I arrived in Rome with Sterling on August 13th. It has now been a little over a month and I feel that this experience has truly had its ups and downs. I had finally felt comfortable with my racial identity before this trip. I was adopted from India when I was three months old. My family is white yet based on my appearance I am an Indian American. I have learned throughout my life that there is a strong assumption that most people live with their biological parents therefore their culture, tradition, and language must be related to where their parents are from. That is not the case for me. My experience in the Sates and now here has contributed to my interest in immigrant youth and their experience with education in Italy.
I have never been as aware of my racial ethnicity here, as I have in my entire life in the United States. I have not gone one day without being asked about my racial ethnicity, typically it is assumed that I must be Sri Lankan. As I explain that I was born in India but grew up in the United States people tend to assume that my parents must be Indian, and many assumptions about my culture, tradition, and language have been made, after a while it becomes very draining to explain my situation and often there is a strong language barrier. Many cannot seem to accept the fact that despite my appearance I am an American (I am guessing I do not fit their stereotype of a typical American). In the United States anyone can be an African American, Asian American, Native American, etc. Here the general attitude is that you are an Italian or a foreigner. Considering that my race has consistently been a factor in people’s perception of me here I can only imagine what it may be like for many immigrants. Each person’s experience on this trip in our class has been very different, and in large part, race seems to be a factor in contributing to our different experiences and views.
To me, race is a social construct. This trip has definitely supported this idea. There are different perceptions of the same racial groups in Italy and the U.S. Although race is socially constructed I have learned that the affects of racism and assumptions based on race are still very real. Racial issues are very complicated and often related to other attitudes and policies. Immigration, education, and identity all go hand in hand when exploring the experience of immigrant children in Italy. I have learned that how issues are dealt with differ depending on what we see the source of the problem being. Whether it be the system that immigrants face or the immigrants themselves will change the attitudes and policies implemented.
Today was an optimistic day as we were able to have the opportunity to observe the first day of school at Iqbal Masih. We were welcomed into various classrooms where we were sung to in most. The first class we observed was a third grade class. A young boy was sharing the Chinese characters and sounds of his native language. We have heard several teachers mention that they see immigrant children and cultural differences as a resource for teaching. This was a good example of that where the student was able to share a part of his culture with his class. It seemed that the school really welcomed diversity. I was also happy to see that students with disabilities were integrated into the classrooms. The messages that the school was sending seemed very positive and accepting. It appeared as if the prevalent idea of the “other” in Italy was being discouraged by the integration of diversity in the classrooms. I got the impression that not all schools were as innovated as this one and that this one is very popular. It was also a day of protest due to the budget cuts, the shortage of hours in a school day, and going back to having just one teacher teach multiple subjects from what I understand. It seems that we are here in Italy during a very transitional time; there is an increase in immigration which is a fairly new phenomenon for Italy, and many political, institutional, and administrative changes. It was very reassuring to actually see that in some schools they really are using diversity as a tool for enrichment and as a resource as many speakers and teacher had claimed.
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