Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
recently. Now, we are proud and angry. we are defensive because we see that in a
few more generations, the city might be more immigrant than Roman and more
commercial than cultural. we've already lost political autonomy [because of the
european union] and the right to keep our city ours.”
The parents' desperation points as well to a process of “cultural disposses-
sion,” wherein the economic and political system is aligned with foreign interests
that ultimately eliminate the options for local people to live in a locally meaning-
ful way (Creed 2011, 1-27). This sense of dispossession is strong among Romans,
as herzfeld (2009) has also discovered. whereas the celebration of selfhood
among europeans is often unacknowledged before it is irrevocably under attack
(southgate 2010, 124-131), there are other possibilities—most notably the experi-
ences of postcolonial peoples who actually achieved peoplehood as a result of a
struggle for cultural survival (said 1993, 97-111). Romans resemble the latter, in
some ways, having long been keenly aware not only of their patrimony but also
how their inheritance entitles them to feelings of distinction (herzfeld 2009, 3).
There is a birthright to Rome that Romans often feel is undermined by the city
also being a world capital (herzfeld 2009, 3-4). instead of turning their backs on
the intellectual and material heritage that comes to define being Roman, many
Romans i met embrace it to the point of rejecting what Rome may mean to any-
one else.
i recently walked in the neighborhood south of the Vatican called borgo. The
area, like other Roman neighborhoods, is a self-contained universe. almost ev-
ery corner is covered in ultra graffiti and the area's ultras walk the streets with a
sense of pride. most of them know everyone, from the merchants to the men and
boys standing in front of each café or mechanics shop. The neighborhood is also
home to a recent addition, a kebab stand. typically associated with turks, kebab
stands are opening throughout Rome. The owners of this particular stand are not
turks but indians. The first time i encountered the stand with ultras, there was
derision and a dismissive silence. The only comment made was that “a few years
ago there were no kebab stands in Rome. Now they are everywhere.”
a few weeks later, i received a call from Danillo, one of the dismissive ultras.
Danillo, a 29-year-old waiter in a restaurant near Campo dei fiori, lives with his
mother, father, and aunt. his girlfriend lives on the next block. They met when
she was a student in need of a latin tutor. Now they work together in her family's
small restaurant. like so many others of that generation, Danillo's parents are
extremely proud Romans, even going so far as to show me the family's modest
collection of antique espresso cups adorned with images of turn-of-the-century
Rome.
Danillo told me that he had eaten kebabs from the stand after a recent game
(as no restaurants were open at that hour on a sunday night). he had enjoyed
the kebab and said the people were friendly. he was quick to add, though, that
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