Power Relations in the Voluntary Work
with Immigrants
A Qualitative Study of a Migrant Self-Organisation in Bologna, Italy
Name: Tinka Maria Greve Civic number: 910702T363 Mail: tinka.greve@posteo.de
International Migration and Ethnic Relations Two-year Master’s programme, summer 2018 IM622L – 30 credits
Date of submission: 16.08.2018 Supervisor: Anders Hellström
2 Abstract
This qualitative study of a migrant self-organisation in Bologna, Italy analyses the power relations between immigrants and supporters within the field of voluntary work in the migration sector. Based on eight semi-structured interviews it explores the perception of power relations of the members of the intercultural association Spazio per tutti. The material was analysed with the help of thematic analysis and a postcolonial and intersectional perspective. In the first part of the discussion, it is demonstrated, along the theory of “strange encounters” of Sara Ahmed (2000), how dominant norms, such as the invisible norm of whiteness, are still present in the association and immigrants are confronted with the paradigm of integration. The second part of the analysis shows instead, with the help of Homi Bhabha’s theory of the third space (1994), how the association creates a space where fixed identities and roles can be challenged and negotiated. By taking the intersectional approach into account, it gets further clear that the internal power relations are more complex for being grasped along binary categories (e.g. immigrants and non-immigrants), as they for example do not reflect the special subject position of Black women. In a nutshell, the present case study demonstrates the need to draw the attention to the political dimension of social work with immigrants and to create more awareness for intersectional justice, also within organisations that already follow an empowerment approach.
Keywords: social work with immigrants in Italy, power relations, anti-racism, intersectionality, third space, strange encounters, gender
3 Riassunto
L’analisi qualitativa di questo elaborato si concentra su un’organizzazione di migranti autogestita di Bologna (Italia) e si propone di studiarne le dinamiche e relazioni di potere tra migranti e volontari, contestualmente al lavoro volontario prestato nell’ambito della migrazione. Basato su otto interviste semi-strutturate, questo studio esplora la percezione delle relazioni di potere secondo la personale prospettiva dei membri dell’associazione interculturale “Spazio per tutti”. Lo studio dei risultati ottenuti è stato successivamente affrontato con il supporto di un’analisi tematica, ed osservato secondo un approccio intersezionale ed una prospettiva post-colonialista. Nella prima parte dell’elaborato si evince come, stando alla teoria proposta da Sara Ahmed (2000) in “Strani Incontri”, le norme dominanti, come quella invisibile riguardante la predominanza della popolazione bianca, siano ancora presenti nell’associazione e come i migranti si stiano confrontando con il paradigma dell’integrazione. La seconda parte dell’analisi dimostra invece, con il supporto della teoria proposta da Homi Bhabha del “Terzo Spazio” (1994), come l’associazione sia in grado di dare vita ad uno spazio all’interno del quale fisse identità e ruoli vengono messi in discussione e riadattati. Infine, in un’ottica intersezionale, si comprende in modo sempre più nitido come le dinamiche di potere interne all’associazione diventino più complesse se osservate prendendo in esame categorie contrapposte (migranti o non-migranti); ad esempio la particolarità delle dinamiche individuali sperimentate dalle donne Nere. Concludendo, il presente caso-studio dimostra la necessità di porre l’attenzione sulla dimensione politica del lavoro sociale con i migranti e di creare maggiore consapevolezza a favore di una giustizia intersezionale che interessi anche quelle organizzazioni che già lavorano secondo un approccio basato sul concetto di “empowerment”.
Keywords: lavoro sociale con immigranti in Italia, relazioni di potere, razzismo e anti-razzismo, intersezionalità, Terzo Spazio, strani incontri, genere
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Thanks to…
…all my interviewees – Nemil, Timo, Gesa, Rebecca, Georg, Aki, Marisa and Fabiano1
– for sharing your personal thoughts, feelings and experiences with me. Without your openness and time, this work would not have been possible. …Eleonora, per tutte le ore interpretando il materiale con me. Mille grazie! … my proofreaders Meryem, Jannis and Hoài for patiently reading all these pages, for your helpful comments and encouragement as well as the long talks about theories, writing processes and the art of interviewing. … to Leni and Johannes for sharing your space with me and keeping my spirits up with a lot
of green smoothies. ...and finally thanks to my supervisor Anders Hellström, as well as my family and friends for
your great support and encouragement during the time of writing this thesis.
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If people have to be treated equally, then what is the base point? What is the ´equal`? What is my equal? What do I consider equal? I have to ask the other person, what is his own equal? Because my own ´equal` might be unequal for the other person. So, yeah… it´s completely generalizing things. I really don´t believe in this idea of generalizing things, […] So, even this equality, gender equality, all this equality stuff is just so crazy for me. It´s something I really have difficulties with, you know, in understanding, yeah (Georg 35:27).
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Content
1 Introduction ... 7
2 Purpose, Aim and Research Question ... 8
3 Contextual Background ... 10
3.1 Project Description: Intercultural Association Spazio per tutti ... 10
3.2 Racism and Anti-Racism Discourse in Italy ... 12
4 Previous Research in the Field of Social Work with Immigrants ... 13
5 Theoretical Framework ... 15
5.1 Postcolonial Perspective ... 16
5.1.1 Sara Ahmed – Strange Encounters ... 17
5.1.2 Homi Bhabha – Third Space ... 18
5.2 Intersectional Approach ... 19
5.3 Integration ... 21
6 Method and Methodology ... 22
6.1 Semi-structured Interviews ... 22
6.2 Selection of Interviewees ... 23
6.2 Interview Process ... 24
6.3 Thematic Analysis... 25
6.4 Ethical Reflections ... 27
6.5 Role of the Researcher ... 27
6.6 Reliability and Validity ... 28
7 Presentation of the Interview Material ... 29
7.1 Table with Sociodemographic Data of the Interviewees ... 29
7.2 Main Findings ... 30
7.2.1 Internal Power Relations ... 30
7.2.2 Hierarchy, Positions and Roles ... 34
7.2.3 The Paradigm of Integration ... 37
8 Discussion: The Perception of Power Relations ... 39
8.1 The Invisible Norm of Whiteness ... 39
8.2 About Being a Stranger ... 43
8.3 Gendered Perceptions ... 48
8.4 The Association as a Third Space ... 50
9 Conclusion ... 53
10 Reflection ... 57
11 Literature ... 58
12 Appendix ... 66
12.1 Short Description of the Interviews ... 66
12.2 Interview Guide ... 69
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1 Introduction
Italy experienced, as well as other European countries, a transformation from an emigration to an immigration country during the last four decades. The numbers of arrivals steadily grew since 1970, reaching a peak in 2016 with 181,000 people coming to the country via the Mediterranean Sea2 (Braun 2017: 71). Nowadays, Italy is mostly concerned with fighting illegal migration and protecting its borders (BBC 2018). Matteo Salvini, the new interior minister, recently stated that in the future, no rescue ship of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) will be allowed to land in Italian harbours (Henley 2018). As Italy remains largely without support of the European Union and the state does not take its responsibility, refugees and asylum seekers often get only insufficient support regarding their housing situation, finding labour or taking part in integration measures (Braun 2017: 69ff.).
The rising number of immigrants arriving to the country, as well as the political shift to the far right during the last elections in March 2018, makes it important to look critically at the reception of immigrants. As the welfare state is rolling-back, the civil society becomes a crucial actor in the field of the integration and empowerment3 of immigrants. Therefore, NGOs and (intercultural) associations are an interesting field to study as they have a growing importance in the migration sector of Italy (Rivetti 2013: 312). Even though the public authorities sometimes support the work of NGOs by providing facilities or sometimes even subsidies (Ambrosini 2013a: 317), organisations working with immigrants are still often confronted with the political paradigm of “non ci sono i soldi” (“there is no money”) (Vianelli 2011: 92). Therefore, many professionals and social workers are missing in the sector and a lot of the work is instead conducted by volunteers who often lack even a basic training (ibid.). As the sector of social work with immigrants is often confronted with fundamental problems – such as missing financial means – it does not pay attention to its internal problems, such as missing skills and knowledge of social workers for the work with immigrants or unequitable internal power relations. As in most of the projects and organisations mostly white supporters are working with refugees and asylum seekers who are Black4 or Persons of Colour, the
2 In the year of 2015 for example only 154,000 people migrated to Italy. For more information about the
migration history to Italy see Braun (2017: 71).
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Many scholars and critics argue that the term ´integration` is no longer contemporary as it describes the approximation to a norm which does not include all the diverse ways of life within a society (Zwengel 2014: 202f.). Therefore, many projects instead talk about empowerment, a term that comes from the Black civil rights movement in the USA and describes a process of emancipation in which deprived communities and individuals start to claim their rights, their access to resources and to actively participate in the society (Kahveci 2017: 35).
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The terms ´white` or ´Black` do not describe biological characteristics but a political and social construction. They refer to the social positioning of the individual within power relations in connection to racism. The terms
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differences in power and privileges (e.g. concerning the legal status or the access to resources) are huge. Hence, even though NGOs or associations might have a ´good will` and aim to ´help refugees to integrate`, they often fail to recognize unequal internal power structures and consequently (re)produce social inequalities.
However, in Italy there has not been much critical research done yet about the role of social workers or volunteers and their relationship with immigrants (Barberis & Boccagni 2014: 76). According to Fargion (2008) and Humphries (2004), it seems that - in comparison with other countries - the political dimension of social work in Italy in general is consequently denied. Even though this profession, as well as voluntary work in the migration sector, is suffering from power and oppression issues, these problems usually stay unaddressed (Barberis & Boccagni 2014: 76). While there are many studies about role of the Italian civil society in the context of integration of immigrants, there is a lack of studies that explore the everyday practices and activities of non-governmental actors in the migration sector on a micro level (Ambrosini 2013a: 314). Therefore, with the following thesis, I aim to fill this gap and want to address the political dimension of the work with immigrants along a case study of an empowerment project in Bologna, Italy.
2 Purpose, Aim and Research Question
As a case for my study, I chose the Italian association Spazio per tutti5 in Bologna, where I was active as an intern for five months from September 2017 until January 2018. The association is particular insofar as it describes itself as a migrant self-organisation and was founded by white Italians and Cameroonian migrants together. It tries to offer services not only for migrants but as well for non-migrants and to build a platform for mutual learning on ´eye-level`. Furthermore, people with different positioning (concerning age, class, ethnicity, gender, education) are working there together on a daily basis. Even though most of the supporters are white, also Black persons are active as interns or project coordinators.
Hence, the aim of my thesis is to add a theoretical perspective to the critical analysis of the space of the association with a focus on the power relations between its members. I therefore decided to focus mostly on the relationship between the supporters and the asylum seekers and on the question how the project shapes the power relations between them. On a more
offer further information about the privileges or discrimination the person is subjected to. As ´Black` describes as well a political self-designation, it is written with a capital letter, while ´white` is written in italic in order to indicate to the social construction of the term (BER 2012: 17).
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general level, I aim to contribute with this study to the exploration of the day-to-day practices of non-governmental actors in Italy on a micro level. By taking an intersectional and postcolonial standpoint for the analysis, I want to strengthen power critical perspectives and to draw more attention to the political dimension of social work. This leads to the first research question:
1) How are the internal power relations in the association Spazio per tutti perceived by
the different members?
As my research follows an intersectional approach, it does not only focus on the location and position of the different actors but rather on the interaction and intersection between them. Hence, the focus is more on the volatility and the constellation of power6 in a certain moment (Kron 2011: 204; in: Otto & Kaufmann 2018: 66).
Moreover, within the thesis, the space which is created by the association is identified and critically discussed with a focus on processes of exclusion and inclusion (for example: do all the members feel that they receive proper recognition, irrespective of their status within the organisation?). Along the theory of the third space of the postcolonial theorist Homi Bhabha the question is posed if the space of Spazio per tutti allows new ways of negotiation and meaning production to emerge. It asks if the space allows the negotiation and (re)definition of fixed identities of immigrants and non-immigrants and explores if the different actors get into dialog. Therefore, the second research question is:
2) In how far can the association Spazio per tutti be conceptualized as a third space in
the sense of Homi Bhabha?
Contribution to the Field of Social Work with Immigrants and Relevance of the Study
Nearly all the literature about social work in the migration sector regards social work as a profession with a fixed curriculum. The present thesis instead is more concerned with volunteers who are active in the field and focuses on their relationship with immigrants. Thus, the field of this study is a much more informal environment and there is not yet much research done about this specific setting. It is furthermore an interesting case for a field study, as the association describes itself as migrant self-organisation and immigrants and non-migrants are closely working together.
6 Power is understood in a postcolonial and intersectional framework as relational and associated with systems of
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Another particularity of this study is that not only the social workers (volunteers and coordinators) are in the focus but as well the migrants. In most of the other studies, only social workers are interviewed and regarded as active, while migrants are often treated just as a ´target group` without agency. Therefore, within the present study, both groups are in the focus of the analysis and the interrelations between them are explored. Moreover, most of the studies in this field do not take an intersectional perspective into account. Therefore, as said above, the present study aims to pay attention not only to racism but also to other forms of oppression and is aware of the complexity of modes of oppression and their intersections.
Structure of the Thesis
In chapter 3, I give a short overview of the association and the anti-racism discourse in Italy. Subsequently, I draw on previous research in the field of critical analysis of power structures in the sector of social work with immigrants and refugees (chapter 4). While chapter 5 consists of the theoretical framework for the analysis, the methodology of the thesis and the interview process are presented in chapter 6. In chapter 7, I present the material with its main findings, followed by the analysis in chapter 8. Afterwards follows the conclusion (chapter 9) with the answers on the two research questions and some critical reflections about the thesis and the research process in chapter 10.
3 Contextual Background
In the following chapter, I briefly present the association and its work, followed by a brief description of the two main groups (participants and interns). For understanding the context of the project better and for being able to later relate my findings back to it, I will briefly outline the dominant discourse of racism and anti-racism in Italy.
3.1 Project Description: Intercultural Association Spazio per tutti
As Bologna is one of the most popular cities for students and well known for its politically left orientation, there are many projects for the empowerment and integration of immigrants compared to other cities in Italy.
Spazio per tutti is a non-profit association, founded in 2002 by West-African immigrants and
Italians in order to facilitate the intercultural dialog in the Italian society. It offers different activities for immigrants, like Italian language courses, as well as recreational activities. For students (mostly white European citizens), the association offers the possibility to do an
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internship and take part in cultural mediation courses. As the work of the association is mostly based on a voluntary basis, there are just a few people working permanently in the association. Beside the president of Spazio per tutti and the coordination team (consisting of three people), the rest of the team is composed by interns (university students from Germany or Italy). Even though the association gets funding from the municipality and as well project-related EU-funding, it is not yet possible for the association to pay a full-time employee. The work of the association is separated into different projects that address different target groups and are coordinated by different people. Here, the programme OEFI (Orientation and
Empowerment for Immigrants) forms an exception to other projects of the association because
the project develops and works independently from the rest of the association`s activities. As all my interviewees were closely linked to it (as interns, participants or coordinators), their narrations were mostly focused specifically on the project and not on the whole association. Therefore, I decided to focus the analysis mainly on the project OEFI and take it as an example of the work of the association.
The project OEFI seeks to empower young immigrants and European interns and wants to offer a space for them to meet and to develop trustful relationships. It starts every six month with a new group of participants (mostly male immigrants from Sub-Sahara-Africa) and interns (mostly from Germany and Italy). It understands itself as an empowerment-project for both groups – immigrants and interns - and wants to prepare, guide and offer orientation for immigrants in their new environment. It aims to support the participants in acquiring the necessary hard- and soft skills for the entrance in the labour market.
During my time in the project, the two groups of interns and participants were quite homogenous in terms of ´race`, class and gender. Nearly the whole interns team – except one Black woman (Marisa) and two white Italian men - consisted of white female students, the group of the participants was instead composed of mostly Black men. Being involved with the project even after my internship, I found out that the composition of the two groups (white female interns and Black male participants) did not vary significantly during the last years. Even though it is not possible in the scope of the thesis to elaborate on the life situation of the group of the participants, it is important to keep in mind the often precarious living conditions of immigrants in Italy7. For example, an infrastructure for integration is often missing and
7 For more detailed information see the Report “Reception Conditions in Italy” of the Swiss Refugee Council
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refugees and asylum seekers undergo a high level of discrimination by the public authorities, the job or housing market and their life in the camps (Di Castro 2010). Also the OEFI-participants had not had their asylum procedure finished at the time of the participation in the interviews. Furthermore, they were simultaneously working in low-paid jobs, seeking to find a job or try to start studying.
3.2 Racism and Anti-Racism Discourse in Italy
Since 1980 when more and more immigrants were coming to the country, media and politicians are mobilising the public opinion against immigrants and asylum seekers (Lentin 2004: 169). This allowed the rise of different politics of exclusion – especially on a municipality level - which discriminate disadvantaged groups (Ambrosini 2013a). Since the elections in 2008, issues of security, sea rescue as well as the fight against illegal migration have dominated the political agenda and contributed to the big shift to the political centre right (Ambrosini 2013b: 140). Also differences in the treatment of immigrants in local institutions (such as schools and public spaces) became more common and also officials became increasingly discriminatory towards immigrants (Ambrosini 2013b, in: Cappiali 2016: 2516). Hence, the general context and political climate during the last centuries contributed to increased racism and social exclusion of immigrants that dramatically limits their access to resources (ibid.).
As the problem of racism is in Italy often understood to be one of migration, the dominant perception focuses on migration and not racism itself (Lentin 2004: 163). Hence, very few studies of racism or anti-racism have been conducted. In the anti-racist discourse in Italy, the problem of racism is concentrated only on immigrants who are constructed as the ´Others` (straniero/a, extracomunitario/a) who do not belong to the nation (ibid. 169). If they left, also the problem of racism would be solved. As the racism and anti-racism discourse is focused so much on immigrants, anti-racist organisations emerged only around 1990 as a response to more and more immigrants arriving to the country (ibid. 16). The big majority of them is still made up by white Italians (ibid. 169) while there are only a few which are composed by Black people and white people8.
As racism in the discourse is constructed as an individual and not as a structural social problem, migrant organisations were never able to build a “national movement against all
8 It is important to note that of course not all Italians are white but that there are also Black people and People of
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forms of racism” (ibid. 177). The discourse fails in the recognition of other forms of racism such as the racist discrimination against Black Italians or Italians of Colour. Instead, people who are not white are regarded as immigrants by the hegemonic discourse, even though the term only refers to people who recently arrived and did not establish themselves yet (ibid. 170).
Even if the association Spazio per tutti does not call itself an anti-racist organisation, it still can be seen as such as it aims to remove barriers between immigrants and the white civil society. Lentin describes the work of migrant’s self-organisations or intercultural associations as one level on which anti-racism in Italy is promoted (ibid. 172ff.). As the studies about racism and anti-racism in Italy are rare, the present thesis aims to contribute to the filling of this gap and wants to focus on power relations between Black and white people within an intercultural association. Moreover, it is interesting to pose the question in how far the association and its projects are influenced by the dominant discourse about racism and anti-racism and where it tries to oppose hegemonic narratives.
4 Previous Research in the Field of Social Work with Immigrants
As already mentioned in the introduction, the political dimension of social work in Italy – especially in the context of working with immigrants - is not much addressed by scholars yet (Farigion 2008, Humphries 2004). In North America and Britain instead, the literature on social work with immigrants increased during the last years, even though the literature body is still fragmented (Sakamoto 2007: 516).
Trends in the Field of Social Work with Immigrants
A strong voice in the field is also Lena Dominelli, who published about anti-racist practice and the issue of gender inequality within social work (Cree 2003: 152). She takes an anti-racist feminist approach for the exploration of unequal power structures in the field and states that social workers do not get enough support or training for the work with immigrants even though they function as gate-keepers for many people (Dominelli 2008: 188).
Most of the literature in the field is instead concerned with ´cultural competences` and how social workers can prepare for their new ´migrant clients` (e.g. Balgopal 2000; Potocky-Tripodi 2002), while other topics are not addressed so far (Sakamoto 2007: 517). Still missing in the debate is a critical examination of the underlying assumptions social workers have
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concerning immigrants (ibid. 516). According to Humphries (2004), there is a need for studies that critically examine in how far neoliberal (migration) policies influence social workers’ ideas about immigrants which could result in “unacceptable practices” towards the clients (ibid.). Despite a lot of literature emerged about anti-oppressive practices in social work during the last years (see e.g. Clifford & Burke 2009), it all developed around the notion of ´difference` (Maidment & Cooper 2002: 400). As a clear definition of the term is not available, it could lead, according to Saraga (1998) again to marginalization and exclusion of the non-dominant group, if difference is understood as ´different to the dominant group and prevailing norms` (Maidment & Cooper 2002: 400).
More critical voices in the discourse of power in social work relations, which I aim to follow in my thesis, are for example Ünsal (2015), Castro Varela (2006, 2008) or Kahveci (2017). Ünsal (2015) and Castro Varela (2006, 2008), who are active in the German context, offer an intersectional, feminist and anti-racist perspective on the topic. Nadine Ünsal analyses the inherent power structures of the movement of the Oranienplatz in Berlin – a protest camp for the rights of refugees - from an intersectional perspective. She argues that the movement is confronted with “white-supremacist paternalism” (Ünsal 2015: 5) and sexist behaviour not only by people outside the movement but as well by “supporters” who are active in the movement. The author María do Mar Castro Varela (2006, 2008) examines how social work reproduces dominant integration-regimes that determine who belongs to the society and who does not. Also the work of Cagri Kahveci (2017) is important in this field of anti-racist work in Germany, as he describes the struggle of migrant`s self-organisations against racism and for more political visibility.
The Italian Context
Specifically in Italy, there has been little reflection about the role of social workers in the field of integration on a theoretical and practical level (Ambrosini 2013b: 314) and the relationship between immigrants and social workers (Barberis & Boccagni 2014: 71). Important in the field are the studies of Barberis and Boccagni (2014), who are concentrated on local practices of social work and immigration in Italy and its influence on the migrant clients as well as on local policies. They state that, as power and oppression issues usually stay unaddressed in the discourse (Fargion 2008; Humphries 2004), a “good-willing unawareness” is the prevalent attitude towards immigrant clients (Barberis 2010, in: Barberis & Boccagni 2014: 77ff). Here, the authors refer further to Sciortino (2004), who points out that immigrant clients are often
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constructed as “radically other from the mainstream and equivalent to all those who share the same ethnic background” (Barberis & Boccagni 2014: 81). This assumption follows the idea that cross-cultural encounters can be simply managed as pedagogical moments if the social worker has the necessary skills (Lee & Bhuyan 2005: 103). Nevertheless, this view is highly questioned by the critical race scholar Sherene Razack (1998) because even if social workers have a high level of racial, cultural or gender sensitivity, they are still in a superior position and maintain social control. Therefore, the present research aims to follow the perspective of critical race scholars such as Razack (1998) and to challenge phenomena of oppression. Also other studies (e.g. Ambrosini 2006, Tarsia 2010) reveal that the implementation of intercultural skills in the curriculum of social workers in Italy does not automatically lead to more cultural empathy and less discrimination (Barberis & Boccagni 2014: 77ff.). An ethnographic study of volunteers and social workers in Ravenna, in the North of Italy claims that phenomena of infantilization, dehumanization and paternalism characterise the relationship between the social workers and immigrants in the SPRAR9 centres (Sorgoni 2011). Often, refugees are seen as “like my children” (t.b.m. Vianelli 2011: 111) by the social workers and the overarching view is that “we [the social workers] have to teach them the Italian culture and values” (t.b.m. ibid.). Also the pilot study of Di Castro on the level of integration of beneficiaries of international protection points out that asylum seekers and refugees undergo a high level of discrimination during their asylum procedure and their living in the camps (Di Castro 2010).
5 Theoretical Framework
Considering the aim of the thesis to critically explore the internal power structures of the association, the postcolonial perspective offers a suitable theoretical background for the analysis. More concretely, I will focus on the theory of strange encounters of Sara Ahmed and her writings about ´Others` in post-coloniality (Ahmed 2000). Moreover, I will enrich my analysis with the theory of the third space of Homi Bhaba (1994). In the following chapter, I will therefore give an overview of these theoretical approaches as well as about the intersectional approach. In the end, I will briefly outline the concept of integration.
9 SPRAR (Sistema di Protezione per Riechiedenti Asilo e Rifugiati) are accomodation centres for refugees and
16 5.1 Postcolonial Perspective
The postcolonial perspective aims to draw attention to unequal power structures that are still deeply rooted in the culture, practice and the collective consciousness of many societies and can be traced back to the time of colonialism (Shenhav 2004: 9, in: Frenkel 2008: 925). The intention of postcolonial theory is thereby the “decentration”, that means that the “centre” is regarded from the perspective of the “periphery” (Niedrig & Seukwa 2010: 191). Special attention is paid to the narrative power structures: in the postcolonial perspective, there is no space outside society or outside the dominant narrative. As a consequence, every space is determined by social and political power relations and influenced by the language of the dominant discourse (ibid.).
Therefore, every cross-cultural encounter is not only an encounter between two individuals but, according to Lee & Bhuyan (2005: 100) “filled with micro-interactions where broader social relations play out”. Systems of oppression and classification are always present in every encounter and (re)produce themselves often unconsciously. Nevertheless, encounters are never fully determined by social power relations and the present is, according to Sara Ahmed (2000: 11), not always in line with the past. There is always the possibility to change the social practice (ibid.).
As my thesis deals with power structures, it is important to understand that power10 in the postcolonial and intersectional view is seen as something relational. It is always associated, as said above, with systems of classification and institutionalized practices (Frenkel 2008: 926). These shape the identity of people in every encounter and have an influence on their subjectification (the process of becoming the subject). According to this definition, power is not only present within institutions and formal relationships, but as well in private life and personal relationships. Power is omnipresent - even in the life of people who define themselves - or are defined by others - as powerless (Treibel 2015: 78). The concept of power is furthermore strongly related to unequal global relationships that privilege only people from certain ethnic groups11.
10 Other theories of power usually set the focus on the effect of hierarchies and dependencies for all members of
the society (Treibel 2015: 77).
11 Such ethnic privileges involve, according to Grimes (2001), processes of colonialism, capitalism and racism
17 5.1.1 Sara Ahmed – Strange Encounters
In her writing about “strange encounters”, Sara Ahmed (2000) analyses the problems that are implicit in discourses about immigrants and people who are assumed to be ´Others` (like for example Black people or Persons of Colour). She poses the question of who is constructed as a stranger and what goes along with the figure of the stranger. Discourses such as “stranger danger” for example, connect ´being a stranger` to a certain body (ibid: 4). Often, it is the migrant who is constructed as the stranger (Diken 1998: 123, in: Ahmed 2000: 78). Immigrants become “the bodies out of place in the everyday world they inhabit” (ibid.). Hence, it is no longer ´race` but ´cultural differences` that cause fear and connect the stranger to crime and danger. These encounters with “culturally alien people” (Merry 1981: 125) are defined by uncertainty and anxiety; they determine social interaction and as a consequence reinforce social boundaries (Ahmed 2000: 36). But, these problems are not solved by simply welcoming the stranger. Ahmed states that such gestures still regard the stranger as a figure with a bodily and linguistic integrity that differs from the rest of the society (ibid: 4). Instead, it should be considered how the stranger is an effect of processes of exclusion and inclusion which set and reinforce the boundaries of communities (ibid: 6).
In order to be included, the stranger aims to “pass as white”12
(Ahmed 2000: 126). To pass as
white can be related back to the invisible norm of whiteness. This norm is understood and
used as a dominant framework to measure identities and construct people’s identities socially and historically (Al Ariss et al. 2014: 362ff.). Everybody who differs from it is constructed as an exotic ´Other` and consequently has disadvantages on every level in the society13. It is invisible as it is by the big majority perceived as ´normal`. Hence, only if a person is not
white, middle-class, Christian, etc. the norm comes into play and the person is regarded as an
´exception` to the majority. Ahmed states that in societies where the majority is white, one is assumed to be white unless one looks Black. Thereby, “looking Black” becomes a deviation from the normalised state of “being white”. To pass as white guarantees a form of social
12 Frantz Fanons understands the act of ´passing as white` in a psychological sense than in a metaphorical sense, stating that Black men are forced to wear white masks in order to survive in a white racist society. For fleeing from the white gaze that he describes as racist violence, he describes how he as a Black man aimed to “bring myself as quickly as possible into step with the white world” (Fanon 1967: 98).
13 The norm gets as well visible in processes of ´Othering` in which non-white people are constructed as ´Others
who differ`. This process can not only be understood as a description of people but contains a valuation. By devaluating the ´Others`, the ´white Self` in turn is valuated more positive (glokal 2017: 32). Grada Kilomba (2016: 42) states that “[t]hese processes of repression and projection allow the white subject to escape its historicity of oppression and construct itself as ´civilized` and ´decent`, while racial ´Others` become ´decivilized` (aggressive) and ´wild` (sexuality)”.
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assimilation and a certain degree of comfort and security for the Black person or Person of Colour (Ahmed 2000: 127). If people manage to pass as white, they further become supporters of the nation in the public opinion and are no longer marked as strange ´Others`. To pass as white allows people to pass into an “invisible and privileged community” (ibid. 128) that creates a feeling of belonging.
Another aspect of the theory of Sara Ahmed that offers a suitable theoretical framework for the analysis are her writings about the asymmetry of power. She states that asymmetries of power are present in every encounter between two or more subjects who are not equal and in harmony (ibid: 8). Here, she refers to meetings between ´Others` or between people that differ from each other (in status, characteristics, social position, etc.), like in the case of Spazio per
tutti the interns, participants and coordinators. She states that every particular encounter is
both: it informs and it is informed by the general. That means that the actual encounter is on the one hand already determined by the asymmetry of power. On the other hand does Sara Ahmed emphasize that every single encounter (re)enforces or alters the power structure and is never fully determined by the social structure or the (colonial) history (Ahmed 2000: 8). Relating to the thesis, I aim to ask in my analysis of power imbalances in how far the norm of whiteness is present in the association. It can be asked in how far the participants perceive the norm of whiteness or if the association is able to challenge it. For example, does racism, as a heritage from colonialism, still play a role in the personal relationships between Black and
white people – also within the space of the association? In which moments are people feeling
to be marked as ´different`? Especially as the topic of ´being a stranger` and integration were topics that emerged in many of the interviews, the theory of Sara Ahmed offers a helpful theoretical perspective for analysing these topics.
5.1.2 Homi Bhabha – Third Space
As Homi Bhabha and also other postcolonial theorists argued, cultures are no given or natural facts. In Bhabhas view, disparate cultures do not exist but are a construction and a result of colonialism which constructs cultures in retrospective (Castro Varela & Dhawan 2015: 248). Instead, Bhabha emphasizes the hybridity and ´impurity` of cultures by which he is referring to the mixed character of every form of (cultural) identity (ibid. 247). Cultures are in his view in a permanent process of hybridisation: as they were never original or completed and will never be so, they are subjected to continuous change (Bhabha, in Rutherford 1990: 210).
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This process of cultural hybridity gives, in his words, “rise to something different - something new and unrecognisable - a new area of negotiation of meaning and representation” (ibid. 211). Hybridity constitutes a third space which is an in-between-space where polarisations can be challenged and power can be negotiated. The third space is not a dialectic space that functions in the logic of binaries (Castro Varela & Dhawan 2015: 250). Instead, it allows interstices to emerge: Different, maybe even incommensurable cultures overlap here, which enables the emergence of new forms of culture and cohabitation. This exchange of values, meaning and priorities of different groups and communities may not always be collaborative and dialogical, but as well antagonistic and conflictual (Bhabha 1994: 2).
The aim of the concept of Bhabha’s third space is to open new possibilities for the negotiation of (new) political and cultural practice of the presence (Castro Varela & Dhawan 2015: 294). In this space - which is not a physical space but a utopian, metaphorical one - it should be possible to conceptualize an “international culture, based not on the exoticism of multiculturalism or the diversity of cultures, but on the inscription and articulation of culture’s
hybridity” (Bhabha 1994: 38). The third space constitutes a space of negotiation and
production of meaning. It constitutes with the permanent processes of crossing and mixing the condition for the (impossible) dialog between colonizer and colonized, in this case between immigrants and non-immigrants (Otto 2018: 69). Within this dialog, the dominant norm of the (host) society - that “these other cultures are fine, but we must be able to locate them within our own grid” (Bhabha, in Rutherford 1990: 208) - is abandoned. Thereby, the space opens new room for encounters that are no longer determined by history and fixed cultural traditions.
Concerning the present thesis, I will explore if - and if yes, in how far - the project OEFI (as an example of the work of Spazio per tutti) allows new ways of negotiation and meaning production in the sense of the third space of Bhabha. I critically ask who is having the power of definition and in how far hegemonic discourses of the white society are still present in the work of the association. Do the different people (immigrants, non-immigrants) get into an (impossible) dialog beyond dominant norms and if yes, what does characterise this dialog? 5.2 Intersectional Approach
The postcolonial and the intersectional approach are both concerned with the critic of unequal power relations and conceptualize power as something contextual and relational. The intersectional approach can be further seen as an extension and addition to the postcolonial
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perspective. It offers the tool for analysing power structures by drawing attention to the different categories of discrimination and the intersection between them. Thereby, it offers another suitable theoretical access to the material which in the following will be outlined. Kimberle Crenshaw, a critical race theorist, coined the term intersectionality with her analytic view of overlapping categories that lead to discrimination (Crenshaw 1994; in: Anthias 2012: 5). In her analysis of the experiences of Black women in the USA, she assumes that the intersectional experience is greater than simply the sum of racism and sexism (Crenshaw 1989: 140). She states that intersectionality provides a dynamic conceptual framework that not only proposes that individuals are positioned within socially created categories but that these are as well located in a historical context (Mukkamala & Suyemoto 2018: 32). The location of the individual subjects within this historic context determines their lived experiences and if they for example are subjected to discrimination or not (ibid.). Social categories such as ´race`, class and gender14 are no longer seen as separated of each other but rather as interconnected discursive practices that emerge in the process of power production. Hence, the approach of intersectionality adds complexity and fluidity to the debate of discrimination and social phenomena. This does not mean that the groups themselves disappear; it rather means that seeing boundaries as more fluid operates as a new lens that potentially deepens the understanding of how mechanisms of oppression function (Hill Collins 1998: 205ff.). For example, ´race` cannot be separated from other social categories such as class and gender (Anthias 2012: 3). Therefore, in my analysis it should always be considered that for example a Black female intern is in a completely different subject position from a white female intern – and these two are as well in a different position compared to male interns. They undergo completely different lived experiences according to their characteristics and the intersection between them.
It should as well be considered that in the intersectional approach, social categories exist only in spatial and temporal contexts and are seen as changeable (Anthias 2012: 8). This does not mean that social categories are not necessary: they form social and political discourses and organise the social life. Still, within an intersectional view, they are not seen as fixed elements of the social landscape but rather as dependent from the actual context and always determined by different operations of power (ibid.).
14 There are many more social categories that lead to the discrimination and oppression of people such as sexual
orientation, religion, disability, illness etc. Due to time restrictions, I decided to focus mostly on the categories of ´race` and gender which appeared to be the most important for the analysis.
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Therefore, it is important for the analysis to consider that social categorisations cannot simply be translated into the concrete relations people maintain to others. According to Floya Anthias (2012: 8), relationships “are not outcomes only of the salience of these categorisations, but of their intersections and of their embeddedness within a complex array of social relations, located within different arenas of social life and within temporal and spatial contexts”. That means that even if it is important to take into consideration the position of the subject (within the project, the society etc.), it does not need to be salient for the actual relationship one maintains to others. Thus, in the analysis, I aim to see social categories as important but not as fully determining for the relationship between interns and participants. These are dependent on many more factors: the actual time and space, the circumstances of the meeting, the framework and structure of the association as well as on other people in the project.
5.3 Integration
As the topic of integration was very present in the interview material, a definition of the concept and a brief discussion is given in the following chapter.
In the model of Esser (1980), integration is understood as the assimilation of the individual person to the norms and values of the host society. The model describes integration in four phases: cognitive, structural, social and identity assimilation (Rauer & Schmidtke 2001: 279). In the last phase, the identity assimilation, immigrants do no longer identify themselves with their society of origin but rather with the culture of the majority of the host society (ibid.). The authors Nauck, Kohlmann and Diefenbach (1997) instead describe integration as the result of processes of acculturation and separate it from assimilation or segregation. Integration means in their view to maintain the identification with the country of origin but as well the establishment of meaningful social contact with people from the host society (Rauer & Schmidtke 2001: 293).
Nevertheless, the concept of integration was criticized by many scholars (e.g. by Beck 1986, Hess 2013), as the term integration in general would evoke the picture of a society as a homogenous social and cultural collective which in reality does not exist and never existed (Rauer & Schmidtke 2001: 279). Also immigrants are themselves not a homogenous group but live in completely different life realities. Hence, it is not possible to talk about only one group that needs to be integrated into the majority (ibid.). Sabine Hess, a German scholar from the field of cultural studies, criticized that integration, within the hegemonic discourse about migration, functions often as a paradigm and a suitable political reaction to the
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increasing number of arrivals (2013). She argues that the paradigm of integration conceptualises migration generally simply as a cultural and economic problem which results in policies of support and demands (Hess 2013: 111). Integration can than easily be understood as something the individual person (the immigrant) has to do and to archive, without the contribution of the host society (ibid. 113).
In the following thesis, integration is understood as a mutual process between immigrants and the host country with the aim of the cultural and political identification of the minority (immigrants) with the majority. Nevertheless, the concept of integration is regarded critically and it is explored in how far the paradigm of integration results in in the demand to assimilate the own differences into the majority of Italy.
6 Method and Methodology
For the purpose of the research, I decided work with qualitative methods and to conduct eight semi-structured interviews with different members of the association (participants, interns and coordinators). The material was later analysed with the help of thematic analysis of Clarke & Braun (2017) and the programme MAXQDA.
6.1 Semi-structured Interviews
As the interview in qualitative research is seen as a manifestation of a context - a social system – it offers information about this particular social system, the lived world (Froschauer & Lueger 2003: 17). Therefore, the interviewees are not only seen as experts of their lived world but they are as well its representatives. With their statements they reveal information about their relationship to the social system they are living in (ibid. 20).
Another fundamental assumption that shapes the process of interviewing is the idea that every statement contains an objective meaning that goes beyond the talking subject and its intended actions and opinions (ibid. 100). In other words: it is assumed that every statement of the interviewee reveals information about the social structure. By interviewing different members of the association, I intended to collect information about the “micro cosmos” of Spazio per
tutti and their personal relationship to the association and the other members. Since my
research question is concerned with the elaboration of the space of the association, I was not interested in the whole biography of my interviewees but in a certain topic (imbalances of power within the association). Therefore, I decided to conduct semi-structured interviews. Within these interviews, the narratives are orientated on the questions and topics given by the
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interviewer that draw upon the research question. Still, the focus is on narratives and the researcher should not interrupt the interviewee (Nohl 2012: 13ff.).
Construction of Knowledge
Following the idea that interviewing is an active process, I regard the knowledge that was produced through the interviews as socially constructed through the interaction between me (the interviewer) and the interviewees (Brinkman & Kvale 2015: 63). The knowledge was actively created through my questions and the answers of the interviewees, so the product (the interview texts) is co-authored and co-constructed (ibid.). Although I followed the approach of “doing neutrality” (Rapley 2004: 20) by not asking leading question and not offering my own thoughts, I cannot claim neutrality. As I was active during the whole interview process, had the overarching control and guided the talk, it is impossible to say that I was ´neutral` because my acting is fundamentally tied to my person (Watson & Weinberg 1982, in: Rapley 2004: 20). Anyways, I intend to make the research process as transparent and comprehensive as possible by reflecting my own position as a researcher, my presence in the field and my relationship to the interviewees (see chapter 6.5).
6.2 Selection of Interviewees
All of my interviewees are or were active in the association Spazio per tutti and during my time in the project OEFI I met most of them on a regular basis. Spending a lot of time in the field setting is deemed, according to Roulston (2010: 84), to be beneficial for the quality of the research, as the researcher has a deeper and complex understanding of the context and the social relationships within the field. As I was an intern myself, I had different kind of relationships with the interviewees, ranking from close friendship (with the participants of the project and the other interns) to a quite formal working-relationship with the coordination team.
In total, I interviewed eight persons, all of them with different positions within the association (coordinators, participants and interns) and different sociodemographic characteristics (gender, ethnicity, educational background etc.) (see table in chapter 7.1). For example, I chose to interview one white male (Fabiano) and two female interns (Marisa, who is Black and Rebecca who is white). From the side of the coordinators, I interviewed Gesa, who is also
white and Georg, who is Black. Concerning the participants, I only had the opportunity to
interview Black men (Nemil, Aki and Timo), as the two women who participated in the project OEFI were absent during the time of interview conduction.
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The heterogeneity of the group of interviewees was chosen in order to enrich my research with as many different perspectives as possible and to include as well an intersectional perspective. I aimed to interview Black and white people, women and men, migrants and non-migrants, people who are in Italy already for a long time and those who recently arrived. Still, I am aware that my choice of interviewees already shaped the findings of the research. For example, I did not interview people of whom I assumed that they would have difficulties in understanding my questions and I only conducted interviews with persons who had good Italian, English or German language skills, always using the language the person was feeling the most comfortable in. Another criterion for the selection of interviewees, beside the social characteristics and position in the hierarchy, was the individual perspective. Knowing the people already from before, I knew that their views and ideas about the project varied a lot. Thereby, I aimed to include as many different perspectives as possible in order to draw a detailed picture of the internal power relations of the association.
6.2 Interview Process
During the first phase of the interview in March 2018, I interviewed seven persons personally. Later, in June 2018, I conducted another interview with a female intern via Skype. Most of the interviewees I contacted via phone or asked them personally for an interview. The decision of the place and time was left to the interviewees in order to guarantee that they feel comfortable. With the majority of the persons, the meeting took place in a café, while others preferred to give the interview at the head office of the association or at my house. During the interviews, I offered coffee and cake to the interviewees in order to create a welcoming atmosphere. To have built already a relationship with my interviewees helped me further to create a trustful and relaxed atmosphere during the interview. This made it easy for them to talk to me honestly about their feelings and experiences (Rapley 2004: 19).
At the beginning of every interview, I asked my interviewees for their agreement to record the interview and promised them to protect their personal data (for example by using synonyms). All the participants of my study knew that they were interviewed because of their engagement with the association Spazio per tutti and that I was collecting data for my master thesis. Furthermore, I stated in the introduction that I was interested in the topic of power imbalances in projects that work with immigrants/refugees and that in the interview I was interested in their personal perspective regarding this topic (see appendix transcripts). The interviews took between 20 and 40 minutes.
25 6.3 Thematic Analysis
Thematic analysis is a relevant method for conducting qualitative research (Nowell et al. 2017: 2). Ho et al. describe thematic analysis as “a popular strategy for hermeneutic phenomenological analysis” because it illuminates unspoken hidden meanings in texts (like in transcribed interviews) (Ho et al. 2017: 1758). After the data is reduced through applying codes to the data and through the elimination of repetitive and/or irrelevant data, it is categorized by sorting and classifying the codes into themes or thematic groups (Roulston 2010: 150). Then, the themes are analysed and interpreted along the research question(s). In the end, the data is reorganized in a thematic representation of the findings (ibid: 151).
For the analysis of my material, I decided to follow the approach of Creswell (2014). Creswell proposed a systematic process for coding the data where “specific statements are analysed and categorized into themes that represent the phenomenon of interest” (Nowell et al. 2017: 6). The phenomenon of interest was here the topic of power imbalances between the different members and how they are perceived as well as the negotiation of fixed identities.
In a first phase of the analysis, as recommended by Braun and Clarke (2006), I read through the entire data set (eight interview transcripts) in order to become familiar with all aspects of the data. Furthermore, I listened to the tape recordings while reading the transcripts and corrected the transcripts in case I found mistakes. From there, I started to search for possible meanings and patterns (Nowell et al. 2017: 5).
In the second phase, I analysed the material together with a friend who was familiar in the field. To analyse the material with a partner enhances, according to Froschauer (2003: 167), the quality of the research as there is a higher need for arguing when analysing the material in a team. In a dialogical form we started coding – which means that we identified important text sections and name them with a code/ a label. This helped me to simplify the data but as well to interact with it and to relate the different parts of the interviews to a theme or issue (King 2000 in: Nowell et al. 2017: 5). For example, always when the interviewees talked about topics such as the internal hierarchy, I marked the paragraph with a colour and assigned codes to the place, such as “Exercise of power” or “Flat hierarchies”.
In this phase I furthermore realised that I did not reach a point of saturation of material yet and that it would be fruitful to interview another female person. Especially concerning the choice to include the topic of gender differences in the analysis, I realised that the material I collected so far did not offer me enough information on this topic. Therefore, I conducted
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another interview via skype with another female intern - also for the purpose to give more space to the perspective of women regarding this topic, as before, only two out of the seven interviewees were women.
In the third phase of the analysis, that begins, according to Clarke & Braun (2017: 297), when all the data is coded, I sorted out the potentially relevant codes and clustered them into themes (“patterns of meaning”). For this purpose, I used the programme MAXQDA that facilitated the process of coding and clustering the codes into themes and subthemes. For example, I clustered the codes of “Exercise of power” and “Flat hierarchies” under the theme “power structures”.
During the fourth phase, the different themes were reviewed and refined. The data was organized in a more structured set of significant themes that as well reflected the data set as a whole (Nowell et al. 2017: 10). For the redefinition of themes, I tried to connect the topics that arouse during the interviews with my initial research questions and to search for connections, also between the different codes. As it is important that every theme derived from the data (ibid.), I made sure that I could explain why and how this topic emerged from my data set, for example by including quotes from the interviews.
In the fifth phase instead, the themes were defined and named. Going back to my initial research questions, I decided which topics were interesting for my analysis in connection to the theoretical background. After being already very familiar with the data, I decided to cluster the material along three main topics: 1) internal power relations, 2) hierarchy,
positions and roles and 3) the paradigm of integration. In this phase, I furthermore called
some of my interviewees and confronted them with aspects of my findings. Asking them about their opinion about my interpretation of the data offered me a relevant feedback that assured me that I did not misinterpreted their statements and was respectful towards the knowledge that was shared with me.
In the last phase, I produced the report in the form of the presentation of the main findings and the analysis. For enhancing the validity and merit of the analysis, extract of raw data – direct quotes from my interviewees – were included in the analysis as suggested by Nowell et al. (2017: 11). It is important for the analytic process not to remain on the level of description but to offer an interpretation of the data to the reader. Hence, in order to build a valid argument for choosing the themes (ibid.), I connected my findings with the theories of Sara Ahmed and
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Homi Bhabha and interpreted them from a postcolonial and intersectional perspective. In the end, the question was posed where my findings can offer new theoretical or practical interpretations or could challenge and add to the already existing literature about the political dimension of social work with immigrants.
6.4 Ethical Reflections
It is important to raise the question of the ethical aspects of the research; especially because the research is based on the personal stories of living people. Therefore, even if the interviewers` concern is to pursue interesting knowledge, the respect for the ethical aspect of protecting the integrity of the subject is crucial (Kvale & Brinkmann 2009: 16).
In an interview – especially about sensitive topics - a high level of trust is needed between the interviewer and the interviewee (ibid.). Therefore, at the beginning of the interview, I guaranteed the participants of my study that any information that could lead to their person would be anonymized in the report. My research interests were stated at the beginning and I explained how I was planning to deal with the interview material during the analysis.
As interview situations always entail asymmetrical power relations, gender, ´race`, status and class differences between interviewer and interviewee should always be taken into account (Roulston 2010: 70). Being a white researcher who herself worked in the project OEFI as an intern, there were undeniable power differences between me and for example the three participants (Nemil, Aki and Timo). Even though it is not possible to erase these differences, it is important to be aware of the own privileged situation and to be careful when it comes to sensitive topics such as discrimination or the awareness for the own social position. Therefore, I tried not to discomfort the interviewees at any point and to let them decide in how far they were willing to share sensitive knowledge during the interview.
It is moreover important that after finishing the research project the findings will be shared with the interviewees. As not all of them are able to speak English, I will write as well an abstract in Italian and will further offer the interviewees to discuss the findings in Italian. 6.5 Role of the Researcher
According to Rosenberg (2012: 276), it is generally impossible to claim objectivity when conducting research, as researchers themselves are part of the society and influenced by their own ideas and assumptions. Therefore, I openly reflect upon my assumptions and ideas and position myself as a researcher who was also active in the migration sector.
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As I worked in the association Spazio per tutti myself, my interest in the research of internal power imbalances derived from my own experiences. During my work, I was often unsatisfied about the missing reflection about power relations and for example often witnessed situations of patronisation by my colleagues. Still, being a white German volunteer myself, who possesses an EU citizenship, I am aware that I am in a very privileged position. I am coming from the field of Migration Studies and hold a Bachelor in Social Science. Furthermore, I was myself new in the Italian context which shaped my perspective on the work of the association and social work with immigrants in the country in general. Even if I was myself a temporary migrant in the country, I was from the beginning on considered part of the white majority and had a lot of responsibility in the project right from the start.
6.6 Reliability and Validity
In order to make this research as reliable as possible, I offered a detailed and “thick description” (Geertz 2003) of how I made use of the methods during the research process (chapter 6.3) and how I came to my results, for example by always referring back to the actual material. I aimed to make the knowledge I had beforehand as explicit as possible, to always explain where certain assumptions and interpretations of the material derived from and to reflect about my own position as a researcher. It could be criticized that my personal relationship with the interviewees led to a bias concerning the interpretation of the material. In order to prevent me from jumping to conclusions which are not based on the material, I did not only interpret the material together with a partner but asked the interviewees for feedback. Thereby, I made sure that the interpretation of the material was not only comprehensible and had a high reliability but was also in line with the opinion of the interviewees.
Furthermore, I used the tape records of the interviews, the interview transcripts and an interview guide in order to enhance the (internal) validity of the thesis. All the interviewees were carefully chosen due to their close connection to the association Spazio per tutti and their involvement in its activities. As it is only one case study, it is difficult to generalise the findings to other organisations working with immigrants. Still, for increasing the external validity of the thesis, I embed the findings in the broader (Italian) discourse of racism and anti-racism.
