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The topic of Italian migration to Australia, focusing on the literature regarding the presence of Italian migrants, their language, and ethnic identity in the Australian context. The document also discusses various approaches to studying Italian identity in Australia.
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This thesis does not contain work that I have published, nor work under review for publication.
Candidate’s Signature
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I am grateful to my supervisors, Prof. John Kinder and Prof. Marinella Caruso for guiding me with their knowledge, patience and support throughout these years. I also thank you and the rest of the Italian department of the University of Western Australia, for welcoming me with enthusiasm and for making me feel at home. I hope to enjoy many more coffees with you in the future. I would also like to thank the University of Western Australia and, in particular, the Graduate Research School and the School of Humanities for the support I received during my candidature. A big ‘Thank you’ goes to all the people who accepted to take part in this research. It was a real pleasure to meet you, observe you and listen to your words. I could not have hoped for a more ‘convivial’ and enjoyable PhD thesis and the friendship of many of you I now enjoy is certainly one of the most exciting results of this thesis. I am also grateful to my family in Italy, especially to my parents, for accepting my decision to come to Australia. I know how much you miss me and I am happy I can share with you the joy of seeing the result of these years of separation. And thanks to you, Pietro. You are teaching me to put things into perspective and to be a stronger, more efficient person, if constantly sleep deprived… Finally, I am grateful to Fabio, above all, and I am looking forward to reading your own PhD thesis.
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1.1.1 Goffman and the interaction order 9 1.1.2 Garfinkel and Ethnomethodology 12 1.1.3 Sacks and Conversation Analysis 14 1.1.3.1 Contrastive and Italian-based CA 19 1.1.4 Membership Categorisation Analysis 20 1.1.5 Multidisciplinary approaches to social interaction 23 1.1.5.1 Interactional Sociolinguistics 23 1.1.5.2 Sociocultural Linguistics 26
1.2.1 Identity before and after the ‘constructionist turn’ 28 1.2.2 The notion of interactional identity 30 1.2.3 Performing identity in interaction 31
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The aim of the present research is to investigate the construction and negotiation of interactional identities in the linguistic practices of Italians who recently migrated to Australia. In applying an interactional approach based on the theoretical paradigm of social constructionism, I set out to explore which identity categories ‘new’ migrants make relevant in interaction and the means through which these categories are established and negotiated. I base my analysis on the notion of interactional identity, introduced in the social sciences around the 1980s and 1990s, and now one of the most recognised approaches to the study of identity. Its theoretical assumption is that identity is not a given-by-nature attribute of the Self, but is constructed, performed and negotiated through social interaction. Therefore, rather than being a solid and unchangeable core of the individual, identiti es are multiple, ever shifting and context bound. In this study I apply this approach to the setting of contemporary Italian migration to Australia. During the last decade or so and, in particular, after the 2008 Global Financial Crisis, the number of young Italians moving to Australia has been constantly increasing; this phenomenon is often referred to both by academic (Baldassar and Pyke 2014) and non-academic studies (Moritsch 2012; Della Bernardina et al. 2013) as ‘new’ Italian migration, as a way to mark the difference with previous waves of Italian migrants. In this thesis I use this expression to refer specifically to those individuals who migrated to Australia after 2000, to choose a symbolic milestone, and in particular after 2008 and the Global Financial Crisis. This phenomenon is progressively acquiring significance both from a qualitative and a quantitative point of view, and my research aims at filling a gap in the academic literature. Whereas previous waves of Italian migration to Australia have been extensively studied (see Chapter II), contemporary flows are still basically unexplored. The present research, therefore, is among the first academic works that specifically tackles the phenomenon of new Italian migration to Australia and offers some insights into the differences from and similarities to previous cohorts of migrants. In introducing the field of research, therefore, I also present a detailed qualitative and quantitative analysis of contemporary Italian migration to Australia, based mainly on available statistical data. My analysis is based on about twenty hours of video recorded conversations during dinner parties among ‘new’ migrants and their partners. The choice of this typology of data was dictated by the methodological paradigms I adopted, that is, Ethnography and Conversation Analysis, as both these approaches emphasise the importance of basing analysis on naturally occurring data, rather than on questionnaires or structured interviews. Another fundamental methodological principle I embraced during data analysis is Ethnography’s stance against
Each of the three analytical chapters is subdivided into two main sections: sections 4.1, 5.1, and 6.1 tackle an aspect of the topic discussed which emerged from the analysis as particularly significant and therefore deserves specific attention. These sections are informed by a more discourse-analytic approach, as they investigate more general conversational dynamics and analyse broader social identities, whereas sections 4.2, 5.2, and 6.2 represent a conversation-analytic discussion stricto sensu. Moreover, while in the former sections identities are often ‘talked about’ by participants, in the latter they are ‘acted out’ and negotiated through interaction. In sections 4.2, 5.2 and 6.2 my analysis strongly benefits from the insights of Conversation Analysis and Membership Categorisation Analysis, as participants’ deployment of categories and the oppositions they establish between them play a crucial role in the identity work they carry out. In these sections I also discuss interactants’ use of conversational strategies such as footing and positioning, as well as linguistic and para-linguistic features in carrying out identity work. Finally, I present some concluding remarks and point out the areas most in need of further academic research.
