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Muslim migration and integration in Italy:
social representations in media discourses.
Chiara COLOMBO
Dipartimento di Psicologia
Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca
Introduction
The Italian situation
The increasing migratory phenomenon;
The relevance of migration from Muslim
areas: Muslims constitute 33% of the
presences (Caritas, 2005);
Islam has reached the second place
among the most spread religions
(Gaarder, 1998).
Objectives and Hypotheses
The “approaching style” of migrants and the one of the
receiving society interact to define ways, timing and
directions of the integration process (Berry, 2005;
2003; 2001);
The role of mass-media in forming and representing
the most spread opinions;
To outline and trace a global picture of the shared
representations (Moscovici, 1984) that the Italian press
propagates and conveys about the issue of (Muslim)
migration;
Differences according to the political/cultural tendency
of the media.
Method
(1/4)
Articles collected from 2 magazines
Espresso
Panorama
Articles collected between 23 January
2003 and 31 December 2005
Research for 21 key words grouped into 4
semantic areas (Immigration, Islam,
Foreign presences, Integration)
(2/4)
Method
The sample: discursive material
Final corpus: 378 articles
(174 from Espresso and 204 from Panorama)
Espresso
46%
Panorama
54%
Graph 1: percentage of articles from Espresso and Panorama.
(3/4)
Method
The sample: discursive material
The articles in the considered years are distributed
quite in a balanced way:
Panorama
29,90
33,30
36,80
2003
2004
2005
Espresso
31,60
0%
20%
36,20
40%
32,20
60%
80%
100%
Graph. 2: percentage of articles from Espresso and Panorama
according to the publication year.
Method
(4/4)
Thematic categorisation,
realised by 2 independent judges;
Elementary contexts analysis, and
Analysis of Lexical Correspondence,
both performed with the support of T-LAB software
package (Lancia, 2004), for the integrated application of
qualitative/quantitative methodologies for textual
analysis
Results
Thematic categorisation
Identification of 8 macro-categories:
Economic aspects
Religious issues
7%
4% 5%
15%
19%
Political issues
Criminality
Terrorism
25%
23%
2%
Immigrants' conditions
"Signs" of integration
Statistic data
Graph 3: percentage of articles according to the thematic area.
Thematic categorisation
3,92
P ano rama
2,94
12,75
2,45
29,41
25,49
18,63
Economic aspects
4,41
Religious issues
Political issues
Criminality
5,17
3,45
1,72
Terrorism
Immigrants' conditions
Espresso
18,39
20,11
20,11
19,54
11,49
" Signs" of integration
Statistic data
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
Graph 4: percentage of articles from Espresso and Panorama according to the thematic areas.
Significant differences (Chi square (7 df): 19,142; p<.01):
Espresso: religious issues, “signs of integration”;
Panorama: political governance, criminality problems, terrorism
in reference to the presence of Muslims in the country.
Elementary contexts analysis
Cluster 1 ‘Internal political issues’ – contributions from
both magazines;
Cluster 2: ‘Work and regularisation of immigrants’ –
typical discourse of Espresso;
Cluster 3 ‘Islam and the West, Islam in the west’ –
contributions from both magazines;
Cluster 4 ‘Illegal immigration. The problems of illegal
landings’ – contributions from both magazines;
Cluster 5 ‘Islamic Terrorism in Italy’ – typical discourse of
Panorama.
Elementary contexts analysis
Cluster 1 ‘Internal political issues’
Espresso principally focuses on the theme of safety, also as a
“pretext” for criticising the government’s actions:
“I think it’s about electoral strategies, which are good for, demonstrating how
much the Lega Nord cares about citizens problems and their safety.” The fresh
outbreak of criminal episodes is provoking rifts within the Berlusconi
government coalition. Someone feels the need to adopt hard measures.
(Espresso, 2004)
Panorama instead highlights more explicitly the link between
national safety and terrorism and the debate relating to the
extension of “non EU citizens” right to vote:
Interior Minister Giuseppe Pisanu intends to present a law by decree on
Tuesday to the House of Deputies on the urgent measures studied by the
government to raise the defences against terrorism. (Panorama, 2005)
Elementary contexts analysis
Cluster 2: ‘Work and regularisation of immigrants’
Espresso emphasizes the difficulties and the living conditions of
immigrants.
“Verbal dismissal, without notice or a justifying reason”, he says in his
accusation. The boy is terrorised because his residency permit expires on 10
November. Renewal is not possible without regular work, as established by the
Bossi-Fini law on immigration. The immigrant risks expulsion. (Espresso, 2004)
The Bossi-Fini law is harshly criticized for its inefficiency and
uselessness and because it has shown itself to be counter
productive:
This is more or less valid for all of Italy. Also for the North-East (of Italy), which
is an orphan of the economic miracle. Two years after the Bossi-Fini law, the
verdict on its application hasn’t been convincing. The mechanisms for entry into
the workforce don’t work. The residence contract which gives right to a one year
permit has engulfed the renewal procedures (…).(Espresso, 2004)
Elementary contexts analysis
Cluster 3 ‘Islam and the West, Islam in the west’
Both magazines make a general reflection regarding the current reality
of Islam and its evolution due to the contact with the Western world.
“The Western world, which has a secular culture, when it looks at Islam it only sees a
religion which has been reduced to a pure representation and of empty content. The
reality is however different”. What does it mean? “In their daily life, Muslims are
experiencing an ever accentuated materialism and therefore they are moving away
from their religion”. (Espresso, 2004)
A debate on the concept of democracy emerges as well:
You have always repeated that “there isn’t a contradiction between Islam and human
rights”. “Human rights aren’t Eastern or Western, they don’t belong to Muslims or to
Christians, but to all the religions and civilisations. Even democracy has a very clear
meaning and doesn’t only belong to the West”. (Espresso, 2004)
In order to deal with the Christian religion, those people have created another religion
based on earth and on people: democracy. Democracy is a religion in every respect and
Muslims can’t accept a religion which isn’t Islam and isn’t Allah ». (Panorama, 2004)
Elementary contexts analysis
Cluster 4 ‘Illegal immigration. The problems of illegal landings’
Espresso above all considers the difficulties of foreign people and
highlights the elements which transmit desperation for the situations
and conditions in which the immigrants find themselves.
15 August 1999. Off the Montenegro coast an “old boat” loaded with gypsy families
shipwrecks. More than a hundred people seem to have died. 12 December 1999, a life
raft full of illegal immigrants sinks in the Otranto Channel. 59 immigrants die. 10 June
2001, 12 illegal Albanian immigrants who were perhaps thrown to sea by the boat
captains, die in Trani, in the province of Bari. (Espresso, 2004)
Panorama highlights the political debate referring to illegal immigration
and links the events of the illegal landings to an organized crime racket:
The arrival of barges with illegal immigrants continues from the Libyan coasts towards
Lampedusa and Pantelleria. The racket is presumed to have a base in the Libyan capital,
the real centre for the sorting of illegal immigrants. Other groups of illegal immigrants,
formed by hundreds of legal immigrants, are ready to leave from Libya in order to reach
the Sicilian coasts. (Panorama, 2003)
Elementary contexts analysis
Cluster 5 ‘Islamic Terrorism in Italy’
Panorama principally focuses its attention on threats and on the
risk of terrorist acts in Italy.
These are the three dates which are at risk of terrorist attempts in Italy, after the Al
Qaeda threats. Our intelligence doesn’t signal specific alarms: but certainly the 11th
is a symbol for terrorists; the 14 and 15 are the days in which the ultimatum for the
immediate withdrawal from Iraq launched by Osama Bin Laden three month’s ago
expires. (Panorama, 2004)
Espresso rather concentrates on the reactions, positions and
actions assumed by Muslim organizations in Italy:
Also the Islamic Cultural Institute of Jenner Avenue in Milan condemned the
attacks of London and Sharm el Sheikh. It’s the mosque which in the past was
closest to the extremist movements. (Espresso, 2005)
Analysis of Lexical Correspondence
Factors 1 & 2 (55,86% of the total variation)
Analysis of Lexical Correspondence
Factor 1: Temporal factor
Espresso 2003
Panorama 2003
Espresso 2004
versus
 words regarding political and
legislative management of the
presence of foreigners: political
protagonists, political expressions
and juridical aspects;
 issues of belonging and religious
identity and of the comparison
between different religions,
specifically Catholic and Muslim
Espresso 2005
Panorama 2005
Panorama 2004
 problems connected
to criminality,
terrorism and safety:
armed forces, the
semantic area linked
to a “terrorist threat”
and the one tied to
criminality
Analysis of Lexical Correspondence
Factor 2: opposition between Espresso and Panorama
Espresso 2003
Espresso 2005
Espresso 2004
versus
 words associated to immigrants
considered as persons and their rights,
their migration experience and the
values linked to this vision of the
problem;
 words connected to an idea of active
and constructive action, with a proposal
directed at immigrant people;
 the confrontation between Western
culture and Muslim faith.
Panorama 2003
Panorama 2005
Panorama 2004
 words of the debate
about a terrorist threat,
linked to the presence
of Muslim immigrants in
Italy;
 the threat of illegal
immigration and of
criminality;
 a more worrying and
“alarmist” language.
Discussion and conclusion
Similar agenda setting and partly homogenous themes
Differences in the ways of dealing with and discussing specific aspects of the
immigration issue.
Different languages confirm the existence, even if not excessively marked, of
differences between the two magazines, associable to the different political
position and to the different portion of population that each of them represents.
Panorama: the political management of problems connected to illegal landings of
immigrants in Italy;
the use of a political, sometimes “threatening”, language connected to
immigration and to what this risks to involve: illegality, criminality, terrorism.
Espresso: the “human” dimension of the problem, the conditions in which immigrants
find themselves, their experiences and difficulties as migrant persons; life
stories of migrants as examples of steps towards an integration; words
associated to immigrants considered as persons and their rights;
the use of an “optimistic” language regarding the role of immigrants in the
country, connected to a positive, proposing and constructive dimension of
their presence and stay in Italy.
Discussion and conclusion
A “work-in-progress”;
A focus on the discourses strictly linked to
the migration of Muslims;
A comparison of specific thematic categories.
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