The paper supports the importance of developing a sociologically informed perspective on culture ... more The paper supports the importance of developing a sociologically informed perspective on culture and cultural difference capable of grasping the ambivalent nature of difference: its character of ongoing social production and its effectiveness connected with the capacity to institutionalize such a construction in a social fact. A sociologically informed conception of cultural difference emphasises the fact that the use of categorical distinctions, and the moral and symbolic orders generated through them, always involve both enabling and constraining functions. To avoid the cul de sac in which an excessive and ill-posed attention to cultural difference have pushed multiculturalism, the paper presents the idea of everyday multiculturalism that focuses on ways in which cultural difference is concretely used by individuals in their daily interactions.The paper supports the importance of developing a sociologically informed perspective on culture and cultural difference capable of grasping the ambivalent nature of difference: its character of ongoing social production and its effectiveness connected with the capacity to institutionalize such a construction in a social fact. A sociologically informed conception of cultural difference emphasises the fact that the use of categorical distinctions, and the moral and symbolic orders generated through them, always involve both enabling and constraining functions. To avoid the cul de sac in which an excessive and ill-posed attention to cultural difference have pushed multiculturalism, the paper presents the idea of everyday multiculturalism that focuses on ways in which cultural difference is concretely used by individuals in their daily interactions.
Oltre la cittadinanza multiculturale Le rappresentazioni dei diritti, dei doveri e delle apparten... more Oltre la cittadinanza multiculturale Le rappresentazioni dei diritti, dei doveri e delle appartenenze tra alcuni giovani delle scuole superiori di Enzo Colombo Desidero ringraziare Mario Cardano, Gian Primo Cella, Chantal Saint-Blancat e Giovanni Semi per aver letto e commentato versioni precedenti di questo lavoro. Le loro critiche e i loro suggerimenti sono stati per me molto preziosi; mia rimane la responsabilità dell'uso che ho saputo fare delle loro osservazioni.
____________________________________________________ Abstract: The paper aims to explore the mapp... more ____________________________________________________ Abstract: The paper aims to explore the mapping of belonging and identification representations among both autochthonous children and those of immigrants in their later years of secondary education in Italy. It aims to contribute to developing the implication of an analysis 'from below' of citizenship, stressing its active, contested, adjusted contents and showing how the meaning youngsters attach to it may vary according to the discourse and the context. A series of narrative interviews highlights the multivalent and mobile meaning attributed to citizenship and its complex relation with membership and identification. Discussing the criteria for obtaining citizenship, emphasis is placed on the participative dimension rather than on the dimension of attributed belonging (determined by fate or blood). Citizenship remains an important formal question but requires an active attitude in order to be deserved. The 'honest life' then becomes the main criterion for granting citizenship. Differently from Marshall and his classical analysis, it is possible to note a marked shift of emphasis from rights to duties, undermining the inclusive and universal meaning attributed to citizenship. Narrations become more complex when identification is the main contend. In this case, an essentialist reified idea of belonging reduces citizenship to a specific but not exhaustive part of personal identification. Citizenship then may evolve from being a tool for inclusion to being a tool for differentiation and division between 'us and them'.
Amazingly (incredibly for us, modern men and women) humankind managed to pass something like nine... more Amazingly (incredibly for us, modern men and women) humankind managed to pass something like ninety per cent of its history without talking, thinking, and above all worrying, about the "self".
Reflexividade e escrita educação | Santa Maria | v. 41 | n. 1 | p. 15-26 | jan./abr. 2016 Este ar... more Reflexividade e escrita educação | Santa Maria | v. 41 | n. 1 | p. 15-26 | jan./abr. 2016 Este artigo pretende aprofundar a noção de reflexividade, aproximando o significado à experiência contemporânea. Ao contrário de reflexividade tradicional, equivalente à virtude e reflexividade moderna, equivalente à autorreflexão e diálogo interno, este artigo propõe a noção de "reflexividade construcionista" para evidenciar o processo recursivo de inclusão dos produtos sociais na facticidade da realidade. Na segunda parte, o artigo coloca em questão o conceito de "reflexividade construcionista" como um instrumento para a descrição da realidade social, com especial referência para a escrita sociológica. Finalmente, sugere três dimensões principais para desenvolver uma forma de escrita reflexiva construcionista: escuta, crítica e responsabilidade.
The aim of this article is to investigate how the current economic crisis is affecting the daily ... more The aim of this article is to investigate how the current economic crisis is affecting the daily lives and social positions of young people in Italy. On the one hand, starting from analysis of more general statistical evidence on the worsening situation in the labour market, we conduct an intersectional analysis – both intercategorical and intracategorical – of some indicators in order to shed light on educational and gender differences. On the other hand, we present the results of qualitative research conducted on the experiences and representations of the economic crisis among young people with low or high cultural capital in the city of Milan. The central hypothesis of our work is that 'the crisis' is not just a temporary economic conjuncture; it is also a social phenomenon reshaping the social positions of individuals in both structural and subjective terms. Showing how the crisis is affecting different young people in very different ways, the article investigates both structural evidence and subjective interpretations of the crisis.
This article aims to explore how children of immigrants enrolled in higher secondary schools in M... more This article aims to explore how children of immigrants enrolled in higher secondary schools in Milan conceive and speak about citizenship. It illustrates how the formal, participatory and identity dimensions of citizenship come to be articulated in a complex and changeable way in relation to discourses and contexts. In particular, it attempts to look more closely at the transformations of belonging, which today seems to be composed of different layers that underline different aspects: admittance stresses the universalistic claim to be equal, to not be excluded on the basis of discrimination or prejudice; identification conserves a particularistic and essentialist meaning, it stresses the importance and the ‘unavoidableness’ of difference; involvement regards lifestyles, everyday relations, it confers importance on the possibility to participate on behalf of a specific interest and have a stake in a community's life and future. Therefore, citizenship assumes different meanings when discourses shift from one layer to another.
Una rassegna delle principali interpretazioni sociologiche di Enzo Colombo > saggi AbStrACt: This... more Una rassegna delle principali interpretazioni sociologiche di Enzo Colombo > saggi AbStrACt: This paper aims to analyse the relationship between scholastic achievement and attitudes towards cultural difference, with a particular interest in sociological interpretations. It shows the relevant, although ambivalent, role school systems may play in either overcoming or reproducing negative attitudes towards those who are perceived as foreign and alien. A more articulated and informed debate on racism and racist attitudes is considered necessary especially in Italy. With reference to the Critical Race Theory, the paper argues that it is important to take racism seriously, without prejudicially negating its existence in the classrooms. A more effective and reliable intercultural pedagogy could be put into place by assuming a critical stance towards those everyday practices which reproduce -through a process of 'naturalisation' -structures of privilege for the powerful groups.
This essay examines an innovative approach to teaching across international and cultural boundari... more This essay examines an innovative approach to teaching across international and cultural boundaries and evaluates the experience in a course on Globalization, Social Justice, and Human Rights, co-taught collaboratively by faculty from different campuses and countries since 2011. This course was created to address unmet needs in the traditional higher educational systems. These include, but are not limited to, lack of cross-cultural and interdisciplinary collaboration among students, faculty, and institutions. Although economies, polities, environments, and human societies are experiencing great connections across the globe, educational systems continue to be modeled on nineteenth century assumptions and structures. In this course, faculty teach at their respective universities but use an online platform to allow for cross-
The paper supports the importance of developing a sociologically informed perspective on culture ... more The paper supports the importance of developing a sociologically informed perspective on culture and cultural difference capable of grasping the ambivalent nature of difference: its character of ongoing social production and its effectiveness connected with the capacity to institutionalize such a construction in a social fact. A sociologically informed conception of cultural difference emphasises the fact that the use of categorical distinctions, and the moral and symbolic orders generated through them, always involve both enabling and constraining functions. To avoid the cul de sac in which an excessive and ill-posed attention to cultural difference have pushed multiculturalism, the paper presents the idea of everyday multiculturalism that focuses on ways in which cultural difference is concretely used by individuals in their daily interactions.The paper supports the importance of developing a sociologically informed perspective on culture and cultural difference capable of grasping the ambivalent nature of difference: its character of ongoing social production and its effectiveness connected with the capacity to institutionalize such a construction in a social fact. A sociologically informed conception of cultural difference emphasises the fact that the use of categorical distinctions, and the moral and symbolic orders generated through them, always involve both enabling and constraining functions. To avoid the cul de sac in which an excessive and ill-posed attention to cultural difference have pushed multiculturalism, the paper presents the idea of everyday multiculturalism that focuses on ways in which cultural difference is concretely used by individuals in their daily interactions.
Oltre la cittadinanza multiculturale Le rappresentazioni dei diritti, dei doveri e delle apparten... more Oltre la cittadinanza multiculturale Le rappresentazioni dei diritti, dei doveri e delle appartenenze tra alcuni giovani delle scuole superiori di Enzo Colombo Desidero ringraziare Mario Cardano, Gian Primo Cella, Chantal Saint-Blancat e Giovanni Semi per aver letto e commentato versioni precedenti di questo lavoro. Le loro critiche e i loro suggerimenti sono stati per me molto preziosi; mia rimane la responsabilità dell'uso che ho saputo fare delle loro osservazioni.
____________________________________________________ Abstract: The paper aims to explore the mapp... more ____________________________________________________ Abstract: The paper aims to explore the mapping of belonging and identification representations among both autochthonous children and those of immigrants in their later years of secondary education in Italy. It aims to contribute to developing the implication of an analysis 'from below' of citizenship, stressing its active, contested, adjusted contents and showing how the meaning youngsters attach to it may vary according to the discourse and the context. A series of narrative interviews highlights the multivalent and mobile meaning attributed to citizenship and its complex relation with membership and identification. Discussing the criteria for obtaining citizenship, emphasis is placed on the participative dimension rather than on the dimension of attributed belonging (determined by fate or blood). Citizenship remains an important formal question but requires an active attitude in order to be deserved. The 'honest life' then becomes the main criterion for granting citizenship. Differently from Marshall and his classical analysis, it is possible to note a marked shift of emphasis from rights to duties, undermining the inclusive and universal meaning attributed to citizenship. Narrations become more complex when identification is the main contend. In this case, an essentialist reified idea of belonging reduces citizenship to a specific but not exhaustive part of personal identification. Citizenship then may evolve from being a tool for inclusion to being a tool for differentiation and division between 'us and them'.
Amazingly (incredibly for us, modern men and women) humankind managed to pass something like nine... more Amazingly (incredibly for us, modern men and women) humankind managed to pass something like ninety per cent of its history without talking, thinking, and above all worrying, about the "self".
Reflexividade e escrita educação | Santa Maria | v. 41 | n. 1 | p. 15-26 | jan./abr. 2016 Este ar... more Reflexividade e escrita educação | Santa Maria | v. 41 | n. 1 | p. 15-26 | jan./abr. 2016 Este artigo pretende aprofundar a noção de reflexividade, aproximando o significado à experiência contemporânea. Ao contrário de reflexividade tradicional, equivalente à virtude e reflexividade moderna, equivalente à autorreflexão e diálogo interno, este artigo propõe a noção de "reflexividade construcionista" para evidenciar o processo recursivo de inclusão dos produtos sociais na facticidade da realidade. Na segunda parte, o artigo coloca em questão o conceito de "reflexividade construcionista" como um instrumento para a descrição da realidade social, com especial referência para a escrita sociológica. Finalmente, sugere três dimensões principais para desenvolver uma forma de escrita reflexiva construcionista: escuta, crítica e responsabilidade.
The aim of this article is to investigate how the current economic crisis is affecting the daily ... more The aim of this article is to investigate how the current economic crisis is affecting the daily lives and social positions of young people in Italy. On the one hand, starting from analysis of more general statistical evidence on the worsening situation in the labour market, we conduct an intersectional analysis – both intercategorical and intracategorical – of some indicators in order to shed light on educational and gender differences. On the other hand, we present the results of qualitative research conducted on the experiences and representations of the economic crisis among young people with low or high cultural capital in the city of Milan. The central hypothesis of our work is that 'the crisis' is not just a temporary economic conjuncture; it is also a social phenomenon reshaping the social positions of individuals in both structural and subjective terms. Showing how the crisis is affecting different young people in very different ways, the article investigates both structural evidence and subjective interpretations of the crisis.
This article aims to explore how children of immigrants enrolled in higher secondary schools in M... more This article aims to explore how children of immigrants enrolled in higher secondary schools in Milan conceive and speak about citizenship. It illustrates how the formal, participatory and identity dimensions of citizenship come to be articulated in a complex and changeable way in relation to discourses and contexts. In particular, it attempts to look more closely at the transformations of belonging, which today seems to be composed of different layers that underline different aspects: admittance stresses the universalistic claim to be equal, to not be excluded on the basis of discrimination or prejudice; identification conserves a particularistic and essentialist meaning, it stresses the importance and the ‘unavoidableness’ of difference; involvement regards lifestyles, everyday relations, it confers importance on the possibility to participate on behalf of a specific interest and have a stake in a community's life and future. Therefore, citizenship assumes different meanings when discourses shift from one layer to another.
Una rassegna delle principali interpretazioni sociologiche di Enzo Colombo > saggi AbStrACt: This... more Una rassegna delle principali interpretazioni sociologiche di Enzo Colombo > saggi AbStrACt: This paper aims to analyse the relationship between scholastic achievement and attitudes towards cultural difference, with a particular interest in sociological interpretations. It shows the relevant, although ambivalent, role school systems may play in either overcoming or reproducing negative attitudes towards those who are perceived as foreign and alien. A more articulated and informed debate on racism and racist attitudes is considered necessary especially in Italy. With reference to the Critical Race Theory, the paper argues that it is important to take racism seriously, without prejudicially negating its existence in the classrooms. A more effective and reliable intercultural pedagogy could be put into place by assuming a critical stance towards those everyday practices which reproduce -through a process of 'naturalisation' -structures of privilege for the powerful groups.
This essay examines an innovative approach to teaching across international and cultural boundari... more This essay examines an innovative approach to teaching across international and cultural boundaries and evaluates the experience in a course on Globalization, Social Justice, and Human Rights, co-taught collaboratively by faculty from different campuses and countries since 2011. This course was created to address unmet needs in the traditional higher educational systems. These include, but are not limited to, lack of cross-cultural and interdisciplinary collaboration among students, faculty, and institutions. Although economies, polities, environments, and human societies are experiencing great connections across the globe, educational systems continue to be modeled on nineteenth century assumptions and structures. In this course, faculty teach at their respective universities but use an online platform to allow for cross-
This book is a collection of essays that brings together researchers working on power relations w... more This book is a collection of essays that brings together researchers working on power relations with visual methods. The text is epistemologically radical in attracting authors who look at culture as a field of struggle, constructed by different points of view. Today, culture can be seen as a specific field in which “power” is exercised. In particular, questions about the nature of power are addressed. The editors suggest two points in the discussion: how is reality constructed, and how is it connected with power? What is the real space for subject freedom? Foucault’s idea of “power” is that it is not a thing, but a relation. Power is not merely repressive (like the use of violent control mechanisms in the pre-modern era), but it is productive as well as an everyday disciplinary practice. Starting from this perspective, we ask whether visual methodology can be used to describe and analyze different forms of power.
These diverse contributions demonstrate how in a time of extensive social change, culture is always a space for resistance. By examining cases in which visual sociology is used as action research, the authors show the affect of visual emergence in grass-roots social activism in the southeast Australian mainland. For instance photography is used to analyze the perceptions natives from a rural community have of their own territory, as in the case of the Huarpe in Argentina. Incorporating comparative analysis from different parts of the Global South, such as the performance of two groups of photographers in Brazil and Bangladesh, they discover images are in tension between “the dominant and the residual” in the critique of design in Latin America. Subjectivities and video-based methodology are also used to explore the intercourse between Roma and Italian culture and expressions of resistance in the form of dance.
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Papers by Enzo Colombo
These diverse contributions demonstrate how in a time of extensive social change, culture is always a space for resistance. By examining cases in which visual sociology is used as action research, the authors show the affect of visual emergence in grass-roots social activism in the southeast Australian mainland. For instance photography is used to analyze the perceptions natives from a rural community have of their own territory, as in the case of the Huarpe in Argentina. Incorporating comparative analysis from different parts of the Global South, such as the performance of two groups of photographers in Brazil and Bangladesh, they discover images are in tension between “the dominant and the residual” in the critique of design in Latin America. Subjectivities and video-based methodology are also used to explore the intercourse between Roma and Italian culture and expressions of resistance in the form of dance.