged household work among Italian American women; and photographs of female immigrant cannery labor in California. These categories of labor suggest the diverse ways in which migrant women workers take part in the development of what Antonio Gramsci calls national popular culture, even as they are excluded from dominant cultural narratives. The project looks at Italian immigration to the U.S., contemporary immigration to Italy, and internal migration within Italy, the emphasis being on what representations of migrant women workers can tell us about cultural and political change. In addition to the idea of national popular culture, Gramsci's discussion of the social role of subalterns and organic intellectuals, the politics of folklore (or 'common sense') and everyday culture, and the necessity of alliance-formations among different social groups all inform the textual analyses. An introduction, which includes a reconsideration of Gramsci's theories in light of feminist theory, argues that the lives of subaltern classes (such as migrant women) are inherently connected to struggles for hegemony. A brief epilogue, on a lesser-known essay by photographer Tina Modotti, closes the discussion.

Feminism and Migration: Cross-Cultural Engagements is a rich, original, and diverse collection on the intersections of feminism and migration in western and non-western contexts. This book explores the question: does migration empower women? Through wide-ranging topics on theorizing feminism in migration, contesting identities and agency, resistance and social justice, and religion for change, well-known and emerging scholars provide in-depth analysis of how social, cultural, political, and economic forces shape new modalities and perspectives among women upon migration. It highlights the centrality of the various meanings and interpretations of feminism(s) in the lives of immigrant and migrant women in Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Eastern Europe, France, Greece, Japan, Italy, Mexico, Morocco, Papua New Guinea, Spain, and the United States. The well-researched chapters explore the ways in which feminism and migration across cultures relate to women’s experiences in host societies --- as women, wives, mothers, exiles, nuns, and workers---and the avenues of interactions for change. Cross-cultural engagements point to the convergence and even disjunctures between (im)migrant and non-immigrant women that remain unrecognized in contemporary mainstream discourses on migration and feminism.

By examining the undervalued realm of women's talk, this book explores the ways Italian immigrant women from Montreal cleverly use classic folk genres to stretch the boundaries of their culture. Through songs, lullabies, bawdy riddles and trickster tales, these women subvert, redefine and alter what it means to be Italian and female in North America. More than just a study of Italian Canadians, this essay delves into the broader themes of gender, immigration and ethnicity that speak compellingly to both scholarly and nonscholarly audiences alike.