From a country of emigrants, Italy has recently become a receiver of migrants. These new, reverse direction migratory flows have triggered strong reactions by Italians, such as nativist discourses about national culture and identity and aggressive, exclusionary, anti-immigration politics. This chapter explores how everyday Italian discursive practices—joke-telling, in particular—operate in relation to these politics, at times totally or partially excluding migrants while simultaneously creating intimate spaces of inclusion for Italians. By codeswitching, for example, from standardized Italian into their local code during joke-telling performances that feature migrants, Northern Italian speech participants address audiences who are presumed to “share” this code while enacting exclusionary stances. This chapter also demonstrates that dichotomies such as exclusion/inclusion are inadequate analytical tools, and it proposes more processual approaches to participation.
Book Review: Bootlegged Aliens: Immigration Politics on America’s Northern Border
