Feminist Review 87 Women, Migration, Precarity

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Women, Migration and PrecarityAuthor(s): Manuela Coppola, Lidia Curti, Laura Fantone, Marie-Hlne Laforest and SusannaPooleSource: Feminist Review, No. 87, Italian Feminisms (2007), pp. 94-103Published by: Palgrave Macmillan JournalsStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/30140803 .

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87 women, migration andprecarityManuela Coppola,Lidia Curti, aura Fantone,Marie-HelIneLaforest,usanna PooleabstractThis focus group took place at the Universita di Napoli 'L'Orientale' and wasstructuredaround recent female migrationpatterns in the south of Italy. Thediscussion included academics, artists, and care workers.The condition of womenmigrantswas seen as one of precarityn the twomain contexts we discussed: workand places of encounter. In an effortto move away fromthe purelymaterialdimension fmigrationnd deal with ts emotional nd creativesides, many acets ofthe question of being away fromhome and creatinga newhome werefleshedout:expectations, defence mechanisms, nostalgia, stereotyping,racism, and multi-culturalism. Participants raised a wide range of issues and proposed differentperspectiveswhich lso pointto largertensions and challenges in genderand racerelations.

keywordsSouthern taly; migration;precarity;female work;race; integration

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introductionIssuesofwomen'smigrationnd precariousnessere ddressedn theNaplesfocus roup, hich ascentred nthe ituation fmigrantomenn he outh fItalyand held in April 006 at the Universita i Napoli L'Orientale'. heparticipants, ost fthemivingnNaplesbutcomingrom ifferentountriesandworkingndifferentields academic,graphics,reativewriting,harities,theatrena women's rison,radeunionsnd carework), fferedery ifferentpersonalndtheoreticalontributionso thediscussion.nthis ocus roup,heneedfor dialogue etweenhe cademicworldndwomennvolvedn he ocalcontext f migration as stronglysserted.Migrant omen re oftenonlypresenteds thedetached bject f tudyn talian ocialresearch,ot nvolvedactivelys writers,rtists rpoliticalctivists. he rticle yLidiaCurtinthisissue offers detailedcritique f the current ays n whichmany mergingmigrantuthors,ivingndwritingnItaly, re patronizedycritics. ollowingthisidea, and drawingrom eminist,ultural nd post-colonialtudies, hedialogue ookshapenot ust as a verbaldiscussion,ut also throughariousmedia:poetry eading, rawingsbyColombianrtistAngelaBernal, ublishedheren heOpen pacesection), nd two ideos: ne howingtheatre rojectna women's risonas describednSusannaPoole's rticle), nd a secondvideoonmulti-lingualtory-tellingySara Marinelli.Participants:NirmalPuwar (GoldsmithCollege, London/Feministeview); Lidia Curti(Universitii NapoliL'Orientale'); aiaGiulianiUniversitai Bologna); nricaCapussottiUniversita i Siena); Igiaba Scego (writer);GabriellaKuruvilla(writer);ManuelaCoppola Universitai Napoli L'Orientale'); ngelaBernal(graphic esigner); ulia agaskaia socialworker);auraFantoneUniversitaiNapoliL'Orientale');usannaPoole Universitai NapoliL'Orientale');WioletaSardykoFIsCAMGIL fficer); acqueline ndall Universityf Bath/FeministReview);Marie-Heline aforest Universita i Napoli L'Orientale');SvevaMagaraggiaSconvegno).LidiaCurtiLC):Our iscussion ill ocus ntherelativelyew resencefwomenimmigrantsn Italy.We are interestednseeinghowhistorical nd territorialpatternsct as the preconditionsorthe acceptanceof migrants.orms fhospitality,iscursivepaces, ndthe maginaryimensionre no ess mportantthan hematerial onditionsfdaily ife. oday, ewishochallengehecurrentuses of words uchas 'migrant',secondgeneration',citizen', nd 'native',bearingnmind he tension etween he desire o integratend thedesire opreserveultural ifference.Thispremise ivesriseto the importantuestion f Who peaksforwhom?'.Feminist eview as often ad tofacethe ssueoftheburdenfrepresentation,

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ofhowwe position urselves. sAssiaDjebar, rinhMinh-ha nd others avesuggested, e must isten o others' oices nstead fspeakingor hem:parlerpresde', speaknearby, arlare appresso. hisbecomes articularlymportantnow hatwe have nourmidstwomen romifferentountries hose ultures estudy nd write bout.

travelling, dreaming the WestManuelaCoppolaMC):We wish o explorehe issue ofmigrationnterms fnecessity,utalso interms fdream nd narration: esires nd expectationsbefore eparturend actual conditions ponarrival.Migrants'ivescan becharacterizedyendlessdepartures,nd continuousmovementshatfurthercomplicateotions frootednessndbelongingr create heconditionfneverfeelingat home'.We ntend o discusshow he tensions etween ostalgia orthepastandtheneedsof thepresentrenegotiated,nparticular,ossibilitiesfor space ofself-representationormigrant omen. owdo they ravelntoanotheranguage,ndanother ulture?WioletaardykoWS): lefthome ut ofcuriosity,otout ofnecessity:wantedtodiscovertaly,heMafia, nd how tworked. nce washere, realized twasbetter o stay way romt. For olishwomenikeme t has been asier o enterItaly s Poland s now EU ountry,hile thers eed workermit,nd so theyare often ndocumentednd live life funcertainty.oing ack and forthsalso a problem:hildrenreabandoned y heirmigrant othersor long ime.Relationshipsre lost' inthe meantimend ittakes time o rebuild hem.Julia agaskaiaJL): nthe case of Easternurope,t s thewomen homigrate.Men cceptwomen's enerosityndendupbecomingconomic arasites. hisleadsto manymarriage reak-ups:men o notrealize hesacrifices omenremaking. s for hildren,eparations reallyraumatic,venwhen here s theopportunityo ointhe motherateron.IgiabaScego IS): As a Somali, can saythat fter ivinghroughictatorshipsandpovertyoingbroad sthe olutionnour maginary.sTrinhassuggested,oneought o create pacesfornarratingneself nthehost ountry.his pacedoesnot xistwithin y ommunityndneitherre werepresentedn he talianmedia.Gabriella uruvillaGK): 'm ndo-ltalian.feelparticularlyloseto thequestionofsecond-generationigrants. henspeakof travelling'thinkfmy ather.Theabandonmentf one's countrys not an addition,t's a subtraction.heother ountrys thecountryf desire s the mmigrants'hildrenon'tknow tand dealize t. feel cultural iscontinuityithmy ather'samilyue totheirlanguage, heirhistory;hey re what didn'tbecome.As formy ather, hydidn'the talk to meabout his and?Whyidn'the teach me his anguage?

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jL: Why asn'tyour atheraught ouhis anguage?GK:Certainlyo bettermy hances f integration.Marie-HeleneaforestMHL): I would ike to pick up twopoints:why oesGabriella eel she has to call herself second-generationigrant?t's animported ord, n oxymoron.ermothers Italian,herfatherndian, he wasborn ere, o sheis not migrant.his erminologys often xtended o third-andfourth-generationigrants. hen oes onestopbeing migrant?The econdpoints that he earch or ne'sroots,which anbecome bsessive,must e studiedwithiningle ountries;t seems o be proportionalo the evelof racism ncountered.fyoufeelalien, t is becausethe other talian itizensconsider oua stranger.Weshould onsider hehypothesishat the need tosearch or ne's roots s more cute for hemigrantshodo nothaveEuropeanphenotypes.Angela ernalAB):Thenotion f econd-generationigrantsarticularlyaughtmy ttention. do not think t's fairforpeople ikeGabriellao criticize erparents. was disturbedyherwords. he s thedaughterf a motheroo.I am SouthAmerican:rom he subjugationf the continentome marvellousthings mergeds well.Of ourse,hepast s imaginaryor llmigrants:here sno longer day-to-dayr a real relation ith ne'scountry.GK: didn'tmeanto soundrecriminatory.hat wanted o addresswas thecomplete bandonmentf one's originn favour f integration. aybe t's aprimordialuman eed;but o abandon ne's doublenature,ne's dentitys agreat oss.My eturnrip o Indiawas a returno an imaginedountry,hichnthe end remainednknown,mpenetrable.Nirmal uwarNP): Althoughhe ourneysnvolve lot of mixings,ybridity,creations f new ultures, ew enses ofbelonging,hisdoesn'tmeanthat nthatthere sn't lso lossandpain,not imply ersonal, ut lso as part f thepoliticalenvironment.o if someonecalls themselvesmigrant r secondgeneration,atherhanItalian, hat tells us somethingboutthe discursivespaceswe'remakingvailable.We ftennvite eople ospeakonly s migrants,butthey'remore han ust migrant,hey'reecondgeneration,ndian, omali,Italian, nd thereforee need to thinkbout our narrationsndconsiderhesymboliciolenceheymight roduce.MHL:Weneed o narratemigration',utnot nly romhepoint fview f hosewhohavemigratedutfromhatofthenatives, arrationsromhosewhohavedealt with hexenophobicnd racist emonswithinhemselves,hosewhohavehad thecourage, s Adrienneichhas said,to be disloyalo their ivilization.EnricaCapussottiEC): In my opinionwhat emerges s the questionofintersubjectivity.e hould onfrontur recent istorynd we must eflectn

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ourcolonialism'nthe argerontext fEuropeanacismnd tscritical elationto migrationncontemporarytaly. hat swhat 'm ryingo do inmy wnworkas a historian.JacquiAndallOA): Inrelation o voice ndnarration,e also need o askwhatkind f space existsfornarrationnd self-narration.ecently, numberfimportantextshave beenpublished ymembersfthesecondgeneration,utwe also need to think bout what lternativepaces could or shouldbecomeavailable.

female work: in homes, in the streetLauraFantoneLF): Migrantomenftenworknthe nformalconomyfcaregivingr ex work. oth regreyreas interms fvisibilitynd egality et heypresentomedifferences. hyre some women o readilyhannelled o careworkrprostitutionccordingo age and skin olour?Whatmechanismsefineethnic ierarchiesmongmigrantomen, ithwhat ffects? nothernterestingaspectof care is related o intimacynd domesticity. igrant omen nterItalian homeswith heirdifferent',acializedbodies,or theyhave intimatecontactswithtalian lients.What inds fdesires nd fears oes this losenesscreate?What inds fcontrol nd power elationshipsevelop etween talianandmigrant omen?jL: For s,comingrom heEast,migrations always ausedby conomic eed.When womanmigratesheendsup ntheworkforces a seasonalagriculturalworker,rostitute,r caregiver. here reelementsfcontrolndoppressionndomesticabour. heworkers'esponseothe obedience equireds a refusal fcultural ssimilation.WS:Every oman as her wnhistory,ith er motions,er tinerary.uniquepoint fview sthereforempossible. hatmust otbedenied s the trengthfmigrantomen:hosewho eaveeverythingnd become source f ncome orthefamilyhey ave eft n heirountry,utproduce ealth or taly oo. I havecome nd startedworkings a cleaner nd it washumiliating.hen developedsome elf-defence;am not shamed nymore, dodomestic orkromime otime, nd it is the sameas myworkor hetradeunion,where haveforms fsolidarity.GaiaGiulianiGG):I believe hat here s a formfagency otustindomesticlabour, ut ven n exworkndtrade.Manymigrantomenmust egotiateheirlives betweenmale chauvinismn eastern ountriesnd a differentorm fchauvinismy talianmen owards hem.WS:Only hen rostitutes ove n to anotherob andgetrid ftheir rotectors,canthey reelyecide o returno prostitution,ut heymighte expelledust

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whenheywould e on theirway o integration.es, here s a lack ofcontinuityinprojectsnd services, otenough unding,nd social operatorsre left ntheir wn o solve erious roblems.MHL:Weshould lso consider he question f choice.Some womenmaybeplanningheir uturehroughex work. henwhat boutthedemand nd of theissue?Veryittle s availableon the talian lients f theseprostitutes.IS: To speak of migration eans to speakof sacrifices eingmadebyall.Relations ith ne'sown hildrenreput nhold; hey resent o institutionsrto their ountriesforigin. childwhohasgrown p n taly nd s then ent oSomaliawill ommituicide.There s a civilwar here.Love oo is puton hold.Thewomen o not haverelationshipsith he locals.A bookbyAmaraLakhous ffers n excellent escriptionfthis situation:Peruvian oman rows atter nd fatter. heonly reedomhe has is that ofgorgingown ood, t's theonlyway he can be incontactwith erbody. hisalso happens o many omaliwomen.Regardingrostitution,s a writerhave ried o enter hisworldhrough storyset inRome nd in theEast,but t was hard o write. knowhatmanyomaliwomen it hestereotypecheapandclean'.They've eard tsaid so often hatthey ndup believingt andaccept becoming rostitutes.NP: About he research n menwhouse sex workersrpay exworkers,here'ssomeone n England alledJuliaO'Connell avidsonwho has done a lot ofinternationalesearch n this ubject.SusannaPoole (SP): I was thinkingbout the power f the Churchn Italy.Catholicmoralitynfluenceshestereotypingfmigrantexworkerss passivevictims, nd the Catholic dea of sexual guilt may contribute o theirpsychologicalurden. he ssue here s that the Churchrganizes lot ofthesocialaid available o undocumentedomen ho ecide o escapeprostitution.LF: Italianpolicies imed at reducingextraffickingre based on control:woman s granted stay permitnexchange or nformationhat can lead tolegal charges gainstherpimp rtrafficker.he s thenkept ndertrict ontrolby hepolicewho elocate er ndsupposedlyrant er ecurity.n ny ase,sheis still ymbolicallyndphysicallyependentpon omeone lse.WS:Thedifficulttepfor womans to admitworkings a prostitutet thepolice ffice. he nsuinguestioningsvery ard: olice fficersnow ow o doit buthavenosensitivity.f he womans on her wn hemaynotbeable togothrough itht.GG:The tate,as a 'moral nstitution',ssociatesprostitutionithmmorality.Similarly,hat ies behind areworks theprivatizationnd erosion f he ocialstate- in theend,the state is thegreathiddenctor.

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JA:Therehave also beenhuge ransformationsn paid care work yfemalemigrantsn Italy.We need to ask ourselveswhy oth recent entre-leftndcentre-rightovernmentsave oughtoprotectnd facilitatemigrationor histype f work. oday,he characteristicsfmigrationo Italy requiteunusual.There s a vast number f nationalities resent,withdifferent odelsofsettlementor ndividual ational roups, artlyttributableo theperiod farrivaln taly rthe exbalance f pecific roups. hus, he ermbadante'forcaregiversa relativelyew ermnd,perhapsmore ignificantly,new ype foccupationn taly. emalemigrantsoing hiskind f care work or heelderlycan be evenmore solated hansomeofthe live-in omesticworkersf the1970s.MHL: sfor hewomenaregivers,heyrepart f he tate's avingscheme: onursing omes have been builtforthe ageing population nd the statecontributeso thepaymentf live-in aretakers. hishas created thnic ndgender-basedccupational ierarchies.WS:Caregiving as no time imits; ew amiliesmploywowomen,nefor hedayand one for he night.Mostof themworkhe wholeday,which reatesdependencendpassivity.esides, specially ere nNaples, here s precarityand thecompetitionfillegalworkers.JA: amthinking,or xample,fwomenromapeVerde, homigratedo citieslikeNaplesn he 1970s.Lastyear,nterviewsith apeVerdean omennNaplesshowed hat theirpreviousob securitys desiredworkers as under hreat,because of the presence f newmigrant roups ursuingifferent igrationstrategies,nd leading o a constant enegotiationfalready cquired ights.EC: I have nterviewedtalianwomen. heir iews fEastern uropeanmigrantsare full of stereotypes: hey re less modern,moredocile, feminine,vendangeroususband-hunters.hismage ringsack he olonialmaginaryf he'other'woman s a sexualmenace. hismeanswemust ethinkurown ulture.

precarious space: places of encounter/non-encounterMHL:Hostinghemigrant'soneof he opicswearesupposedo addressn hissession.Today, he EUand nationalmigrationoliciescan no longer e defined shospitable, utrathers resistant o migration.hechanges hat have takenplacenotonlyimit ntryntoFortressurope, utconditionhosewho lreadyhavea lifehere.Migrantsre barelyolerated,heonly elations eing hosebetweenocal men nd mmigrantomen. hepublic pacesareseparate pacesand there remany igns hatthe situationsworsening.

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SP: The mainproblems the Italianstate's indifferenceo any practice finterculturalolitics, speciallyn southerntaly.Here,migrantsre almostinvisible,s if hecity ad notbeen ransformedy heir rowingresence.omeofthecity's pen-airpaceshavebeen ppropriatedy hem. he paceoutsidethe central rain tation n SundaysndThursdayfternoonss takenup byEasternEuropeanwomen.Thisurbanspace suddenly akes on a differentappearanceand meaning.Where lse can theymeet? We do not havemulticulturalolicies ike hose hatEngland as attempted.MHL: 'mnot sure agreewith henotion hatthestatehasto create d hocmeetingpaces. Shouldn'they o where he talians o?IS: This strue, ut fwe thinkhatgoing othe cinemameans pending7.50,thequestion ecomes neconomic neand t salso linked o the mount ffreetime nehas. Then fcourse here reother arrierso overcome,hemigrant'smistrust.work ith group fsecond-generationhildrenna creative ritingclass.Theyellme hat heyense talians' ostilitynd that'swhy heyendnotto socializewith hem.LC:you respeakingboutghettoizationndself-ghettoization.heres a lackof commonpaces,andcertainlyhere s racism, utthe mmigrantsreferospend heir ree imewith eoplefromheir ountriesforigin.NP: wouldn'taythatwe nEngland ave hese paces.Atfirst,eople tartedtheir atheringsntheirhomes, utslowlyhey tarted o buypublic pacesthemselves.t's very ifferentfyoucreateyour wngatheringrifsomeonegives tto you.Moreover,fyouhaven't otthemoney oucan'tgoto certainplaces. Andon top of that,maybeyoudon't feel comfortablen the cafesbecauseyoumaybe sickofbeing eenas thestranger.JA: pacesto expressneself ave had to be foughtor. nthepast,thepublicgatheringfmigrantsnd ethnicminoritiesas consideredo be dangerousscan be seen nthestate'streatmentfthe Caribbean ottingill arnival. utovertime,the situation an change.Now here s a fight or control ndownershipfthe carnival etweenhegrassrootsaribbean arnivalnNottingHill nd the oneorganized ythemayorf Londont the same time nHydePark!SP: I still hink hatwith ll the racismmplicitnmulticulturalistolicies,hesituation fmigrantsnBritains much etterhanhere. n taly ther ultureshave ittle isibility,nschools or nstance,ndaboveall inthe media.JA:Oneaspect of racism hat occurs n relationo migrationn Italy s theacceptanceof migrantsorwork uta strong eaction o their ttemptsoinhabit isible ublic paces.

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SvevaMagaraggiaSM): Even hegayand lesbianworld n Milan as conqueredspaces, necessarilyeparated, o createa sense of community.hen,manyplaces, t firstxclusivelyLBT,avebecomemore ccessible oeverybody.nlyinthis econdphasehas there een nstitutionalcknowledgement.GK: have n mind he social centresnMilan. hey avebecomemeeting lacesfor ifferentroups,migrantsnd ocals,male ndfemale.But t sa microcosmof what ies outside; he samestereotypeseappear egardinglacks,women,etc.WSTheNeapolitan itycouncil, or nstance, rganizeshe celebrationsorSenegalese ndependence,nd a few otherfestivals.But in generalforeignwomen ork ll the time nd have no time o createfriendshipsith talians.They pend heir ittle ree imewith heir ellowountryeople.IS: Whenfindmyselfn public pacelike he rain tationnRome, don't eellike foreigner.herere othersikeme.Thenhere re chat ines, orums,hichare also ways fsocializing.WS:Perhapsheonly ossibilityogainvisibilityspolitical articipationhroughspokespersons.IS: I have serious oubts bout thepossibilityfhavingpokespersonsor hecommunity:nRomewe have lected ur epresentativesn hemunicipalouncilbutmost fthesepeoplehave sinisterastanddon'trepresentll ofus. Thereis a Somali ommunity,ut here avebeen ribalwars, ndso people ssociateon a tribal asis.NP: see a tendencyo impose he nationalmodel na community,ssumingthatthesepeople re a littlenationnthecountry. aybewe should ocus nissues hat ll migrantsan share, ike nti-colonialism.nEngland, e havealotofcommunityeaders, ndI don'twant o be associatedwithmanyf them.GK: find he word ommunityrightening.communityouldbecome nationwithinhenation,paceswherene can beoneself,ut hat xist nly ecause tis impossibleo havean identitylsewhere.LC: agreewithwhat usanna aid,but would lso like o connect o Nirmal.There s an impressiveovementackwardsn both nglandndItaly. here asbeenstrong riticismf the false notion f multiculturalismut I wouldbecareful ot odismiss he deal of olidarity,f hepossibilityf iving ositivelywithiniversity.author biographiesManuela oppola s a memberf the CentreArchivioelledonne',UniversitaiNapoli L'Orientale',nd is currently post-doctoralellow t the Universitadella Calabria.

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Lidia Curti s honoraryrofessor f English t the Universithi Napoli'L'Orientale'.LauraFantoneecentlyompleted erdoctoral esearchn Culturaltudies ndPost-Colonialiteratures't theUniversitai NapoliL'Orientale'.Susanna Poole is an Englishanguageteacherat the Universit&i Napoli'L'Orientale'.Marie-Heleneaforests a writernd ProfessorfPostcolonialiteraturest theUniversithiNapoliL'Orientale'nddirectorf heCentreArchivioelladonne.'doi: 0.1057/palgrave.fr.400363

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