Italian Newcomers to and Cultural Identity

Sara Ingrosso

Introduction Newcomers’ identity attitudes to- Since the start of the 2008 economic wards the target society in social and crisis, an increasing number of qualified linguistic behaviours represents a still and highly educated young women and unexplored field of study in the analysis men from southern Europe have been of new mobility. This paper will focus leaving their countries of origins, often on the linguistic and cultural identity moving to other European countries in attitudes of Italian newcomers settled search of better opportunities. This new in the urban area of . The Ba- economic migration wave was described varian city stands out as a relevant ex- in the German press in the first half of ample not only for its geographical the 2010s asWirtschaftsflüchtlinge1 (eco- proximity to Italy, which traditionally nomic refugees), an echo of a term which led to strong relationships and to a con- had been already used from the 1960s siderable migration flow to Munich, but in local public opinion to define people also because of the synergy of modern who left their homeland with no polit- infrastructure, technological develop- ical motivation seeking for an improve- ment and the presence of multinational ment in their standard of living. What companies, which have been attracting a distinguishes post-modern migration large number of people. flows from the traditional ones seems to The first part of the present con- be the lack of a structured recruitment tribution will focus on the problem like in the 1960s. The current flow re- of attempting to define the compos- sults from a conscious individual choice ite group(s) of newcomers who form a to leave. Moreover, post-modern mobil- part of the so-called comunità italiana ity is not only economic and political; it in the city of Munich. The main sec- also results from a constantly evolving tion presents the most relevant empir- cultural pattern of life that, because of ical findings on identity attitudes and its specific features, cannot be identified perceptions, which result from data as a traditional migration flow. gathered in German and Italian in May SARA INGROSSO 41

2014 in the form of semi-structured in- Table 1: Italian population in Munich according to gender from 2001 – 2016. Courtesy of the Munich terview with 21 Italian people aged 21- Statistical Office. 45, who have settled in Munich and are employed in various professional con- texts. This method represents the key to discovering their deep world and to revealing their perceptive viewpoints. Through the discourse analysis of the complete transcription of all the orally recorded contents, this methodology permitted a subject-centred perspective in the analysis, illuminating processes for their self-construction from a social and linguistic perspective.

Current Immigration Forms and New Mobility According to data provided by the Mu- nich Statistical Office, the number of people with Italian citizenship living in the Bavarian city on the 31st July 2016 comprised 27,758 people, 16,464 men as renting accommodation or signing an and 11,294 women.2 Data provided by employment contract – are only permit- the same source reveal only 20,847 reg- ted after registering at the local German istered residents at the end of the year registry office. Although registration in 2005 and 21,038 residents at the end of the Italian consular register and an of- 2010. This means an increase of almost ficial transfer of residence are officially 7,000 people in the last ten years, most compulsory one year after leaving Italy, of them between 2011 and 2016.3 the dark figure is still very high. Within Working with statistics reveals the the framework of this essay, a direct extremely difficult issue of quantifying comparison between German and Ital- the phenomenon of the new mobility. ian sources was not possible, but re- Due to the lack of borders and freedom cent studies,4 participant observations of movement, short-term stays, seasonal and the interviews carried out for the workers and others cannot be registered analysis revealed that a large number of and included in any statistics. Nonethe- newcomers said that they were not regis- less, data provided by local municipali- tered in the AIRE register. Such incom- ties may permit a better comprehension plete statistical data offer a partial and of the phenomenon in comparison incomplete picture of intra-European to Italian consular sources, based on mobility, because people in a changing the AIRE (Register of Living and continuous development can hardly Abroad). In fact, facilities – such be categorized and quantified. 42 AEMI JOURNAL 2014

Fig. 1: Italian population in Munich from 2001 – 2016. Courtesy of the Munich Statistical Office.

Heterogeneity and fragmentation the term “expat” in an attempt to de- also play a central role in the attempt scribe and define the subcategory of to describe the composition of new ar- immigrants in a good employment situ- rivals. Despite the growing presence of ation, who are often in a given place for well-educated and qualified young Ital- a short time. According to the definition ian people, newcomers are included in provided by Gatti (2009), expats: widely differing professional fields in Munich society. This is mainly due to appear to be a special subgroup of immi- their motives for leaving Italy. On the grants characterised by a high level of ed- one hand, there is increasing interna- ucation and a relatively high professional tionalisation and the attraction of new status […], between 25 and 35, here for experiences, which are facilitated by a limited time, […] this group is also rising opportunities in the European formed by artists, scientific researchers, engineers, etc., as well as by the families of Union; on the other hand, there is the many who have a stable professional posi- recent economic crisis in southern Eu- tion (Gatti, 2009: 5-6). rope as a result of the lack of guaran- tees and perspectives in the country of If the heterogeneous subgroup of new origins. Therefore, contemporary mi- arrivals is included among the whole gration flows are difficult to categorize Italian population living in Munich, within a unanimous general definition. which also comprises traditional old mi- Even the word “migration” could be grant workers and their offspring, it can questioned. New trends also introduced be seen that despite the same migratory SARA INGROSSO 43 background, the Italian population does opinions openly and to recall the subjec- not form a close social community. It tivity of their migratory experience. Mi- is a rather large and not homogeneous gration change involves new dynamics group, difficult to subsume among its in the development of cultural identity. various components; hence it is diffi- For this reason, the young Italian new- cult to talk about a community to de- comers interviewed were asked to talk fine people who in some cases just have about their new experience and their a common citizenship. This leads to the confrontation with the local language, question if the term comunità italiana, and to express the way they perceive which should imply by its etymology themselves as individuals. acohesion and a common membership, Before the presentation of empirical is the correct one to express such a com- results, it is necessary to focus on the plexity. If it is not, local and Italian in- conceptual explanation of identity, a stitutions and associations in Munich, term which is a constant and complex which were founded in the last dec- subject of academic and public discus- ades to increase a sense of togetherness sion. If postmodernism is characterized among the traditional migrant workers, by pluralism and the multiplicity of par- have to face a great challenge to adapt adigms in all areas of life, most recent to present issues. The need for such a theories also argue about plurality in framework is relevant when considering identity. In this regard, the model devel- identity issues in the personal and social oped by Keupp (1999) tries to describe approaches to the topic of migration. this pluralism of identity by consider- ing the complexity of contemporary Theoretical and Methodological cultural and historical times. Identity Aspects does not act at a single level and is not The pilot study was carried out in Mu- represented by a simple issue, but is an nich in 2014 and aims to investigate the endless biographical process formed by dominant parts, feelings and biograph- perception of language and identity atti- 5 tudes of individuals belonging to a group ical narratives. According to his defini- which is difficult to categorize. The sur- tion: vey sample involved 21 Italian citizens, Identität verstehen wir als das individuelle 12 women and 9 men, aged between 21 Rahmenkonzept einer Person, innerhalb dessen and 46, who have been living abroad for sie ihre Erfahrungen interpretiert und das ihr no more than 15 years and have been als Basis für alltägliche Identitätsarbeit dient. In settled in Munich for less than 5 years. dieser Identitätsarbeit versucht das Subjekt, sit- The oral survey provides access to the uativ stimmige Passungen zwischen inneren und subjective and deep side of the migra- äußeren Erfahrungen zu schaffen und unter- tion experience. The semi-structured schiedliche Teilidentitäten zu verknüpfen. Auf interview permits on the one hand a dem Hintergrund von Pluralisierungs-, Individ- structure and an orientation throughout ualisierungs- und Entstandardisierungsprozes- the interview, on the other the opportu- sen ist das Inventar kopierbarer Identitätsmuster nity for the test persons to express their ausgezehrt (Keupp et.al., 1999:60).6 44 AEMI JOURNAL 2014 This concept of a patchwork iden- in Europe” [M34-2013 – PhD Student tity-composite may be included in the of Physics (00:46:56 - 00:47:05)].9 contemporary debate concerning the modern liquidity in current migration Multiple perceptions obtained from issues, as this approach considers the the interviews confirm the hypothesis complexity of the subject within its so- that new immigrants are considered to cial, historical, and cultural background. belong to different worlds simultane- ously. Such glocalism indicates that they Multiple Identity Patterns are and feel themselves to be bearers of Migration is a very unique and individ- different identities, which coexist in one ual process. Comparative evaluations individual simultaneously. The speaker in qualitative analysis in case studies recognizes this complexity and is able to may therefore be difficult to investi- express his glocal self-perceptions, iden- gate, as every single person has his/her tifying himself as Sicilian and European own background, personality, education at the same time. The source identifica- and a series of collected experiences. tion with his home region is not can- Nonetheless, similarities and parallels celled, but exists side by side with the could be found in the different speech acquired feeling of being European. The sequences in the analysis provided, too. contexts where these overlapping and Through the exploration of language intersecting multiple identities are situ- and content analysed in the interviews, ated may be better explained in example construction processes of a multiple (2). Here the informant tries to express self within composite identity patterns her heterogeneity, describing her way of could be demonstrated in Italian new- dealing with transformations including comers in Munich. different feelings of ethnic membership. First, the old ethnic sense of belong- ing related to one single nation appears 7 “We can’t say I am the typical Italian obsolete in the autorepresentation pro- girl […] but we negotiate it. […] I am vided by the oral histories, as different rather German, but […] my lifestyle ethnic patterns are now acting simul- is Italian. I eat pasta, I don’t eat at six taneously. One of the most relevant o’clock. My habits are Italian. Regard- aspects is that the perceived cultural ing my approach towards life, towards identity transformation is in most cases my professional life, I am rather Ger- conscious and acknowledged by the in- man” [F25-2013 – Engineer (00:26:19 formants. As indicated in example (1), - 00:27:27)]. multiple identity perceptions range from local to global attitudes and go beyond one single ethnic affiliation, cre- The multiple self and the awareness ating a composite identity perception. 8 of a transformation are here perceived in the varying fields of daily life, fields that have been defined by Keupp (1999) “I would say I am European but I as identity parts. The individual trans- would also say Sicilian. […] A Sicilian SARA INGROSSO 45 formation process is recognized by the location seems to indicate not only a speaker herself. Original habits and tra- conscious separation from two different ditions can be identified with the coun- worlds, but also a permanent self-per- try of origin; professional life can be ception of non-belonging. In which identified with the country of destina- geographical place the individual is lo- tion. According to this example, cultural cated does not play any role, a limited identities are built within personal expe- and unsettled belonging place will be rience and are inserted into the various perceived. Whether this is a structural activities in everyday life, transforming deficiency in current migration forms is the individual progressively. New con- not known. Still, the continuous lack of texts and activities also contribute to this constancy and sense of affiliation within transformation, with the acquisition of one place is one further characteristic of new abilities and skills in daily life shap- new mobility, which remains unstable ing a more complex individual. Previous in its continuous identity-building pro- habits belonging to the culture of origin cesses. are therefore joined to others belonging to a different world in one single person, Multilingualism and Multiple resulting in a complex individual who is Identities aware of this transformation process. According to the sociolinguistic ap- Moreover, if multiplicity indicates on proach in the identity definition by the one hand that the sense of a com- Bucholtz & Hall (2005), “identity does posite sense of belonging is impressed not emerge at a single level […] but op- into their self-perceptions, on the other erates at multiple levels simultaneously” hand new migrants are not able to find (Bucholtz & Hall, 2005, p. 586). With any individual and social membership regard to this, the social means of con- in any place. The bi-directional state veying cultural and linguistic identity of isolation and exclusion provided in are given at an interactional level by lin- example (3) emphasizes the partial and guistic signs. Language is the medium undefined sense of broken identity, of expressing these compound issues, which derives from the liquidity of all shaped by strategies in performative patterns. acts, grammatical constructions and lin- guistic interactions. Identity is the result “I felt like a stranger in Italy […] of such interactions. In this respect, per- and now I feel like a stranger here” formative acts by a multilingual subject [M30-2013 – IT worker (00:41:32 - work as an indicator of individual and 00:41:40)]. social attitudes, whereas language repre- sents the medium to conceive and un- The relevance of the example lies in derstand the full range of interactions. its meaningfulness from a linguistic Hence, language is not just a tool to perspective, too. The pragmatic use of convey information, but also a central a past tense referring to Italy and the practice to understand social meanings. present tense with regards to his current A sense of identification with the lo- 46 AEMI JOURNAL 2014 cals may be therefore expressed by the “It doesn’t matter how much you pragmatic use of language, as provided study German and how well you speak in example (4): it. You are a stranger. People in Munich are very kind. But you can’t become “You can really understand what peo- German or someone from Munich” ple say and become part of those peo- [M30-2013 – IT worker (00:29:30 - ple” [F24-2011 – Student and Italian 00:29:45)]. teacher (00:15:55 - 00:16:05)]. Phenomena of isolation and cultural In other words, language is able to detachment are present in immigrant measure perceived inclusion and exclu- discourse. The inability to find the one’s sion by certain language signs. The value own place among local people is ex- of the example given lies in the expres- pressed in the performative act, convey- sion of a personal sense of belonging ing a meaningful and powerful identity in the self-perception of her own social positioning, given by the lack of rela- identity, which is given by expressing tionship between self and other. Under language signs. The pragmatic use of a these circumstances, it is possible to ob- third person form indicates to what ex- serve another type of self-detachment. tent language performs the role of an The speaker refers to himself using the indicator of personal and social inclu- second person. Is this another sign of a sion, assuming in this concrete case that further absence of inclusion? This sep- the person who is speaking does not feel arated self is compared to local people, herself entirely included. For this pur- who are referred to – as in example [4] pose, language arises from the interac- – using the third person. It is not a mat- tion constituted by the social action ter of discrimination, but membership and is “viewed as the emergent product is perceived as unattainable. Hence, rather than the pre-existing source of language is the way of performing and linguistic and other semiotic practices transporting the expression of this post- and therefore as fundamentally a social modern patchwork identity pattern. and cultural phenomenon” (Bucholtz & Hall, 2005, p. 588). The involvement of Outlook: Multiple identity patterns language signs in immigrant discourse in ingroup communication is therefore required to communicate All the Italian newcomers interviewed multiple identity patterns, because a stated that they used a certain specifi- self-multiplicity is given by language cally ingroup communication with fel- performances. Within the context of low countrymen settled in Munich or contemporary migrations, newcomers in other urban areas of Germany. This is experience a fragile and fluid distance done to convey and express details and from and closeness to both the country concepts of their particular migration of origin and the country of destination. experience. Therefore, further investiga- A state of isolation and separation may tions will have to be conducted to deter- also occur, as given in example (5): mine whether a certain linguistic variety SARA INGROSSO 47 of their native language is developed Conclusions among newcomers who have a multilin- Contemporary migration flows reflect gual repertoire. The discourse analysis the fragmentation of post-modern and reveals first the pragmatic use of certain global society. Newcomers have not lexical items and neologisms. These el- been recruited like traditional migrant ements emerge from contact between workers; they left their homeland as in- the Italian source language, the German dividuals. People who left their country target language and other lingua franca as a consequence of the economic crisis (in most cases English). This defines also made the choice to leave individu- communication in the intragroup rela- ally. They are difficult to quantify and tionship. statistical data are not able to include For example, the newly coined term the instability of their displacement. anmeldarsi occurred frequently in all The old concept of the term comunità narrations and was perceived in full italiana to define people with Italian consciousness as a neologism created citizenship who live in the metropolitan among the Italian population to ex- area of Munich should be revised in fa- press a newly shaped identity pattern in vour of a more appropriate term which the new migration context. This a verb could reflect all aspects and facets of the which derives from the German sub- heterogeneity of the Italian population stantive Anmeldung (here: registration) set in this urban area. Not only because and consequently from its reflexive verb newcomers are employed in widely dif- sich anmelden (here: to register oneself). fering professional contexts, but also be- Among the Italians in Germany, this new cause this term links them to traditional term indicates the process of registering migrants who arrived in the second half at the local German municipality at the of the 20th century and their offspring, moment of arrival. The same reflexive who are employed in widely differing form from the German is maintained, professional and social contexts in local while the Italian -are ending (which is society, too. most frequently chosen in the creation In this respect, identity is aprocess of neologism into the ) acting at multiple levels simultane- suggests a process. It is not known for ously as a product of social, cultural certain if it is possible to talk about a di- and linguistic practices. This multiplic- atopic variety of the Italian language, a ity ranges from local to global attitudes common interaction code which is spo- (diatopic) in the various identity parts ken by Italian immigrants settled in the within other individuals (diastratic). area. What may certainly be assumed is Language is the medium of expressing that the pragmatic use of certain terms an identity positioning. Because of this, reveals ingroup identity behaviour ex- the existence of a diatopic variety of the pressed using language signs. Italian language, which has been und is being developed among the Italian pop- ulation in Germany, can be hypothe- sized. Cultural words are adopted by the multiplied individual, influencing their 48 AEMI JOURNAL 2014 interactions. The semi-structured inter- Bibliography views conducted with Italian newcomers Bartolini, Laura et.al., «Escaping the to Munich permitted the discovery of a crisis and emancipating oneself: highly deeper and more complex world. 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Frankreich und 1 Süddeutsche Zeitung, 02.04.2013: R3. 2 Courtesy of the Munich Statistical Office Deutschland im Zuge der Mondialisi- (Statistisches Amt München). erung, Paris, Hermann, 2016: 297-315. 3 All the data provided by the Statistisches Amt Tirabassi, Maddalena & Del Pra’, Al- München refer to people settled in the City of Munich and include people with a dual nation- vise, La meglio Italia. Le mobilità italiane ality, too. Information courtesy of the Munich nel XXI secolo, Turin, Academia Univer- Statistical Office. sity Press, 2014. 4 Cf. Valisena, 2016:176; Tirabassi & Del Pra’, Valisena, Daniele, «From migrations 2014:24. 5 For the entire explanation of the patch- to New Mobilities in the European work-identity model developed cf. Keupp et.al., Union: Italians in Berlin between ano- 1999:218. mie and Multi-Situated Identity», AE- 6 Identity is understood as the individual frame- work of a person, within he/she interprets his/ MI-Journal, 13/14, 2016: 174-81. her experiences as a basis for everyday identity work. In such identity work, the subject tries to create situational coherences between inner and outer experiences and to connect differing par- tial identities. Against the background of plural- ization, individualization and de-standardization processes, the inventory of copyable identity patterns is weakened (Keupp et.al., 1999:60 – Translation into English S.I.). 7 Krefeld & Pustka, 2010:14. 8 For easier comprehension, all the examples provided in the present contribution have been translated into the English language. 9 Informants have been anonymised within the following schemata: sex, age, year and month of arrival in Germany. Professional status is also given for a better understanding of the social background. Finally, the recorded time during the interview is indicated.