Academic literature on the topic 'Sicily (Italy) – Emigration and immigration – Social aspects'

Although Italy is a country with a strong tradition of emigration, only in the last twenty- five years have Italians had to face new and pressing social, juridical and cultural problems related to a surge in immigration. The majority of immigrants during this period have been from areas steeped in with a Muslim majority such as Northern and Central Africa and the Middle East. The cultural encounter between the Italian Catholic tradition and the newcomers’ faith and customs has been very pronounced, and often problematic. The aim of this paper is to investigate the most relevant issues that arise from the interface between the cultural and legal aspects of Islamic culture pertaining to immigrants living in Italy with the Italian legal system. The areas considered are related to self-determination, personal integrity and family law, and were selected for their relevance to analyzing the impact of cultural differences on public policies and social behavior. The methodology used draws from both a comparative and a multidisciplinary approach.

Abstract The article argues that the locus of the most interesting and important work in the fields of immigration and labor history lies precisely at the intersection of class and ethnicity. In developing this thesis, particularly with respect to Italian immigrant working-class movements in the United States, the author draws on his experiences as a working-class ethnic and historian as well as his readings of the literature. In the course of his research on Italian immigrants in Chicago, the author stumbled upon the submerged, indeed suppressed, history of the Italian American left. Italian-American working-class history has since been the focus of his work. Since mainstream institutions had neglected the records of this history, the recovery of rich documentation on Italian American radicalism has been a source of particular satisfaction. These movements had also been "forgotten" by the Italian Americans themselves. Despite important work by a handful of American scholars, relatively few Italian American historians have given attention to this dimension of the Italian American experience. Curiously the topic has received more attention from scholars in Italy. Mass emigration as much as revolutionary movements was an expression of the social upheavals of turn-of-the-century Italy. As participants in those events, the immigrants brought more or less inchoate ideas of class and ethnicity to America with them. Here they developed class and ethnic identities as Italian-American workers. The construction of those identities has been a process in which the Italian immigrants have been protagonists, filtering cultural messages through the sieve of their own experiences, memories, and values. Historians of labor and immigration need to plumb the sources of class and ethnic identity more imaginatively and sensitively, recognizing that personal identity is a whole of which class and ethnicity are inseparable aspects. The author calls upon historians to salvage and restore the concepts of class and ethnicity as useful categories of analysis.

Evidence on comparative quality of life and housing of Italians at origin, and emigrants in two destinations was gathered from field research, and from three surveys: one, of residents of the town of origin (n = 153), Larino, in the province of Campobasso, and the other two, of residents of major destinations of Larinesi emigrants--Montreal (n = 118), and Milano (n = 73). The main working hypothesis was tested that the best quality of life is found among emigrants living in Montreal. The research also explicated the historical connection between policies of migration and housing concerns in Canada and in Italy.
Quality of life was measured using a battery of structural, objective and subjective indicators that were calibrated for relative comparisons between the two cities of destination by the re-analysis of two large surveys (Milano n = 966; Montreal n = 461), and by the use of of official statistics.
Multivariate analysis results showed that in comparison to the town of origin, Montreal produced the best and most distinguishable socio-demographic context and Milano the best geographic context. The objective indicators based on the ratios of income to need and those based on income relative to each city, are most influential in Montreal. Subjective indicators such as attitudes and lifestyles are more consistently related to levels of education than to place of residence.
High rates of house ownership among the Larinesi in Montreal, and changes in their patterns of use of space which accompany permanent resettlement--especially those regarding the use of an extra kitchen--were found to be explainable in terms of the "housing culture" of the town of origin.