Giovani latinos tra estetiche e consumi

Young latinos between aesthetics and consumptions - The paper focuses on some considerations regarding both the consumption habit and the esthetical/symbolic construction of young latinos being part of street organizations in the Genoa’s area. In this framework, dressing, body’s communication (ranging from tattoo’s choice to gesticulation), the use and production of music, management of leisure time as well as dancing style adopted, have been studied and understood as symbolic dimensions of a "marginal habitus" which, as long as it shifts between invisibility and emersion poles, is aimed to negotiate the capability of a self-definition within the receiving communities. By this, a constructive emblema is provided to stigma‘s symbols, mainly in terms of an achieved respect, both personal and as a group. Specifically, the paper gives evidence of the outcomes of the analysis carried out by mean of a (direct) contact with key informers, by gathering life’s stories of young latinos, and by a participant observation of party time organized and managed by them. The main purpose and intention of the paper is to figure up the local expression of some transnational frames, such as: the gangsta fashion, the hip hop universe, the reggaeton phenomenon.

Keywords Etnography; Consumption; Latinos; Street organizations; Dressing; Gangsta; Hip Hop; Matinée; Reggaeton; Perreo; Respect;

Sebastiano Benasso, Emanuela Bonini, Giovani latinos tra estetiche e consumi in "MONDI MIGRANTI" 3/2008, pp 101-112, DOI: 10.3280/MM2008-003006