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Abstract
The Arbërëshe are an Albanian minority residing in southern Italy. Comparing the previous anthropological literature, this study analyses the Arbëreshë minority and considers three main topics that have contributed to highlighting the differences between Arbëreshë and Italian communities throughout the centuries: the Arbërisht language, ethnic endogamy, and Greek-Byzantine religious Rite. Using ethnographic fieldwork, these three main topics, which outline the Arbëreshë identity, have been examined in a community in the Italian Arbëria, San Costantino Albanese. The aim of the research is to understand changes in Arbëreshë identity resulting from recent social changes due to the modernization process and interactions with recent Albanian immigrants.
Keywords: old and new minorities; Arbëreshë communities; Albanian immigrants; identity construction; integration process
Introduction
On 8 August 1991, the ship Ylora sailed from Dürres, Albania carrying approximately 20,000 Albanian immigrants and subsequendy docked in the port of Bari on the southeast Italian peninsula. The image of Vlora overflowing with immigrants represented much more than a news story; it represented an epochal moment that struck the Italian collective consciousness (Gaeta, 2011). The massive exodus of Albanians, which occurred between March and August 1991, was a first taste of "otherness" for the Italian people, and resulted in a period of reflection on international migration. Italy, which has a long history as a country of emigration, thus had become a country of immigration.
Soon, however, relations between Italians and Albanian migrants approached a breaking point; the shared experience of emigration did not connect the two groups because the Albanians reminded the Italians (especially those from the south) of their own history of migration, which had been caused by endemic poverty. Therefore, the Albanians were perceived as usurpers of jobs and direct competitors in the fragile southern economy. The fear of returning to a state of misery generated significant racism towards Albanians which was manifested, particularly during the peak of the immigrants' arrival, by strong prejudices and obvious discrimination (Resta, 1996).
Over time, many Albanian immigrants decided to remain in Italy. Some of them encountered the Arbëreshë minority, descendants of old Albanian immigrants who had left Albania between the late 14th and the 18th centuries to settie in several communities in southern Italy due to the Turkish invasion of their homeland. Today, the resident...