Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
munity and thus increasing the risk of clashes. The large presence of migrants in
a suburban neighborhood caused the media to talk up the existence of a conflict,
in terms of both racism and “retaliation” and to decry problems of “blight” and
“infestation” without examining the dynamics and context of the situation.
from 1997 to 2007 the number of immigrants in this district has risen by 81%.
in some streets you see almost only bengalis with their food shops and inter-
net centers. . . . There is a very tense atmosphere. “we are no longer in our own
home,” say the italians, who accuse the bengalis in particular of making the
town dirty, making a noise far into the night outside their shops, infesting the
condominiums with their smells of garlic and other spices. . . . There have been
assaults in the foreigners' shops. up till now the bengalis, most of them born
in italy, have not reacted, but there is the danger that one spark may trigger an
explosion. our research indicates that this district is one of the most at risk.
This is a dangerous suburb.18
urban upgrading and the bangladeshis:
leadership and Rhetoric in the locality
in contrast to portrayals by the media evoking the image of the suburbs and in
contrast also to the original inhabitants' nostalgia for an “authentic” district that
no longer exists, what the bangladeshi community have to say about their neigh-
borhood clearly identifies the positive and beneficial role that they have played in
an area seen in the past as impoverished, beset by petty crime, and barely active
in commercial life. what emerges is a concept of urban, social, economic, and
moral regeneration, upheld by the moral and cultural values of their nation.
Those who call themselves the leaders of the community by virtue of a po-
litical and economic authority built up over time represent their own migratory
history within the concept of a community that is growing on italian territory.
an ethos of “hard-working people” and the moral values attributed to their “na-
tional” culture and to islam are displayed as signs of economic, moral, and cul-
tural advancement: this makes the diaspora an engine, reestablishing the space
where they arrived within a concept of national belonging. in this sense, the ban-
gladeshi leadership is trying to reestablish an urban space (with place-names like
banglatown) and to define the parameters of a genuine political mission for the
diaspora: positive “colonization” of a rundown area and assimilation into italian
social life, bringing the “traditional” (national and religious) values of morality
and dignity.
The figure of asraf, a bangladeshi leader who lives in torpignattara, is a
good example. asraf is a man of about 50 years, strong, smartly dressed, and al-
ways smiling. he lives in torpignattara with his wife, who has a shop in the same
district selling traditional bangladeshi and indian clothes. he sees himself as a
leader, runs an association, engages in import/export business, organizes events,
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