EMIGRATION/IMMIGRATION

Here are a few recent observations regarding the theme of my research.

Emigration continues from this area. While Italians once left hoping to find blue-collar work, now they leave hoping to land office jobs or professional positions. The young Italians here who have decided to stay (those with or without university degrees), seem to shrug and accept their future life here. They know they can live here—comfortably enough, near their family, even without much work (their families own land and homes and the cost of living is low). But they can’t really go far beyond what they already have (I’m speaking mainly in material terms). Not that getting ahead financially is the only measure of a person’s happiness; but in talking to young Italians here there seems to be a widespread sense of apathy. (I find this different than, for instance, the young people I teach in the community college in Berkeley/Oakland—kids who, whatever their goals, seem to be thinking towards a future different than their present.)

At the same time, more and more people are moving here. I asked one Ukrainian man last week why he stays in Calitiri and not in a bigger city that might offer a better paying job and more aid for immigrants. He said he’s happy to have ended up in such a calm place, a place with little crime and a slow pace of life. It makes being a foreigner easier, he thought. It means there are fewer worries for him and his family.

Then we talked about the way Italians complain about the lack of work even as immigrants flock here to make a living. He’s been in the area for eight years (he works in a factory), his wife and children five years (she takes care of an elderly woman). He said, “Yes, the Italians keep on leaving, even in the time I’ve been here, and we keep on coming.”

One short note: the elections are this Sunday and Monday. The campaigning stopped on Friday, the opinion polls have been prohibited by Italian law for the last two weeks, but British odds makers have Prodi as a solid favorite.