Giving A Voice to Immigrants. Tensions and Paradoxes in Participatory Theatre (Turin, Italy)
Giving A Voice to Immigrants. Tensions and Paradoxes in Participatory Theatre (Turin, Italy)

Author(s): Francesca Quercia
Subject(s): Migration Studies
Published by: Transnational Press London
Keywords: cultural and urban policies; working-class neighborhoods, minoritization; ethnicization; culturalization;
Summary/Abstract: Over the last thirty years, with the redefinition of cultural and urban policies, artists have been assigned social missions: strengthening social ties, contributing to breaking down barriers in working-class neighborhoods, and integrating immigrants. This process has taken place in many European countries, including Italy. As part of urban renewal programs, many theatre associations have become involved in working-class neighborhoods. They have created art projects involving immigrants, with a dual purpose of “integration” and “empowerment”. Based on an ethnographic study in a theatreassociation, this article illustrates how its director tried to empower immigrants, but was faced with a set of contradictions. Despite her antiracial beliefs, she ended up contributing to the minoritization of immigrants. This process confines minorities to a radical otherness over which they have little power.

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