دانلود کتاب ساختمان قومیت چینی در رم – شبکه های بدون مرز

On September 1, 2017 La Repubblica, a prominent Italian newspaper, published an article declaring the failure of the dream for ethnic integra­tion in the Roman neighborhood of the Esquiline. Since the late 1990s, the number of migrants arriving and settling in Rome grew by 115%, while the native population of Rome shrunk instead. During those years of incoming migrations, the Esquiline became the symbol of a multicul­tural Rome that would potentially lead the country to a new, open and blended society. This ambitious vision, held in high consideration espe­cially by progressive politicians and intellectuals, was supposed to reshape the geography and the sociality of the Esquiline and to lead the whole city into a new era of harmonious cohabitation. Nicola Lagioia in his book Esquilino explains how the dream of a multi-ethnic Rome that could potentially become a model for hospitality for the entire peninsula—ide­ally leading it toward the implementation of a peaceful multicultural soci­ety—was instead a shattered dream that had miserably failed.

The Esquiline today is often referred to as the “Roman Chinatown,” definition that carries a sense of despair, loss, and carelessness. In another article on La Repubblica, the Esquiline is defined as a place for melting pot “vaccinara style” evoking a traditional Roman dish made with the scrap pieces of a cow, specifically the tail, simmered with a mix of vegetables. This stew is expression of a Roman-ness made of thriftiness, ingenuity, joviality, but also of a poverty-induced laxity; and in the article, it symbol­izes the controversial designation and existence of a “Roman Chinatown.”

This research started almost twenty years ago, when as a student of Chinese language, I was eager to find places to practice Mandarin and meet people of Chinese origins. That was when one of my classmates enlightened me on a very welcoming Evangelical Church in the Esquiline. I went for a stroll around Piazza Vittorio but could not find the Church. The Internet was not mainstream, and it was hard to find precise addresses. I was looking for a building resembling my image of a Church and not able to contemplate a place of worship that looked like an apartment or a store. Nevertheless, the trip was not made in vain, as never had I experi­enced Rome as I did that day: a city made of small shops, crammed with “ethnic” goods sold inexpensively and not at high prices as in the “radical-chic” shops  in the most prestigious areas of the city center. Piazza Vittorio and its surroundings offered, back then, a glimpse of a world to come. The “ethnic” shops were mostly run by people from South and East Asia and crowned the famous market in the middle of the Piazza.