January 2024 Meeting speaker recap
Borders and Bridges: Intercultural Networks and Chinese Italian Student Experiences with Francesca Lupia
In our last meeting, Francesca Lupia discussed the various outcomes, obstacles, and realities of Chinese Italian student experiences in Prato. Some items that were reported were lower graduation rates, lower Italian proficiency, and that frequently these students opted for less demanding high school track selections. To the naked eye, the external point of view is that Chinese Italians are “closed off”, but upon a deeper look, Francesca found that there are many factors that contribute to these outcomes. Some of the factors reported included instructor attitudes (implicit/explicit bias), the lack of friendships with Italian classmates, students being forced to be mediators for parents and others, which creates stress and reduced motivation to use the language. Francesca reported that the Covid Pandemic led to prejudice, paranoia, and for some, new possibilities. Francesca reported that Chinese Italians in Prato were quarantining long before everyone else in the area, as many had recently come back from China after celebrating Chinese New Year in early 2020 or had been in touch with relatives and friends that had come back from China, where Covid was already circulating. The Chinese Italians in Prato were reported to be extremely precautious about interactions early on, as they were aware of how serious covid was, and some reported that they could not understand why everyone was not taking the same precautions. For some, Covid resulted in disorientation, as it created a detachment from routines and structures that had provided stability pre-pandemic. Francesca Lupia reported that as many Chinese Italians are working class in Prato, it is not uncommon for their children, born it Italy, to be sent to live in China with their grandparents for many years of their childhood, which makes it harder to adapt to schools when they come back, as the Italian language is not practiced. The reason behind this decision is to preserve their culture, but it creates an obstacle to integration in the country in which they were born. She mentioned that some participate in an intercultural program that bridges China and Italy called CRID.