"Help Them Back Home": Italian Fantasies of (Neoliberal) Inclusion From Buona Scuola to Salvini's Government

• In Event: 66.063 - Disrupting Neoliberal, Deficit, and Colonial-Based Inclusion in the Post-Truth Era: Global Perspectives

Abstract

Objectives or Purposes

Italy’s last general election, and the turmoil preceding it, offers a great example of post-truth politics and the exploitation of civil society’s emotion to pursue an anti-immigration and anti-Blackness agenda. This paper explores this issue by highlighting how inclusion in the Italian context has shifted from the Marxist model based on solidarity of Integrazione Scolastica (see D’Alessio, 2011) to a neoliberal approach which targets Black migrant and forced-migrant children. The introduction of Renzi’s policy reform, Buona Scuola, marked this shift towards neoliberal inclusion, and the current far right government, led by Salvini, adds a populist character to it, evident in his mantra of “helping them back home”. Drawing from Butler’s (1997) notions of subjectivation and referring to Tomlinson’s (1982) concept of benevolent humanitarianism, I analyze how Italian educators conceptualize the inclusion of migrants and refugees through neoliberal fantasies. However, the space of neoliberal inclusion is ableist, racist, and exclusionary. Ultimately, the paper advances the intersectional approach of Disability Critical Race Theory (DisCrit) to (re)frame educational and social inclusion in Italy and to refute a neoliberal model that perpetuates racial disparities (Annamma, Connor, Ferri, 2013:2016).

Perspectives or Theoretical Framework(s)

I locate Italian educators’ and professionals’ thinking and actions within the historical and continuing impact of neoliberalism in contemporary life (Harvey, 2005). I draw from Butler’s (1997) notion of subjectivation to show how white Italian educators render migrant and forced-migrant children as ‘deserving’ or ‘undeserving’ subjects to be included in spaces that are defined in neoliberal terms. According to Butler (1997), subjectivation denotes the process of subjection, which is literally, the making of a subject, the principle of regulation according to which a subject is formulated or produced. Interestingly, educators’ fantasies of neoliberal inclusion stand in contradiction with their intention to do justice to forced-migrant children. This is because their moral framework is permeated with “benevolent humanitarianism” (Tomlinson, 1982, p. 5), which is indeed punitive and paternalistic.

Methods

This paper draws on a study conceived as a qualitative constructivist grounded theory (Charmaz, 2014). The analysis presented here is based on seventeen interviews with educators and professionals from nine different refugee organizations in Rome. Data was gathered in the period between 2016 and 2017, when Buona Scuola was implemented. All stages of the research process comply with the AERA Code of Ethics.

Results and Significance

I present the results through the three sub-categories of neoliberal inclusion to which migrant children should comply in order to be subjectivated as ‘deserving’ refugees. ‘Learning Italian as a second language’, ‘finding a job,’ and ‘finding a house’ are the material elements that forced migrant youth should pursue to become ‘autonomous’.

This paper contributes to examination of educators’ fantasies of neoliberal inclusion, which (forced) migrants should respect and highlighting their benevolent humanitarianism in the approach to justice. Additionally, the use of DisCrit for (re)framing inclusion and promoting relationships based in solidarity offers us a unique tool to resist.

Author

• Valentina Migliarini, Alma Mater Studiorum University of Bologna