Video Ethnography and Critical Research for More Democratic Urbanization: The Case of Milan’s Chinatown

Abstract

This article reflects on the notion of urban democracy through a video-ethnographic study of the conflicts that followed the 2007 riots in Milan’s Chinese neighborhood. I explore how the theoretical and methodological union of critical urban ethnographies with social documentary techniques can contribute to praxis for more democratic urbanization. Through selected video-ethnographic vignettes, I discuss how such an approach involves issues of ethics, voice, form and politics. The documentary exposes the material effects of inequality and domination in a unique and vivid manner; it also offers alternatives and encourages the ethnographer to assume a clear position in intervening on hegemonic practices. The conclusion explains how the production and consumption of such video-ethnographies affect the social, moral and, most importantly, political perception of a particular urban setting.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I thank Myna German for inviting me to discuss an earlier version of this work at the Dept. of Mass Communications of Delaware State University in November 2011; and would also like to thank the ISA Visual Sociology Working Group’s board members, Regev Nathansohn, Elisabeth-Jane ‘EJ’ Milne and Valentina Anzoise, for the opportunity to present the documentary during the ISA Forum visual workshop held in Buenos Aires in July 2012. A-way from Paolo Sarpi was produced independently: I am especially indebted to Francesca Cogni, who assisted me with the editing in her lab during the winter of 2009. I would also like to thank the anonymous reviewers for their comments which contributed greatly to improving the final version of this paper. And finally, I am grateful to all members of the Sarpi neighborhood in Milan for making this video project possible. The article is offered in memory of Zio Romanino.

Notes

At the time of the Chinese conflict in 2007 the Milan local government was ruled by a right-wing alliance between Berlusconi’s Forza Italia party and Bossi’s Lega Nord, well-known to be a xenophobic and anti-immigrant party.

A-way from Paolo Sarpi (in Italian Via |da| Paolo Sarpi), 2009; © the author, 49 minutes, color, with English subtitles.

It is what Rouch and Morin defined as cinéma vérité [Rothman 2009].

In the context of urban research, the passion for raising awareness must be disciplined by a sense of regard for one’s relationship with the studied community. In other words, the ethical and moral commitment to not harm participants or exploit their vulnerabilities must be made.

Research participants agreed to appear in this video ethnography for research and political purposes, but not commercial ones. They also agreed not to be anonymous by giving their names to the author and consenting to their publication.

Wine bar.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Lidia Katia C. Manzo

LIDIA KATIA C. MANZO is an urban ethnographer and postdoctoral research fellow in the Geography Department at the Maynooth University. Her urban and visual work examines how the everyday co-productions of space and identity support or inhibit social, spatial and economic justice, as discussed in her most recent edited volume, Culture and Visual Forms of Power: Experiencing Contemporary Spaces of Resistance [Common Ground, 2015]. She is now doing research on urban regeneration and welfare-state transformations in Dublin.; website: www.lidiakcmanzo.com