Work, Family and Integration: Indian Migrant Farmers in Northern Italy (Migration, Minorities and Modernity, 6)

This book examines the migration of Indians (mainly from the Punjab region in north India) to parts of northern Italy, especially the Emilia-Romagna region. It analyzes the mobility patterns of migrants who occupy a niche in the labour market and unpacks the forward and backward linkages that migrants imagine, experience, and endure, not only in the context of the materiality of livelihood opportunities and income generation in Italy but also through affect, as potential immigrants and then as migrants, in a territorial and imagined space. The book unravels uncertainties and anxieties about identity among youth, women, and men through in-depth interviews. It also examines a reassertion of cultural tropes that portray identity in marked and vexed ways. The book brings a mutual recognition and acceptance of diversity, or its lack, in a European nation. It stands out for its nuanced ethnographic detail, its attention to the voices of youth and women, and exploration of their relationshipwith the host community. The book, therefore, is a must-read for everybody interested in a better understanding of migration and the culture of migration in different countries. Acknowledgements Contents About the Author List of Figures List of Tables 1 Introduction: Migration and Food Production in Emilia-Romagna 1.1 Intent of this Study 1.2 The Context for Emigration: Punjab, India 1.3 The Context and Setting: Emilia-Romagna, Italy 1.4 Making Parmesan Cheese in Emilia-Romagna 1.5 The Field: Emilia-Romagna 1.6 Fidenza and its Environs 1.7 Methodology References 2 Migration, Transnationalism, Culture 2.1 Dialectics between the Nation-State and Immigrants 2.2 State Policies and their Impact on the Flow of Migrants 2.3 Transnational Mobility and Transnationalism 2.4 Gender Relations in Migration: Hybridity and Agency 2.5 The Dynamics of Mobility 2.6 Imagined Landscapes, Fulfilled Dreams? 2.7 Concluding Comments References 3 Social Isolation, Uncertainty and Change: Women’s Experience of Mobility and its Consequences 3.1 Punjabi Women in Emilia-Romagna 3.2 ‘Doobta dil’ (sinking hearts): Strategising to Cross the Divide 3.3 ‘Kuchh kho gaya hai’ (something is lost): Young Girls and Social Exclusion in High School 3.4 Difficult Circumstances, Changing Contexts 3.5 Concluding Comments References 4 The Dilemmas of being Young and an Immigrant: Family, Belonging and Freedom 4.1 Youth, the Family, and the Experience of Double Exclusion 4.2 Absent Spouse: The Intensity of Familial Separation and Loss 4.3 Freedom and Familial Loss: ‘Mujhe azadi se bahut pyar hai’ (I have a deep love for independence) 4.4 Concluding Comments References 5 Pathways of Integration: Individual and Collective Strategies for ‘Co-integration’ 5.1 Complexities and Paradoxes 5.2 Italy is like a ‘meethi (sweet) jail’ 5.3 Building Cosmopolitan Sociability through Religious Institutions 5.4 A Fractured Social Fabric: the Migrant as a Soulless Inmate 5.5 Concluding Comments References Index