THE INTERVIEW BEGINS

Last week I recorded a handful of interviews in Bisaccia and Cairano—all women who emigrated to Switzerland and/or Belgium.

So far, no one has shared any particularly shocking or frustrating experiences she had abroad as an emigrant. In fact, one woman in her late 70s who lived in Lausanne for 30-plus years said that the only people who had bad experiences abroad were people who were lazy and didn’t want to work. She added that this is the problem with Albanians in Italy today: “They don’t come here wanting to work.”

I was afraid I’d have a hard time staying quiet when someone said something objectionable to me, but I think I’m doing a decent job at keeping my mouth shut and letting people talk. I haven’t reviewed at length any of the interviews, though, and perhaps I should. (I’m using a portable DV cam to record the interviews.)

I’ve got some other interviews lined up—with people who emigrated to Venezuela, Uruquay, and the U.S.—and more contacts to follow up on. I was hoping to find more people who have returned from the U.S., or even Canada, Argentina, Venezuela, cioe’, the Americas (rather than Northern Europe), but it’s not as easy as I thought. It makes sense, of course—the majority of the postwar emigrants from Campania moved to Northern Italy or Northern Europe (even if my personal experience is one of parents who went abroad).
On another note, next week we’ll spend time in Montemarano, Paternopoli and elsewhere to follow-up on some more potential “informants” and check out the local Carnevale celebrations . . . “D” can’t decide if he wants to be a cowboy (w/lasso, senza fucile), batman, or a piece of “pasta corta”.