Migrations to Italy in the European landscape: An anthropology of mobilities perspective

Dr Andrea Priori

Italy has historically been a land of emigration, but in the 1970s its migratory balance started to be inverted, and in the 1980s the Peninsula has progressively become a country of immigration. Migratory fluxes did not follow colonial patterns and have been consequently characterized by a remarkable variety of nationalities that have inspired the definition of “migratory archipelago”. These “new migrants” often decided to settle in Italy, but in many cases moved, and still move, towards other European countries. Based on the theoretical intersection between anthropology of migration and a mobility approach, the seminar will take into account both the internal peculiarities of the Italian scenario and its role in the European landscape, highlighting on the one hand the divide between Northern Italy and Southern Italy, where the “Mediterranean model” is prevalent, and on the other hand the constant interaction between Italy and other countries in the fields of transnationalism, re-migrations and European mobilities.

Member of the European Association of Social Anthropologists, Dr. Andrea Priori teaches in the Master in Public Anthropology in the University “Roma Tre”. He specializes in anthropology of migration, social, political and urban anthropology, and anthropology of gender. His research activities are based in Italy (Rome) and partly in Bangladesh (Dhaka, Narayanganj). His main interests include transnational migrations, politics of identity and immigration policies, migrants’ self-organization, and bio-politics. Since 2007 he has been carrying out ethnographic fieldwork on Bangladeshi migration toward Italy. He researched the politics of the Bangladeshi community in Rome, its associations, its relationship with the welfare system, gender relations and Bangladeshi masculinities, Bangladeshi transnationalism, housing problems and migrants’ work trajectories, and racist attacks against Bangladeshi migrants.