Contact theory and the multiethnic community of Riace, Italy: An ethnographic examination
Driel, Ester; Verkuyten, Maykel
(2022) Journal of Community Psychology, volume 50, issue 5, pp. 2326 - 2343
(Article)
Abstract
This article uses the case of Riace, a small multiethnic community in Southern Italy, as a lens to evaluate key theoretical and methodological aspects of the influential Intergroup Contact Theory. The article draws upon 10 months of ethnographic fieldwork in Riace, Italy, a town that for more than 20 years
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has hosted and integrated refugees into the local community. We analyzed the ethnographic material in light of assumptions underlying intergroup contact theory. Findings demonstrate that friendly everyday interactions between inhabitants of different ethnic backgrounds serve as the critical “social glue” for the Riace community, but that there are social inequalities, as well as group stereotypes, group-based friendships, and spatial segregation. The different interpretations and nuanced outcomes of everyday social interactions demonstrate the importance of a contextualized understanding of the nature and implications of intergroup contact in real-world settings for future research and policies.
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Keywords: ethnography, intergroup contact theory, intergroup relations, multiethnic communities, refugees, socio-spatial segregation, stereotypes, Social Psychology
ISSN: 0090-4392
Publisher: Wiley-Liss Inc.
Note: Funding Information: The research context (Tuttitalia, 2021 ). Between 1998 and 2018, the number of refugees residing in Riace was much higher and often reached about 400. Refugees lived throughout the town in houses abandoned by local emigrants who gave the NGO's permission to refurbish the houses and use them for the reception program. So, in terms of housing, there was a situation of social mixing which contributed to everyday intergroup contacts. Furthermore, because there is only one school in town, refugee children attended the same school as Italian children, which stimulated interethnic friendships amongst Riace's youth. Local workplaces, workshops, agricultural and sustainability projects that were part of the refugee program followed the principle that one refugee get hired for each Italian employee (whenever possible), which also stimulated local friendships (Driel, 2020 ). Some of the privatized workplaces, such as a local bar, also hired refugees as employees. Moreover, the local public spaces (listed in Table 2 ) were common gathering spaces for old and new locals, such as the various benches and terraces on the towns' squares. Although bureaucratic issues always caused delays in Riace's refugee program, significant challenges arose after June 2018. The appointment of the far‐right minister of the interior, Salvini, resulted in more restrictive migration and integration policies in Italy. The government abolished the scholarship that allowed refugees and asylum seekers to work, under Decree Law 113/2018, and replaced the SPRAR‐system that financially supported all asylum seekers with the SIPROIMI System that merely offers financial support to recognized refugees and unaccompanied minors (RETESAI, 2021 ). These changes resulted in a decrease in the number of refugees in Riace and marked a change in the settlement program that was run for 20 years. Additionally, local Italians working in the reception programs for refugees lost their jobs and (once again) had to emigrate out of their hometown to search for work elsewhere. As a result, the number of inhabitants in the municipality declined from 2313 in 2017 to 1869 in 2021 (Tuttitalia, 2021 ). Currently, the refugees living in Riace receive support from Città Futura which is an independent NGO that does not receive government funding (Riace Città Futura, 2021 ). Additionally, a legal process – that is, considered by many a political process – was started against the pro‐migration mayor Domenico Lucano who governed Riace between 2004 and 2018 (see Giuffrida, 2018 ; Procacci, 2021 ). On September 30, 2021 Lucano was sentenced to 13 years in prison for abetting illegal migration and irregularities in the management of asylum seekers funds (Refvival, 2021 ; Tondo, 2021 ). The sentence was received with much upheaval as it was twice as long as requested by the prosecutors and because the supreme court of cassation, the highest court of appeal in Italy, previously dismissed the charges (see Malaspina, 2021 ; Refvival, 2021 ; Tondo, 2021 ). Publisher Copyright: © 2021 The Authors. Journal of Community Psychology published by Wiley Periodicals LLC
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