Territori sincretici, comunità ibride

This paper discusses the usefulness of the dualist paradigm. Are the formal/informal, regular/non regular, local/global, insider/outsider opposition enough to explain phenomena? The analysis considers the case of an Italian town, Prato, where the Chinese represent a remarkable part of the local community. Inside the industrial textile district of Prato new relations grow up. If the industrial district describes an economic model of development tied up informal and close community relations, the Chinese presence adds unusual ones. While other Italian industrial areas delocalise somewhere else, in East Europe or in Asia, Prato feeds an inner delocalization through a migration flow. Nevertheless the story of economic relations gives a shape to the town and its society. Syncretism reshapes territories and identities beyond local pushes and globalization. Identity moves, a new hybrid space appears. Interaction shifts the relationship of space and society as consequences, where new spatial orders are intertwining with the familiar territories lines. It also reshapes the existing culture and tradition. By melting local and global processes a new place is creating, where social-culture exchange can occur both temporary or permanently. The local/global opposition or inside/outside doesn’t exist any longer. The diasporical presence creates a syncretistic territory: it is a puzzling landscape where the perception of the known mingles with the unknown.

Maria Antonietta Mariani, Territori sincretici, comunità ibride in "SOCIOLOGIA DEL LAVORO " 105/2007, pp 181-192, DOI: