Description:
Migration and multiculturalism are hotly discussed in public debates across Europe. Whereas ethnographic research has begun to examine the Right in this context, the Left remains largely unexplored. Drawing on fieldwork conducted in Bologna - the show-case city of the Italian Left - this book provides fresh perspectives on how the contemporary Left "frames" these issues in practice and how such framing has changed in recent decades. By focusing on the official rhetoric grassroots discourses, policy and civil societal practices of the Left as well as on the immigrants' own views, this book timely offers a comprehensive, vivid, and critical account of changing ideas about ethnicity, class, identity and difference in "progressive" politics and of the implications that such ideas have for the incorporation of migrants in Europe.
Brief description:
Davide Però, is Lecturer in Sociology at the University of Nottingham and Research Associate at the Centre on Migration, Policy and Society, Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology (Oxford University) where he previously worked. He has conducted ethnographic research on migration and politics in Italy, Spain and the UK.
Review Quotes:
"The fluid and dynamic narration of these pages give the reader a detailed and comparative understanding of the failure of the Italian Left to translate into practice an inclusive rhetoric vis-à-vis new immigrants...In sum, this is a detailed and original study, which, due to the emphasis it places on institutional behaviour and logic of action, can easily circulate not only among scholars but also among politicians, policy makers as well as civil society activists." - Anthropology in Action