From ethnic and faith communities to identity politics

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From ethnic and faith communities to
identity politics?

• A journey into the self-representations of
  Senegalese immigrants in Italy

CRONEM Conference 2006 Multicultural Britain
From Anti-Racism to Identity Politics to ?
University of Surrey / Roehampton University,
14-15th June 2006
Giulia Sinatti University of Milan-Bicocca London
School of Economics
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Identity politics

• is not social identity,
• which may be based on
• ethnicity and/or religion
• (Baumann 1999)

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Ethnicity and religion

• what role do both elements play in emerging
  forms of contemporary migrations such as
  transnational migrations?

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Senegalese migrants ...

• constitute a labour diaspora
• (Cohen 1997) of first generation migrants,
  strongly oriented
• towards return

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Senegalese migrants

• have an established tendency to form
  congregations (Knox 1995)
• i.e. to give birth to self-isolated
• communities within urban settings

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Among such urban settings

• Zingonia offers
• highly spatially segregated urban periphery
• degraded, but cheap residential housing blocks
• opportunities for unskilled employment in
  blue-collar work

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Zingonia a Little Senegal

• Constructed on the basis of
• Common social identification ...
• ... along religious
• and/or ethnic lines.

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The religious argument

• Little Senegals as
• places of Islam
• Aiming at the preservation of Senegalese
  tradition and religious integrity.
• Inward looking strategy, against the prospect of
  multi-cultural dialogue.

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The ethnic argument

• Little Senegals as
• a place in which to shake off nostalgia by
  mingling with fellow countrymen
• Aiming at common identification along the lines
  of shared nationality and culture.
• Outward looking strategy, with potential for
  generating multi-cultural dialogue, but also of
  being strumentalised and developing into
  identity polics.

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Thank you and advice is more than welcome!
Giulia Sinatti University of Milan-Bicocca London
School of Economics
July 2006