Staging precariousness: The Serpica Naro catwalk during the Milan Fashion Week

^†The present article is the outcome of joint and indivisible work by the authors; however, if individual authorship is to be assigned, Silvia Gherardi wrote Sections 3, 5 and 6 and Annalisa Murgia wrote Sections 1, 2 and 4.

Abstract

The article illustrates the Italian process of work precarisation and the collective resistance of precarious workers. It interprets them in terms of the birth of a collective identity that conducts a critique against precariousness while developing learning resources. Through discursive analysis of the Serpica Naro catwalk, organised in the area of Milan by the activists of the May Day Parade and the San Precario network, the article illustrates the process of construction of this collective identity that uses irony and playfulness to resist and denounce precarious working conditions. The purpose is to interpret the anti-precariousness movement as a process of critical urban learning that creates the viability of spaces for resistance in metropolitan contexts.

Keywords:

• activists
• irony
• precariousness
• San Precario network
• self-representation
• urban learning

Notes

^† The present article is the outcome of joint and indivisible work by the authors; however, if individual authorship is to be assigned, Silvia Gherardi wrote Sections 3, 5 and 6 and Annalisa Murgia wrote Sections 1, 2 and 4.

1. In July 2002, the Italian Parliament approved the law on immigration, n. 189/2002 (the so-called ‘Bossi-Fini’). It is a restrictive regulation of entry and residence of migrant workers, which has halved the duration of residence permits and the time of searching for a new job after unemployment, compared to the previous legislation (law 286/1998). The maximum period of unemployment is reduced from one year to six months, which means that the renewal of a residence permit is refused if the migrant has been formally unemployed for more than six months at the time of the renewal request.

2. We would like to thank Serpica Naro for the permission to reproduce pictures of her catwalk. All pictures have been produced by Marco Garofalo and released under a creative commons license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/it/