Davide Zoletto

Playing for Identity: Cricket, Social Positioning and Shared Learning in Italian Public Parks.

This study focuses on the ways in which a cultural practice such as playing cricket in public might contribute to structuring the identity of young immigrants in Italy, and on the role that the practice of cricket in Italian public parks might play in intercultural educational projects which aim to foster cross-cultural interactions in non-formal educational contexts. The paper will begin with an outline of the theoretical framework that underpins the study, which is principally based on the notion of ‘positional identity’ proposed by Stuart Hall and on the notions of ‘stigma’ and ‘stigmatization’ proposed by Erving Goffman and Abdelmalek Sayad. This will be followed by a brief description of the way in which playing cricket in public parks can be seen as a practice to gain positions and to reassert identity. The paper will continue with an analysis of the modes of self-representation adopted by young migrant players in their choice of team name. The paper will finally discuss some of the educational implications of playing cricket in public parks, drawing on the example of a mobilization in defence of a public park where native and Bengali children generally play football and cricket. As a conclusion, the paper emphasizes the importance of starting from shared problems in order to promote a sense of situational co-belonging between migrants and Italians as a basis for enhanced intercultural interaction.

A scale for assessing Italian schools and classes inclusiveness

Il contributo presenta in dettaglio le procedure di costruzione e validazione di uno strumento per valutare i processi inclusivi riferit i ai contesti scolastici, chiamato “Scala di Valutazione dei Processi Inclusivi”. Frutto del lav oro congiunto svolto dagli autori, la Scala si pone come uno strumento valutativo e autovalutat ivo utile a consentire da un lato, la realizzazione di specifiche forme di misurazione e, dall’altro, la promozione di processi di riflessione sugli indicatori di qualita dell’educaz ione inclusiva, per contribuire alla progettazione e alla regolazione in itinere del pro getto educativo della scuola e della classe. Lo strumento, anche nella sua versione digitale, co nsente di pianificare ricerche, che possono raccogliere evidenze in grado di avvalorare l’organizzazione scolastica italiana di full inclusion .

Situated learning, post-migrant youth and ludic spaces in diverse urban environments in Italy

The aim of this article is to offer introductory theoretical arguments in order to research the role that urban ludic spaces play in post-migrants everyday processes of situated learning. I discuss how situated learning processes are embedded in everyday webs of relationships, with special reference to spatial construction of intersectionality within power laden spaces affecting the way in which communities of practice develop in urban areas. I draw on results from a previous research carried out in diverse neighbourhoods of central and north-east Italian cities as an example of the way in which public playgrounds could be laden by power and could in this way affect the opportunities to share everyday practices and to build up a community of practices in non-formal and informal learning environments.