Conference:
ECER 2009
Format:
Paper
Session Information
20 SES 07, Histories of Intercultural Education
Paper Session
Time:
2009-09-29
15:30-17:00
Room:
JUR, HS 14
Chair:
Manfred Bayer
Contribution
Maria Marcolongo was born in Volpago (Italy) 1928; she was 2 years old when she arrived in Belgium with her mother to join her father established in Maurage (Belgium) where he was working in the Koll mine. She never forgot her italianity, and still is member of an Italian Choir and participates to religious and cultural events; singing and performing using the Italian language.
How does it come that she and other persons now living in Belgium since 4 generations still continue to maintain contacts and practice with the original culture? This question is in the heart of numerous researches conducted by Abramo Seghetto (1993), (2006). In this presentation we will try to lay out one of the many answers to the question exploring the way of the impact of the Italian school created in Belgium since early 1940. For this, after the narrative of a young emigrant we will draw up the general context of the cultural innovation, in reference with the different decrees and legal dispositions and their impact on education field and summarise the mains actions organized in order to sensitise people to the original culture.
We will revisit several texts. The royal text 740 of February 1940 organizing courses in Italian language for children and young mothers of emigrants established in Belgium after the first world war. We can consider it as a first step in order to promote the cultural dimension ( G. Sartori, 1962).
We will retain the 3 decrees of the Italian Parliament, in 1967 as an official recognition of a series of spontaneous actions in the educational field with the constitution of “ COASCIT”: Italian committee of school assistance directed by the Consulate and providing for language courses and cultural activities. We will also underline the importance of the Law 153 of march 1971 providing for assistance and vocational education for young Italian emigrants.
Method
The methodology used is double. A live story permitted to start the reflexion and underline
the impact of the Italian courses on the education of a young emigrant. Regular contacts were organized to collect the elements of the narrative sequence.Semi-drect interviews were organized in inspiration with the model issued ofr the Scholl of Chicago.
A special review of the Literature concerning Italian emigration in Belgium (Ronchi, 1953) has been helpful to identify political, social and cultural intentions (Segetto, 2006) of the educational projects.
Expected Outcomes
We will retain as main outcomes and results the Hidden projects that appear through the educational action engaged in favour of emigrants. One of then was to try to promote the Italian identity not in terms of patriotism as it first appear in early 1940, but in the way of giving occasions to emigrants to be proud of their original country, uses and customs.
Through the live story we were sensitise to the suffering position of those who were haunted by the idea that they have been sold by their own Homeland to another for economical reasons.
A positive outcome is the impression that the efforts in favour of cultural expansion contributed to improve the relationships of emigrants with their mother land and mother language but contributed too the introduce all citizen to the discovery of other cultural heritages in the viewpoint of the extension of European and multicultural dimension.
References
Ronchi L., 1953, Il lavoro italiano nelle miniere belghe, Inchiesta per “La Ressegna di Bergamo », ottobre. Sartori G., 1962, L’emigrazione italiana in Belgio, Roma, Edizioni del Cristallo. Seghetto A., 1993, Sopravvissuti per raccontare, Roma, Centro Studi Emigrazione. Seghetto A., Nocera R., 2006, Il Belgio degli italiani, Roma, Centro Studi Emigrazione.
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