Ragazzi. Migrants and Staff in the Italian Asylum System

ABSTRACT

Since the start of the Mediterranean refugee crisis in 2015, large numbers of migrants have been forced into the Italian accoglienza (reception) system, a muddled and ambiguous context describable as a camp. Based on our consultancy practice, we analyze the wide labeling of migrants – no matter their age, migratory journey, or family status – as ragazzi (boys/girls or kids), and what it reveals about the current Italian social imaginary: the effects of neoliberal emotional policies, the continuation of a colonialist mentality, the need for psychological defenses among staff, and the disempowerment of migrants in a camp-like institution.

RESUMEN

Dalla crisi mediterranea del 2015, un alto numero di migranti viene trattenuto nella cosiddetta “accoglienza”, un sistema opaco e ambiguo correttamente definibile come “campo”. A partire dalla nostra pratica di consulenza antropologica, analizziamo la consuetudine di definire i migranti – indipendentemente dalla loro età, dal tragitto migratorio, dallo status familiare – come ragazzi, e ciò che rivela dell’attuale immaginario sociale italiano: gli effetti delle politiche emotive neoliberiste; la permanenza sotterranea e di lunga durata della mentalità colonialista; il bisogno di protezione psichica da parte degli operatori e l’infantilizzazione dei migranti indotta da un’istituzione totale.

KEYWORDS:

• Italy
• accoglienza
• camp
• disempowerment
• migrants
• neoliberal emotions

Acknowledgments

The accoglienza workers we met obstinately tried to remain human in spite of the pressure of the labor market, amid the rise of neofascism and in situations that seem to be designed to frustrate any good intentions and to foster cynicism. To them – who are “our side” – we dedicate this article. With special thanks to Marta Scaratti, accoglienza worker and colleague, for sharing her insider’s perspective.

Additional information

Funding

We received no specific funding for this work.

Notes on contributors

Cristina Zavaroni

Cristina Zavaroni (Ph.D.) is a career cultural anthropologist and Africanist ethnographer, trained in cognitive anthropology and ethnopsychiatry. She works as a consultant and trainer in the ethno-clinical setting and has carried out extensive field research among the Bakonzo of Uganda. ORCID ID 0000-0001-7437-6885. Address correspondence to Cristina Zavaroni, Laboratorio Mondi Multipli, DISFOR, via Balbi 4, 16126 Genoa (Italy). E-mail: [email protected].

Alessandro Pacco

Alessandro Pacco is a socio-cultural psychologist, psychotherapist and ethnopsychologist, working as a clinician and supervisor in the field of migration. His main area of expertise lies at the intersection between non-ordinary states of consciousness, pathology/physiology, clinical models and cultural worlds. ORCID ID 0000-0002-9760-514X. Email: [email protected].

Stefania Consigliere

Stefania Consigliere is assistant professor in Anthropology at the University of Genoa and scientific coordinator of Laboratorio Mondi Multipli. Her books include Antropo-logiche (“Anthropo-logics”) and Favole del reincanto (“Fables of the re-enchantment”). ORCID ID 0000-0001-9215-491X. Email: [email protected].