Books by Massimo Bressan
A City of Comings and Goings, 2019
Architecture and urbanism can contribute to making our cities more resilient to migration. In ‘A ... more Architecture and urbanism can contribute to making our cities more resilient to migration. In ‘A City of Comings and Goings’ Crimson brings together a cast of European cities that are marked by migration represented through authoratitive essays by local scholars. These cities are also the source of a catalogue of one hundred projects that tackle the issue of migration in many different ways and on different scales. The essays, the catalogue of projects and Crimson’s manifesto-like introductory essay, make for a book that demonstrates how planning and architectural design can play a crucial role in making the Western European City into a resilient and exciting City of Comings and Goings.
https://nai010.com/en/publicaties/a-city-of-comings-and-goings/240666
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Chinese migration to Europe. Prato, Italy, and Beyond, 2015
Through an analysis of Chinese migration to Europe, this volume examines the most pressing migrat... more Through an analysis of Chinese migration to Europe, this volume examines the most pressing migration and integration issues facing many societies today: from the political and policy challenges of managing increasingly diverse communities to the individual lived experiences of identity and belonging. In addition to chapters on the UK, France and Italy, the book spotlights one of the most extraordinary places of Chinese migration in Europe right now: the city of Prato, just 20km from Florence in Tuscany, Italy. Renowned for its historic textile industry, Prato is now home to one of the largest populations of Chinese residents in Europe, a phenomenon that is remarkable not only for its magnitude, but also for the speed with which it has developed. This edited collection involving 27 contributors deepens our understanding of the case of Prato within the context of Chinese migration to the new Europe.
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International Gramsci Journal, 2017
Unfathomable economic pressures have warped an Italian textile district. The city of Prato, Italy... more Unfathomable economic pressures have warped an Italian textile district. The city of Prato, Italy, serves as an
ethnographic laboratory of globalization and crisis. Labeled the most multicultural city of Europe, Prato ranks
No. 1 in terms of ratios of foreign residents to local citizens. Residents grapple with bewildering
transformations and contrasts in work rhythms. Chinese immigrants own or are employed in more than 5,200
Chinese firms registered in Prato’s Chamber of Commerce, a large portion of which manufacture or wholesale
low-cost fast fashion. Different tempos manifest in two neighborhoods, where residents, engaged urban
planners, and anthropologists have launched efforts to counter segregation and xenophobia. This article takes
a Gramscian perspective to expose struggles in different “wars of position.” On the one hand, a right-wing
mayor sustained a hostile and coercive approach to dealing with the immigrant presence. On the other hand,
residents along with engaged urban planners and anthropologists launched a counter-effort in a working-class
neighborhood that has transitioned from Little Italy to Little Wenzhou. The presence of transnational migrant
workers and their families has made the neighborhoods more complex, presenting new challenges and
opportunities for realizing mixité.
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Da: Massimo Bressan e Sabrina Tosi Cambini (a cura di) Zone di transizione, spazi pubblici e dive... more Da: Massimo Bressan e Sabrina Tosi Cambini (a cura di) Zone di transizione, spazi pubblici e diversità culturale. Studi etnografici in quattro città italiane, Il Mulino, Bologna, 2011
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Papers by Massimo Bressan
Human Organization, 2020
Migrant and refugee populations have been identified as among the most vulnerable to COVID-19 due... more Migrant and refugee populations have been identified as among the most vulnerable to COVID-19 due to what medical anthropologists have described as structural vulnerability. We argue significant di erences exist between migrant groups and o er lessons for society at large. We develop the concept of viral encounters to frame an analysis of social narratives, representations, and practices involved in coping with threats of transmission and practices of prevention. Specifically, the globalized city of Prato o ers a case study due to its unique relationship with COVID-19. Instead of a COVID-19 epicenter, however, Prato emerged as a contagion exception particularly as related to its Chinese migrant community. We use a place-based framework to argue that the threat of xenophobia, preparedness with quarantine, and the will of solidarity motivated an entire migrant community to take action-well before the nationwide lockdown began and extending beyond its conclusion. We combine virtual ethnography with health data as well as evidence of xenophobia and solidarity to o er an analysis. We argue that the e ects of solidarity reconfigure dominant ideologies of individualism, open space for collective orientation toward a human economy, and o er potential to alleviate detrimental impacts of pandemics. This content is only available as a PDF.
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Vestoj, 2020
We feared that Prato would be the most dangerous place in Italy after the outbreak of the novel
c... more We feared that Prato would be the most dangerous place in Italy after the outbreak of the novel
coronavirus. Friends, relatives, and colleagues who knew about our ethnographic research with
Chinese migrants in greater metropolitan Tuscany began reaching out with trepidation ...
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This paper analyzes how kin-related values, norms, and practices become entangled in the hegemony... more This paper analyzes how kin-related values, norms, and practices become entangled in the hegemony of global supply chains. Our collaboration focuses on the Made in Italy fast fashion sector, where the ultimate flexible workers are Chinese migrants. We home in on a paradox: half of the births in this Italian textile city are to foreign women, yet once weaned many of these babies are then sent to China. This circulation of children gives rise to a host of new discourses and interventions on parenting from various institutions and experts. We develop and use an encounter ethnography
framework to contrast the expert views of childhood circulation with those of immigrant parents. We argue that global households underwrite capitalism through
noncapitalist elements that are integral to the economic organization that fast fashion requires. Parents find value in circulating children in its power to activate systems of reciprocity across kin, to create networked bodies across territories, to secure affective bonds across generations, and to free up time so as to enhance their ability to work and make money.
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Con questo testo ci siamo posti l'obiettivo di esplorare l'impatto dei feno-meni migratori all'in... more Con questo testo ci siamo posti l'obiettivo di esplorare l'impatto dei feno-meni migratori all'interno di un distretto industriale e nel territorio della città diffusa che si estende tra Firenze e Prato. La presenza di gruppi di famiglie di migranti lavoratori di origine cinese attraversa i confini dei co-muni, delle ex-province e della città metropolitana. Un incontro localizzato, dove le pratiche del lavoro e dell'abitare innescano conflitti e processi di negoziazione che procedono in assenza di un quadro di regolazione in grado di gestire le condizioni di subalternità e autosfruttamento – in particolare quando queste si manifestano nei quartieri e nei gruppi di famiglie e lavora-tori migranti. L'analisi delle fasi di costruzione di un complesso dispositivo di controllo evidenzia la rilevanza dell'incontro etnografico negli spazi fisici, città e quartieri, in cui la crisi ha contribuito a produrre conflitti tra logiche e aspirazioni dei gruppi di migranti, quelle dei gruppi autoctoni e i livelli di governo e dell'amministrazione. Parole chiave: autosfruttamento, crisi, dispositivo, distretto industriale, migranti cinesi La crisi consiste appunto nel fatto che il vecchio muore e il nuovo non può nascere: in questo interregno si verificano i fenomeni morbosi più svariati. Gramsci, Quaderno 3 (XX) § 34 Introduzione: un'area metropolitana " per difetto " e un distretto industriale in transizione L'estrema permeabilità dei luoghi ai flussi globali del capitale e del lavoro ha avuto come conseguenza la costruzione di nuove frontiere, o zone di
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A makeshift memorial outside where seven Chinese workers were killed in a fire at Teresa Moda fas... more A makeshift memorial outside where seven Chinese workers were killed in a fire at Teresa Moda fast fashion outlet in Prato, Italy, Dec. 4, 2013. (Photo: Gianni Cipriano / The New York Times) PRATO, ITALY A funeral for the victims who died in the Teresa Moda factory fire in Tuscany's industrial district of Macrolotto was held on an asphalt parking lot 203 days after that tragic dawn. The unusually long span of time between the wretched deaths and the mourning rite was poignantly ironic given the furiously fast conditions that define these migrant workers' lives. For more than 200 days to pass between people losing their lives and being put to rest is a curiously long time indeed. It was a long time for survivors to suspend their grief. A mother's heartbreaking wails for her deceased son and two daughters' weeping for their perished mother resounded along with Buddhist bells and evangelical hymns. Some 300 attendees, mostly Chinese immigrants, but also Italian and Chinese officials, paid their final respects beneath a blazing afternoon sun on the longest day of the year. The contrast between the time it took for one of the oldest and most fundamental of human rites and the furiously flexible fastness under which these workers produced trendy clothes for a fickle fashion market suggests something is terribly wrong: that their lives were almost as expendable as the clothes they made. Family members were unable to afford the modest funeral. Neither Italian nor Chinese public entities were forthcoming with resources. Several private Chinese associations eventually contributed 20,000 euro toward the funeral costs. The turnout at the funeral was much smaller than organizers anticipated. In fact, the event had originally been scheduled for a public assistance facility, but was moved to the Piazzale Ebensee, the former parking lot of Prato's hospital, in anticipation of a large crowd. Observers
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[Differenze al lavoro: forme, dinamiche e culture]
http://www.cambio.unifi.it/CMpro-v-p-95.html
... more [Differenze al lavoro: forme, dinamiche e culture]
http://www.cambio.unifi.it/CMpro-v-p-95.html
Introduzione alla Sezione Monografica Come è noto, l'antropologia si è affacciata tardi allo studio del lavoro come dimensione autonoma e individuante all'interno delle società cosiddette " complesse " , trovando interessanti ma limitati terreni di applicazione o nello studio dei patrimoni tradizionali e della cultura materiale delle classi subalterne, oppure all'interno dei processi produttivi e delle relazioni caratterizzanti la fabbrica fordista e l'impresa a radicamento territoriale. Se in altri contesti nazionali, quali quello statunitense e francese, si sono andati affermando specifici settori di studi socio-antropologici sul lavoro corredati da insegnamenti universitari, riviste specialistiche e una comunità di studiosi, in Italia gli studi etnografici sul lavoro di taglio sia antropologico che sociologico sono meno numerosi, più frammentati ed episodici (Ceschi 2014; Bruni 2003; Papa 1999). Nonostante la perdurante, anche se mutata, rilevanza e centralità del lavoro nelle società contemporanee, questa carenza di sistematicità, corposità e scambio scientifico intorno ai temi del lavoro e delle sue relazioni con i contesti sociali, le appartenenze, le diversità, ci sembra caratterizzare anche la fase attuale degli approcci antropologici al lavoro nel nostro Paese. Proprio per tenere aperta una finestra di attenzione scientifica e promuovere prospettive empiriche ed etnografiche proiettate verso una migliore comprensione antropologica dell'oggetto lavoro in epoca post-fordista, i due curatori di questo numero tematico hanno cercato di promuovere, all'interno delle attività della Società Italiana di Antropologia Applicata (SIAA), uno spazio di confronto sul tema. Nel II convegno della SIAA, tenutosi a Rimini nel dicembre 2014, è stato lanciato un panel di antropologia del lavoro, al quale hanno risposto alcuni giovani antropologi (perlopiù impegnati in ricerche in ambito di dottorato), che hanno presentato paper di taglio empirico-etnografico e più raramente applicativo. Da quell'occasione è nata l'idea di proporre alla rivista Cambio di accogliere gli sviluppi di quella iniziale riflessione sullo stato dell'antropologia del lavoro in Italia e di farsi contenitore di contributi recenti e di prospettiva socio-culturale ed empirica sul lavoro (alcuni dei quali provengono dal panel promosso a Rimini). Allo scopo di connotare meglio la proposta della call for paper di Cambio e proporre uno snodo attorno a cui posizionare la rivisitazione delle proprie ricerche e riflessioni, abbiamo ritenuto utile ancorare la questione del lavoro a quella delle differenze, invitando a processare i temi del lavoro attraverso la lente delle diversità sociali, culturali, territoriali dei soggetti che lavorano. Il lavoro, in quanto attività prettamente umana e a cui viene attribuito un valore culturale, rispecchia e articola le differenze sociali, etniche, confessionali, di status, di genere e generazione presenti nel contesto sociale. La divisione del lavoro è un principio ed una regola tra le più comuni e costanti nelle società umane e può fondarsi su sesso, età, appartenenza ad una determinata classe o casta, oppure rispecchiare un rapporto di potere tra gruppi diversi (sottomissione, schiavitù). Partendo perciò dall'assunzione che, come recitava il testo della call, " Il lavoro può essere il riflesso di differenze preesistenti come crearne di nuove, può ridurle o accentuarle, ma raramente resta neutrale rispetto ad esse " , era nostro interesse approfondire la questione di come il lavoro, i processi e le relazioni lavorative si incrociano e si sovrappongono con le differenze dei lavoratori, siano esse relative al contesto, a gruppi o a singoli lavoratori. Riteniamo cioè di forte interesse per gli studi antropologici attuali occuparsi di come le differenze di genere, cultura, generazioni, cittadinanza, territorio socio-produttivo scompongono il lavoro, lo stratificano e lo articolano con variabili umane e sociali.
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In the made in italy fast-fashion sector, the ultimate flexible
workers are Chinese migrants, who... more In the made in italy fast-fashion sector, the ultimate flexible
workers are Chinese migrants, whose parenting practices include
circulating children back to China. This paper draws on collaborative research in Prato, Italy, to grasp how Chinese families and individuals encounter the Italian state and negotiate the terms of transnational capitalism. The project innovates an encounter ethnography framework to guide research. This paper investigates the dialectic between economics and intimacy. Chinese immigrants’ desires to make money are situated in three structural encounters, each at a different level of scale: the Wenzhou regional model of economic development; a Central Italian small-firm environment connected to the made in italy brand; and global restructuring of the clothing
industry. These encounters structure migrant experiences. Ethnographic data and interviews with more than 40 parents detail the vocabulary that Chinese mothers and fathers use to portray the value gained or heartache endured from the transnational movement of children.
Underlying sentiments expose how families cope with the demands of globalization, particularly their work in a sector demanding long hours and a fast production schedule. Adjusting to garment work is expressed as a “fistful of tears”; a decision to circulate children into the care of relatives back home is said to be “the only solution.” This paper uses the concept of “global household” (Safri and Graham 2010) to examine the transnational dispersal of kin networks and migrants’ reliance on the affective circuits of those networks. They illuminate, as Marshall Sahlins (2000) observed, how “capitalist forces are realized in other forms and finalities.”
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Abstract: New transition zones are emerging with various shapes and compositions between urban ce... more Abstract: New transition zones are emerging with various shapes and compositions between urban centers
and remote areas: from the memorable examples of Chicago in the early twentieth century to the
widespread urbanization of many areas of central and northern Italy. Production processes and global
connections bringing cities and regions into the flow of cultural and economic change grow there. The
study of Prato – examined from an ethnographic and typically urban perspective - aims to shed light
a) on the current transformation of urban and social fabric long characterized by mixité between work
time and free time and between industrial space and residential space; b) on the perception of safety;
c) on the dynamics of segregation and denial of the city; d) on the possible interpretations of space and
everyday life.
Keywords: Public space, Segregation, Social change, Urbanization.
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«I have a place where I work and a place where I live»: Encounters with flexible families in a gl... more «I have a place where I work and a place where I live»: Encounters with flexible families in a globalizing made in italy fast-fashion city
The article analyzes several aspects related to the presence of migrant worker families, primarily from the Chinese province of Zhejiang, in Prato’s industrial district.
The ethnographic research highlights how Chinese families, specifically immigrants working in the fast-fashion manufacturing sector, adjust to recent dynamics of globalization.
The collaborative project innovates an encounter ethnography methodology to understand how families and individuals negotiate the terms of transnational capitalism.
The analysis shows how resources activated through mechanisms of reciprocity are central to sustaining competitiveness and flexibility. The authors explore some of the practices and contexts of urban life, such as those related to the management of time and of children on the part of parents, who often rely on grandparents or relatives living in China to care for their children for long periods. Analysis extends to the restrictive and discriminatory policies adapted by the local government concerning the use of public space in the urban zones, namely those where migrants have settled, as well as the successful challenge to one such policy.
key words: Globalization, Chinese immigration, Fast fashion, Family firms, Flexible Labor, Encounter ethnography.
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Drafts by Massimo Bressan
[breve saggio ispirato dalla lettura del volume: “La coscienza dei luoghi”, di Giacomo Becattini]
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Uploads
Books by Massimo Bressan
https://nai010.com/en/publicaties/a-city-of-comings-and-goings/240666
ethnographic laboratory of globalization and crisis. Labeled the most multicultural city of Europe, Prato ranks
No. 1 in terms of ratios of foreign residents to local citizens. Residents grapple with bewildering
transformations and contrasts in work rhythms. Chinese immigrants own or are employed in more than 5,200
Chinese firms registered in Prato’s Chamber of Commerce, a large portion of which manufacture or wholesale
low-cost fast fashion. Different tempos manifest in two neighborhoods, where residents, engaged urban
planners, and anthropologists have launched efforts to counter segregation and xenophobia. This article takes
a Gramscian perspective to expose struggles in different “wars of position.” On the one hand, a right-wing
mayor sustained a hostile and coercive approach to dealing with the immigrant presence. On the other hand,
residents along with engaged urban planners and anthropologists launched a counter-effort in a working-class
neighborhood that has transitioned from Little Italy to Little Wenzhou. The presence of transnational migrant
workers and their families has made the neighborhoods more complex, presenting new challenges and
opportunities for realizing mixité.
Papers by Massimo Bressan
coronavirus. Friends, relatives, and colleagues who knew about our ethnographic research with
Chinese migrants in greater metropolitan Tuscany began reaching out with trepidation ...
framework to contrast the expert views of childhood circulation with those of immigrant parents. We argue that global households underwrite capitalism through
noncapitalist elements that are integral to the economic organization that fast fashion requires. Parents find value in circulating children in its power to activate systems of reciprocity across kin, to create networked bodies across territories, to secure affective bonds across generations, and to free up time so as to enhance their ability to work and make money.
http://www.cambio.unifi.it/CMpro-v-p-95.html
Introduzione alla Sezione Monografica Come è noto, l'antropologia si è affacciata tardi allo studio del lavoro come dimensione autonoma e individuante all'interno delle società cosiddette " complesse " , trovando interessanti ma limitati terreni di applicazione o nello studio dei patrimoni tradizionali e della cultura materiale delle classi subalterne, oppure all'interno dei processi produttivi e delle relazioni caratterizzanti la fabbrica fordista e l'impresa a radicamento territoriale. Se in altri contesti nazionali, quali quello statunitense e francese, si sono andati affermando specifici settori di studi socio-antropologici sul lavoro corredati da insegnamenti universitari, riviste specialistiche e una comunità di studiosi, in Italia gli studi etnografici sul lavoro di taglio sia antropologico che sociologico sono meno numerosi, più frammentati ed episodici (Ceschi 2014; Bruni 2003; Papa 1999). Nonostante la perdurante, anche se mutata, rilevanza e centralità del lavoro nelle società contemporanee, questa carenza di sistematicità, corposità e scambio scientifico intorno ai temi del lavoro e delle sue relazioni con i contesti sociali, le appartenenze, le diversità, ci sembra caratterizzare anche la fase attuale degli approcci antropologici al lavoro nel nostro Paese. Proprio per tenere aperta una finestra di attenzione scientifica e promuovere prospettive empiriche ed etnografiche proiettate verso una migliore comprensione antropologica dell'oggetto lavoro in epoca post-fordista, i due curatori di questo numero tematico hanno cercato di promuovere, all'interno delle attività della Società Italiana di Antropologia Applicata (SIAA), uno spazio di confronto sul tema. Nel II convegno della SIAA, tenutosi a Rimini nel dicembre 2014, è stato lanciato un panel di antropologia del lavoro, al quale hanno risposto alcuni giovani antropologi (perlopiù impegnati in ricerche in ambito di dottorato), che hanno presentato paper di taglio empirico-etnografico e più raramente applicativo. Da quell'occasione è nata l'idea di proporre alla rivista Cambio di accogliere gli sviluppi di quella iniziale riflessione sullo stato dell'antropologia del lavoro in Italia e di farsi contenitore di contributi recenti e di prospettiva socio-culturale ed empirica sul lavoro (alcuni dei quali provengono dal panel promosso a Rimini). Allo scopo di connotare meglio la proposta della call for paper di Cambio e proporre uno snodo attorno a cui posizionare la rivisitazione delle proprie ricerche e riflessioni, abbiamo ritenuto utile ancorare la questione del lavoro a quella delle differenze, invitando a processare i temi del lavoro attraverso la lente delle diversità sociali, culturali, territoriali dei soggetti che lavorano. Il lavoro, in quanto attività prettamente umana e a cui viene attribuito un valore culturale, rispecchia e articola le differenze sociali, etniche, confessionali, di status, di genere e generazione presenti nel contesto sociale. La divisione del lavoro è un principio ed una regola tra le più comuni e costanti nelle società umane e può fondarsi su sesso, età, appartenenza ad una determinata classe o casta, oppure rispecchiare un rapporto di potere tra gruppi diversi (sottomissione, schiavitù). Partendo perciò dall'assunzione che, come recitava il testo della call, " Il lavoro può essere il riflesso di differenze preesistenti come crearne di nuove, può ridurle o accentuarle, ma raramente resta neutrale rispetto ad esse " , era nostro interesse approfondire la questione di come il lavoro, i processi e le relazioni lavorative si incrociano e si sovrappongono con le differenze dei lavoratori, siano esse relative al contesto, a gruppi o a singoli lavoratori. Riteniamo cioè di forte interesse per gli studi antropologici attuali occuparsi di come le differenze di genere, cultura, generazioni, cittadinanza, territorio socio-produttivo scompongono il lavoro, lo stratificano e lo articolano con variabili umane e sociali.
workers are Chinese migrants, whose parenting practices include
circulating children back to China. This paper draws on collaborative research in Prato, Italy, to grasp how Chinese families and individuals encounter the Italian state and negotiate the terms of transnational capitalism. The project innovates an encounter ethnography framework to guide research. This paper investigates the dialectic between economics and intimacy. Chinese immigrants’ desires to make money are situated in three structural encounters, each at a different level of scale: the Wenzhou regional model of economic development; a Central Italian small-firm environment connected to the made in italy brand; and global restructuring of the clothing
industry. These encounters structure migrant experiences. Ethnographic data and interviews with more than 40 parents detail the vocabulary that Chinese mothers and fathers use to portray the value gained or heartache endured from the transnational movement of children.
Underlying sentiments expose how families cope with the demands of globalization, particularly their work in a sector demanding long hours and a fast production schedule. Adjusting to garment work is expressed as a “fistful of tears”; a decision to circulate children into the care of relatives back home is said to be “the only solution.” This paper uses the concept of “global household” (Safri and Graham 2010) to examine the transnational dispersal of kin networks and migrants’ reliance on the affective circuits of those networks. They illuminate, as Marshall Sahlins (2000) observed, how “capitalist forces are realized in other forms and finalities.”
and remote areas: from the memorable examples of Chicago in the early twentieth century to the
widespread urbanization of many areas of central and northern Italy. Production processes and global
connections bringing cities and regions into the flow of cultural and economic change grow there. The
study of Prato – examined from an ethnographic and typically urban perspective - aims to shed light
a) on the current transformation of urban and social fabric long characterized by mixité between work
time and free time and between industrial space and residential space; b) on the perception of safety;
c) on the dynamics of segregation and denial of the city; d) on the possible interpretations of space and
everyday life.
Keywords: Public space, Segregation, Social change, Urbanization.
The article analyzes several aspects related to the presence of migrant worker families, primarily from the Chinese province of Zhejiang, in Prato’s industrial district.
The ethnographic research highlights how Chinese families, specifically immigrants working in the fast-fashion manufacturing sector, adjust to recent dynamics of globalization.
The collaborative project innovates an encounter ethnography methodology to understand how families and individuals negotiate the terms of transnational capitalism.
The analysis shows how resources activated through mechanisms of reciprocity are central to sustaining competitiveness and flexibility. The authors explore some of the practices and contexts of urban life, such as those related to the management of time and of children on the part of parents, who often rely on grandparents or relatives living in China to care for their children for long periods. Analysis extends to the restrictive and discriminatory policies adapted by the local government concerning the use of public space in the urban zones, namely those where migrants have settled, as well as the successful challenge to one such policy.
key words: Globalization, Chinese immigration, Fast fashion, Family firms, Flexible Labor, Encounter ethnography.
Drafts by Massimo Bressan
https://nai010.com/en/publicaties/a-city-of-comings-and-goings/240666
ethnographic laboratory of globalization and crisis. Labeled the most multicultural city of Europe, Prato ranks
No. 1 in terms of ratios of foreign residents to local citizens. Residents grapple with bewildering
transformations and contrasts in work rhythms. Chinese immigrants own or are employed in more than 5,200
Chinese firms registered in Prato’s Chamber of Commerce, a large portion of which manufacture or wholesale
low-cost fast fashion. Different tempos manifest in two neighborhoods, where residents, engaged urban
planners, and anthropologists have launched efforts to counter segregation and xenophobia. This article takes
a Gramscian perspective to expose struggles in different “wars of position.” On the one hand, a right-wing
mayor sustained a hostile and coercive approach to dealing with the immigrant presence. On the other hand,
residents along with engaged urban planners and anthropologists launched a counter-effort in a working-class
neighborhood that has transitioned from Little Italy to Little Wenzhou. The presence of transnational migrant
workers and their families has made the neighborhoods more complex, presenting new challenges and
opportunities for realizing mixité.
coronavirus. Friends, relatives, and colleagues who knew about our ethnographic research with
Chinese migrants in greater metropolitan Tuscany began reaching out with trepidation ...
framework to contrast the expert views of childhood circulation with those of immigrant parents. We argue that global households underwrite capitalism through
noncapitalist elements that are integral to the economic organization that fast fashion requires. Parents find value in circulating children in its power to activate systems of reciprocity across kin, to create networked bodies across territories, to secure affective bonds across generations, and to free up time so as to enhance their ability to work and make money.
http://www.cambio.unifi.it/CMpro-v-p-95.html
Introduzione alla Sezione Monografica Come è noto, l'antropologia si è affacciata tardi allo studio del lavoro come dimensione autonoma e individuante all'interno delle società cosiddette " complesse " , trovando interessanti ma limitati terreni di applicazione o nello studio dei patrimoni tradizionali e della cultura materiale delle classi subalterne, oppure all'interno dei processi produttivi e delle relazioni caratterizzanti la fabbrica fordista e l'impresa a radicamento territoriale. Se in altri contesti nazionali, quali quello statunitense e francese, si sono andati affermando specifici settori di studi socio-antropologici sul lavoro corredati da insegnamenti universitari, riviste specialistiche e una comunità di studiosi, in Italia gli studi etnografici sul lavoro di taglio sia antropologico che sociologico sono meno numerosi, più frammentati ed episodici (Ceschi 2014; Bruni 2003; Papa 1999). Nonostante la perdurante, anche se mutata, rilevanza e centralità del lavoro nelle società contemporanee, questa carenza di sistematicità, corposità e scambio scientifico intorno ai temi del lavoro e delle sue relazioni con i contesti sociali, le appartenenze, le diversità, ci sembra caratterizzare anche la fase attuale degli approcci antropologici al lavoro nel nostro Paese. Proprio per tenere aperta una finestra di attenzione scientifica e promuovere prospettive empiriche ed etnografiche proiettate verso una migliore comprensione antropologica dell'oggetto lavoro in epoca post-fordista, i due curatori di questo numero tematico hanno cercato di promuovere, all'interno delle attività della Società Italiana di Antropologia Applicata (SIAA), uno spazio di confronto sul tema. Nel II convegno della SIAA, tenutosi a Rimini nel dicembre 2014, è stato lanciato un panel di antropologia del lavoro, al quale hanno risposto alcuni giovani antropologi (perlopiù impegnati in ricerche in ambito di dottorato), che hanno presentato paper di taglio empirico-etnografico e più raramente applicativo. Da quell'occasione è nata l'idea di proporre alla rivista Cambio di accogliere gli sviluppi di quella iniziale riflessione sullo stato dell'antropologia del lavoro in Italia e di farsi contenitore di contributi recenti e di prospettiva socio-culturale ed empirica sul lavoro (alcuni dei quali provengono dal panel promosso a Rimini). Allo scopo di connotare meglio la proposta della call for paper di Cambio e proporre uno snodo attorno a cui posizionare la rivisitazione delle proprie ricerche e riflessioni, abbiamo ritenuto utile ancorare la questione del lavoro a quella delle differenze, invitando a processare i temi del lavoro attraverso la lente delle diversità sociali, culturali, territoriali dei soggetti che lavorano. Il lavoro, in quanto attività prettamente umana e a cui viene attribuito un valore culturale, rispecchia e articola le differenze sociali, etniche, confessionali, di status, di genere e generazione presenti nel contesto sociale. La divisione del lavoro è un principio ed una regola tra le più comuni e costanti nelle società umane e può fondarsi su sesso, età, appartenenza ad una determinata classe o casta, oppure rispecchiare un rapporto di potere tra gruppi diversi (sottomissione, schiavitù). Partendo perciò dall'assunzione che, come recitava il testo della call, " Il lavoro può essere il riflesso di differenze preesistenti come crearne di nuove, può ridurle o accentuarle, ma raramente resta neutrale rispetto ad esse " , era nostro interesse approfondire la questione di come il lavoro, i processi e le relazioni lavorative si incrociano e si sovrappongono con le differenze dei lavoratori, siano esse relative al contesto, a gruppi o a singoli lavoratori. Riteniamo cioè di forte interesse per gli studi antropologici attuali occuparsi di come le differenze di genere, cultura, generazioni, cittadinanza, territorio socio-produttivo scompongono il lavoro, lo stratificano e lo articolano con variabili umane e sociali.
workers are Chinese migrants, whose parenting practices include
circulating children back to China. This paper draws on collaborative research in Prato, Italy, to grasp how Chinese families and individuals encounter the Italian state and negotiate the terms of transnational capitalism. The project innovates an encounter ethnography framework to guide research. This paper investigates the dialectic between economics and intimacy. Chinese immigrants’ desires to make money are situated in three structural encounters, each at a different level of scale: the Wenzhou regional model of economic development; a Central Italian small-firm environment connected to the made in italy brand; and global restructuring of the clothing
industry. These encounters structure migrant experiences. Ethnographic data and interviews with more than 40 parents detail the vocabulary that Chinese mothers and fathers use to portray the value gained or heartache endured from the transnational movement of children.
Underlying sentiments expose how families cope with the demands of globalization, particularly their work in a sector demanding long hours and a fast production schedule. Adjusting to garment work is expressed as a “fistful of tears”; a decision to circulate children into the care of relatives back home is said to be “the only solution.” This paper uses the concept of “global household” (Safri and Graham 2010) to examine the transnational dispersal of kin networks and migrants’ reliance on the affective circuits of those networks. They illuminate, as Marshall Sahlins (2000) observed, how “capitalist forces are realized in other forms and finalities.”
and remote areas: from the memorable examples of Chicago in the early twentieth century to the
widespread urbanization of many areas of central and northern Italy. Production processes and global
connections bringing cities and regions into the flow of cultural and economic change grow there. The
study of Prato – examined from an ethnographic and typically urban perspective - aims to shed light
a) on the current transformation of urban and social fabric long characterized by mixité between work
time and free time and between industrial space and residential space; b) on the perception of safety;
c) on the dynamics of segregation and denial of the city; d) on the possible interpretations of space and
everyday life.
Keywords: Public space, Segregation, Social change, Urbanization.
The article analyzes several aspects related to the presence of migrant worker families, primarily from the Chinese province of Zhejiang, in Prato’s industrial district.
The ethnographic research highlights how Chinese families, specifically immigrants working in the fast-fashion manufacturing sector, adjust to recent dynamics of globalization.
The collaborative project innovates an encounter ethnography methodology to understand how families and individuals negotiate the terms of transnational capitalism.
The analysis shows how resources activated through mechanisms of reciprocity are central to sustaining competitiveness and flexibility. The authors explore some of the practices and contexts of urban life, such as those related to the management of time and of children on the part of parents, who often rely on grandparents or relatives living in China to care for their children for long periods. Analysis extends to the restrictive and discriminatory policies adapted by the local government concerning the use of public space in the urban zones, namely those where migrants have settled, as well as the successful challenge to one such policy.
key words: Globalization, Chinese immigration, Fast fashion, Family firms, Flexible Labor, Encounter ethnography.
Giunto alla sua decima edizione, quest’anno il Convegno Nazionale della Società Italiana di Antropologia Applicata vuole essere un’occasione di confronto sul tema della sostenibilità. Ospitate a Verona, le giornate del convegno daranno vita a dibattiti, sessioni scientifiche, laboratori, presentazioni di libri ed eventi dedicati all’antropologia applicata alle prese con diverse dimensioni della sostenibilità, intesa in senso ampio, nei suoi significati ontologici, biologici, culturali, economici, politici. I momenti di discussione e sperimentazione che il Convegno ospiterà saranno aperti anche alla cittadinanza, alle realtà associative e professionali del territorio e agli amministratori sensibili a una realizzazione innovativa delle politiche pubbliche in questo ambito.
RETHINKING SUSTAINABILITY THROUGH APPLIED ANTHROPOLOGY
Now at its tenth edition, this year’s National Conference of the Italian Society of Applied Anthropology aims to provide an opportunity for discussion on the theme of sustainability. Hosted in Verona, the conference days will feature debates, scientific sessions, workshops, book presentations and events dedicated to applied anthropology as it grapples with the various dimensions of sustainability, understood in the broadest sense, in its ontological, biological, cultural, economic and political meanings. The moments of discussion and experimentation at the Conference will also be open to the local public, associations and professionals as well as to administrators who are receptive to an innovative implementation of public policies in this field.
NEXT GENERATION: PROSPETTIVE ANTROPOLOGICHE
Open the calls for the IX CONFERENCE SIAA
SOCIETA' ITALIANA DI ANTROPOLOGIA APPLICATA
ITALIAN SOCIETY APPLIED ANTHROPOLOGY
Roma, 15 / 18 Dicembre 2021
https://siaa-next-gen.it
The debate will be on 4 topics:
new environmentalisms, territorial development policies, training and new forms of inequality.
“Dalla governance al controllo. Ostacoli e asimmetrie nella gestione
della diversità nelle città e nel lavoro”