Abstract
The city of Naples incorporates both migrant and Neapolitan actors in a complex system of diverse economies. The chapter shows the role of Roma migrants in the local economy and confronts it with the limits of policy discourses in considering Roma as economic actors. It enumerates interventions from the last few years that intended to position Roma as a 'resource' for the local economy. The analysis reveals discrepancies between these rather ad-hoc interventions and the general management of the 'Roma issue'; showing how diversity as a depoliticized concept and economy-based deservingness frames reproduce Roma as second-line citizens and racialized subjects in an ambiguous relation to informality. The chapter, looking at the multilevel (mis)governance of Roma migration, rereads the findings of ethnographic research on economic strategies in different Roma communities in the region of Campania.
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Notes
- 1.
Regarding the topic of economic activities see also: Punziano et al. (2016).
- 2.
About the Neapolitan and migrant entrepreneurialism, see Pardo (2012).
- 3.
The chapter resonates with ethnographic research on different marginalised groups that shows the different strategies of governance in creating ‘limited entitlements’ (Di Nunzio 2017) and the role of informalities through which resources and restrictions are selectively allocated (Clough Marinaro 2017).
- 4.
“Confined informalities encompass a wide range of processes, including the informal practices one can find in places of marginality with sharply policed spatial-symbolic boundaries as well as the distributions of degrees of legitimacy granted by states and dominant public opinions to place specific informalities along axes such as race, class and legal status” (Pasquetti and Picker 2017, pp. 538–539).
- 5.
See Bossi-Fini law (189/2002) and its later modifications and supplementations. Also see a short overview in English at https://strugglesinitaly.wordpress.com/equality/en-immigration-policies-in-italy/.
- 6.
Those, who are already present on Italian territories, cannot fulfil the requirements of having a work permit before entering the country. However, there is a so-called sanatoria, among others, for the workers colf e badanti (domestic workers and caregivers) that offers the possibility of legalisation. It favours the regularisation of certain immigrant groups at the detriment of others.
- 7.
There are for instance persons who managed to obtain work permits based on registered entrepreneurial activities.
- 8.
Until now there have only been proposals for a national-level law about the recognition, protection and social promotion of the Roma, Sinti and Caminanti communities. The Campania Region––unlike a few other Italian regions––has never adopted any regulations on the ‘protection of nomad culture’.
- 9.
In 2008 the Italian Government declared a “state of emergency in relation to the settlements of nomad communities” in Campania, Lombardia and Lazio. The entire administration and policies for the Roma communities living in camps was transferred to the Prefects (branches of the Italian Government that include immigration issues as part of their competences).
- 10.
Naples has a collaboration with Călăraşi that dates back to 2003 when a large group of Roma immigrants coming from that region arrived to the city. I found very interesting the attempts for establishing a bilateral agreement with the city of Călăraşi, which applied a cooperation logic, in which the main aim seemed to be stopping further immigration of Roma from this territory. To this end, the document included also a plan about supporting the training and employment opportunities in this locality. Though this formal agreement then never reached the implementation phase, there was a collaboration between professionals of the two cities.
- 11.
This research project was developed within the ERSTE Foundation Fellowship for Social Research 2013. Research report: The Labour Market of the Others: Economic Strategies in Four Eastern European Roma (?)communities in Campania, Italy. Towards a discourse about Roma in contemporary dynamics. The interviews were conducted with the substantial support of Emma Ferulano and Barbara Pierro.
- 12.
I use the word ‘work’ to refer to a wide range of economic activities which are considered by the respondents as working activity.
- 13.
I have to underline that neither the term ‘group’ nor ‘community’ are entirely appropriate in these cases.
- 14.
I am often going to use the word ‘camp’ to identify the places where the communities under investigation live, while here I cannot reflect in detail on the conceptualization of camp (Agamben 1996, Picker & Pasquetti 2015), or about governing Roma camps in the Italian context. (see, e.g. Sigona-Monasta 2006, Sigona 2011, 2015, 2016; Picker 2012) The camp both create boundaries and the opportunities of interactions. The camp is not simply a physical space but has a special time. The problem of permanent temporariness (about durable camps see Picker and Pasquetti 2015) regarding the Roma camps (and even Naples) will be an important aspect in this analysis.
- 15.
The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007–2013) under grant agreement n° 316796. INTEGRIM: Integration and international migration: pathways and integration policies.
- 16.
National report on Labour and Social Inclusion of Roma People in Italy. EU INCLUSIVE––Data transfer and exchange of good practices regarding the inclusion of Roma population between Romania, Bulgaria, Italy and Spain. Fondazione Casa della Carità “Angelo Abriani” 2012. https://www.gitanos.org/upload/64/35/ITA_National_Report__on_Labour_and_Social_Inclusion_of_Roma_People_in_Italy__public_policies_report__2.pdf
- 17.
One is a group of Hungarian Roma, or as they call themselves ‘domestic Gypsies’ from Romania (see: Bakó 2011) who live in a former refugee camp in Capua closed by the authorities, so that currently considered as an informal camp––shared by Roma, Hungarian ‘Gypsies’ and Pols (the latter in a regularised status), while the other group consists of Roma, Turks and Bulgarians from Bulgaria who reside in Mondragone, another town of Caserta and work mainly in agriculture.
- 18.
I make a difference between interviews and ‘quick’ interviews: while the former were conducted in more formal circumstances, based on previous request, in a semi-structured form, the latter were realised during my visits to (informal) marketplaces, squares and metro stations on an ad-hoc basis, mostly while my interview partners were doing their work, that is, begging, selling, collecting iron, in some cases they were more in the shape of walking interviews.
- 19.
There was for example a Supreme Court ruling that overturned a former ruling concerning a mother who was begging with her child. The court declared that it was not exploitation of minors (according to the Italian terminology ‘riduzione in schiavitù’) because it was limited in time and also because “begging constitutes a condition of traditional life rooted in the culture and mentality of some populations”. The court underlines also that it is important not criminalising those activities that are part of the traditional culture (in this case the ‘nomad culture’).
- 20.
Roma and Citizenship Pacts Office, Service Against New Poverty and Social Emergency Network, City of Naples http://www.comune.napoli.it/flex/cm/pages/ServeBLOB.php/L/IT/IDPagina/5559?525d08dbef553
- 21.
About Scampia in English see Laino 2005. It is also worth looking into some accounts (e.g. interviews) of Felice Pignataro, artist and activist about the topic. Documentary: Felice! http://www.felicepignataro.org/felice/
- 22.
The first official data about the camp’s population were those collected in 2008 when the state of emergency was declared (Censimento – Prefettura di Napoli Commisario Delegato per l’emergenza insediamenti comunità nomadi nella regione Campania O.P.C.M. 3678 del 30 maggio 2008). The most recent data (mapping survey, a Romact and Welfare Department Joint Action) that were presented publicly at the Faculty of Architecture by Giovanni Laino on the 9th November 2015 show a decline in the population compared to the previous data. According to these data, there are 681 persons living on this territory, half of them born in Italy. There are several methodological and ethical concerns around these surveys and therefore also the data must be treated with some caution. However, the interest of the city in having a more complex picture about the background and needs of this community can be considered as progress.
- 23.
Spoitor: a (typically urban) group of Roma traditionally working with metal pots. Most of the Roma population from Romania in Naples declare themselves as spoitori.
- 24.
According to the abovementioned report: a large proportion of respondents are self-employed for failure of finding other employment. Still, they risk illicit activities even if they have a licence for collection but not for transportation (which is hard to obtain). National report on Labour and Social Inclusion of Roma People in Italy. EU INCLUSIVE––Data transfer and exchange of good practices regarding the inclusion of Roma population between Romania, Bulgaria, Italy and Spain. Fondazione Casa della Carità “Angelo Abriani” 2012, p. 354.
- 25.
See also: Solimene (2015).
- 26.
- 27.
According to the current legislation, it is prohibited to collect waste, as it is considered as public property.
- 28.
This chapter does not intend to go into detail about the assessment of the role of NGOs, nor into the analysis of those conflicts that I encountered during my fieldwork, the problem is much wider and complex. If we look at the interdependence of the third sector and public interventions, in which the NGOs’ existence often depends on the commissions of the city, we see an even more complex picture. The funds for improving the situation of Roma form a whole segment of industry that has its inner dynamics with confronting interests of different actors, very much influenced by the present political context. About this question see also: Rastello (2014). or http://wots.eu/2016/03/01/la-macchina-dellaccoglienza-seconda-parte/ and http://wots.eu/2016/02/23/la-macchina-dellaccoglienza-il-terzo-settore-in-italia/ for a brief overview. See also about the ‘mafia capitale’ scandal––the case of money misappropriation.
- 29.
The STAR project, for instance, an action research in collaboration with local policy-makers (see Zoppoli and Saudino 2012) that aimed to collect data and give a general analysis of the situation of Roma in Naples and understand the policy efforts in this regard shows the predominance of other issues like housing or education.
- 30.
2011–2013: Pathways of integration for adult Roma with Romanian origin presented on the territory of Naples. Action 2: Pathways of social and labor integration – Op/La project: Opportunitá Lavoro (Work opportunity): Romanian Roma towards the social and labor inclusion. http://www.coopdedalus.it/index.asp?pt=aree%20di%20intervento/progetti&mn=opla%20rom&ex=htm
- 31.
Work platform for Roma and Sinti in Italy, a common strategy of Roma/Sinti with the world of labour. Workshop document. 2012. Opera Nomadi Nazionale and Conferenza Meridionale per la regolarizzazione degli Operai Rom della raccolta differenziata e per una normativa nazionale. Napoli, 14.11.2013.
- 32.
- 33.
Due to the bureaucratic procedures, despite the expressed intention of the city to support the initiative, it was in progress for a long while, which delayed the project’s start.
- 34.
Strategia nazionale d’inclusione dei rom, dei sinti e dei caminanti (2012) http://ec.europa.eu/justice/discrimination/files/roma_italy_strategy_it.pdf
- 35.
- 36.
National Office Against Racial Discrimination.
- 37.
Programma sperimentale di intervento per la promozione dell’inserimento lavorativo di soggetti discriminati e svantaggiati’—Progetto DJ—Diversity on the job, PON ‘Governance e Azioni di Sistema’ 2007–2013 – Ob. Convergenza. http://www.italialavoro.it/wps/portal/ProgettoDJ
- 38.
There is an interest in looking for best practices, particularly towards Spain and its ACCEDER programme: “Verso un modello italiano di occupabilità per Rom e persone vulnerabili” http://www.unar.it/unar/portal/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Programma-8-giugno-NAPOLI.pdf
- 39.
“A joint initiative seeking to assist mayors and municipal authorities in working together with local Roma communities to develop policies and public services that are inclusive of all, including Roma”, launched by the European Commission and Council of Europe in 2013, in “a European challenge: the need to act at local level” as it is emphasised in the project description. http://coe-romact.org/about-romact
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Baracsi, K. (2018). The Multilevel (Mis)Governance of Roma Migration in the City of Naples. In: Lacroix, T., Desille, A. (eds) International Migrations and Local Governance. Migration, Diasporas and Citizenship. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-65996-1_10
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