Pietro Saitta

History, space, and power: theoretical and methodological problems in the research on areas at (industrial) risk

The present article discusses methods and theoretical problems in the research on areas at industrial risk, using examples and problems deriving from studies conducted in Sicily, as well as the review of a number of contemporary studies. The author argues that much of the contemporary research on areas at risk focuses on the ‘elites’ (environmental movements, boards of citizens, and the like) rather than on populations, and does not reflect on the general ambivalence of the inhabitants. This tendency is also related to the frequent lack of historical analyses on the milieus hosting industrial plants, and the rhetoric employed by authorities and charismatic leaders in order to convince the populations to accept the industries into their territories. The author also reflects on the concept of space and notices that many studies focus mostly on the process of production of slums, neglecting the role of the industrial villages in the creation of perceptions and attitudes towards industry. In a similar manner, the state of local economies is often ignored in many analyses, so that considerations on the possibilities for alternative models of development are not provided. Yet, in spite of the fact that the current debate on risk is characterized by critical approaches, a number of studies appear to be implicitly conservative and cooperative with regard to state and capital and do not adequately reflect on the role of power in determining narratives and behaviors in areas at risk.

The Regionalization of the Public Health System and New Governance Models for Healthcare: The Stroke Network Case In Italy

This article describes the outcomes of a 2009 study into the reasons for the regional differences in implementation of “stroke networks” in Italy. Evidence shows that early diagnosis and delivery of treatment in specialized stroke units, including rehabilitation therapy, can reduce the risks of death and disability. Nevertheless, there are significant differences and delays in the implementation of such practices. To understand the reasons for the delays, measures were examined, including decision makers’ agendas, regional budget limitations,organizational delays, structural complexity, competition over scarce resources, power structure differences, and informal practices. This study outlines five main models of management and shows how competition with private hospitals, internal rivalries involving professionals and medical sectors, expenditure restraints, and a lack of well-trained personnel represent the main obstacles to the development and operation of stroke units.

Poteri e resistenze. Economie informali, illegalità, subalternità

The essay explores the links between «informal economies» and the concept of «resistance». The author argues that the illegalities of the marginal classes should be looked at through their connection to those of the elite classes and the Government. Within this framework, the informal economy is both the outcome of a set of material conditions aiming at the subordinated inclusion of entire classes of citizens, and a sign of the desire of those citizens to evade the limits imposed on them by legislations and social hierarchies. In contrast with the dominant rhetoric on public order, informal economy is seen in this context as a particular area of engagement and effort of the «marginals» aimed to create paradoxical forms of inclusion

Prostituzione e contrasto: auto-etnografia di un incidente giudiziario

The present auto-ethnography discusses the arrest of a researcher engaged in the study of female street prostitution. The event becomes a way to reflect on the nature of the recently implemented tackling measures of commercial sex in Italy, and the consolidation process of a new penal ethic based on prevention and new powers for the police forces. In this framework, popular media discourse and police activism get intertwined and cause a lethal combination that produces authoritarian scenarios in the government of security.

Practices of subjectivity: the informal economies and the subaltern rebellion

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the links between “informal economies” and the concept of “resistance.” The author argues that the petty illegalities of the dominated and subaltern classes should be seen in their connections to the illegalism of the elites and the state. Within this framework, the informal economy is seen as both the outcome of a set of material conditions aiming at the subordinated inclusion of entire classes of citizens, and the mark of the willingness by these same subalterns to evade the bonds imposed on them by the legislations and the social hierarchies. Design/methodology/approach A review of the ethnographical and socio-economical literature on the issue of informality, accompanied by ex-post reflections on pertinent studies conducted in the past by the researcher. Findings Against the dominant public rhetoric, the informal economy is here seen as a particular space of enactment by the dominated and subalterns aimed at self-producing paradoxical forms of inclusion within social contexts characterized by barriers to access integration within mainstream society. It is argued that in consideration of the power relations that structure the “field,” researchers themselves become part of the struggle counterpoising individuals and institutions, and should thus make a choice among the clashing parties. Originality/value The paper draws on a vast body of literature that appears to go in the same direction. However, it radicalizes the instances proposed by previous authors and studies, and draws conclusions concerning the nature of the object and the ethics of research, that are opposed to the prevalent approaches to the subject.

Environment and the Citizens: Popular Struggles, Popular Epidemiology, and Other Forms of Resistance “From Below” in Areas at Risk Worldwide—An Introduction

Environmental issues are at the center of struggles ongoing in a number of different countries and for different reasons. Many of those struggles, however, are connected with the effects of industrialization on public health and/or the land. The discovery of significant epidemiological rates related to the presence of industrial plants often produces strong reactions from the populations of polluted areas. Such reactions generate a need for responses that involve courts, the law, and experts, and produce a subsequent cycle of uncertainty. When different and contradictory interests are at stake (especially those related to labor and the economy of the affected areas), populations and communities can become divided, with their outlook on themselves put to a serious test. Likewise, the planning of mega-infrastructures (bridges, tunnels, highways, and so forth) is often opposed by the inhabitants of territories where these projects are to be implemented. Again, in most cases, locals argue, for example, that the new infrastructures will impact the environment or the health conditions of their communities. They also often oppose certain uses of the land, commodification of natural resources, and the decision processes leading to institutional choices.

Final remarks: Italy, dreams of a monochrome society?

This article summarizes the major outcomes of the studies presented in two special issues of JMIS on children of immigrants in Italy. The authors suggest that Italy is a monochrome society – a society that truly cannot imagine itself as multicultural. The master narrative emerging from opinion polls, political rhetoric and government policy and practice is that Italy remains a white, Catholic nation rooted in Italian soil.The reality this storyline obscures, if not denies, is the significant numerical presence of immigrants, their structural contributions to the economy and Italian competitiveness, and the obvious presence of a new kind of Italian (and therefore the beginnings of a new Italy), seen most clearly in the figure of youth of foreign origins. Italy has changed but it is not keen to acknowledge it.

The earthquake and the shanty: Post-disaster social order in a sicilian town (1908-2013)

This study explores the historical development of a deprived class in Messina, a Southern Italian city. By means of 85 in-depth interviews and the analysis of the most important phases of the reconstruction following a disastrous earthquake which took place in 1908, the authors investigate the forces that, over the course of a century, shaped the formation process of an “underclass�? living in shanties and deprived project areas within the city. The authors’ hypothesis is that the “economy of disaster�? and the “shock economy�? are not a specific feature of the current period. On the contrary, the elements characterizing the contemporary disaster-related speculative processes were largely active at the very beginning of the past century. This chapter, then, explores the long-lasting social consequences of speculative approaches to the management of disasters, and reflects on the forms of resistance of subaltern populations to an organization of life that started in the aftermath of a remote earthquake, and still affects their living conditions and ways of reproduction.

“Pump!”: The Construction of Fascist Personalities in the Italian Armed Forces

It may at first seem odd to include work on fascism in this journal. However, nature includes human nature, which changes over time, shaped in most subtle ways both by largely long-term evolutionary processes and by socialization—mostly of the repressive variety under capitalist relations—as well as the struggle for self-realization. Human nature is much more malleable and diverse than most would prefer to believe. As Karl Marx had it, “the human essence is no abstraction inherent in each single individual. In its reality it is the ensemble of the social relations” (Thesis VI of the Theses on Feuerbach). Such an ensemble includes, in capitalist societies, the making of authoritarians (and of its necessary corollary, generalized indifference), a process embedded in the formalities, rituals, and the quotidian coercions of multifarious institutions constituting a capitalist mode of production, among which are workplaces, households, associations (religious, academic, syndicalist, sports, journalism, etc.), and state organs (prisons, governments, bureaucracies, military, police, schools, etc.). One outcome, in some contexts, is the rise and reproduction of fascism as a specific type of authoritarian process. But it is, arguably, a much more widespread process than is often assumed. It is deceptive to think of it in terms reducible to the Italian context, from which its name is derived. Fascism is a potential outcome in any capitalist society and as such, it obliges leftists of any camp anywhere to be especially alert to its sometimes subtle signs. Fascism—in some ways akin, if not directly related to, settler colonialism and genocide—is, among other things, a capitalist class expedient, but one that can devour even those who hasten its onset. And one should dare state that the current period is rife with possibilities for a globalized recrudescence of fascism.