Immigrants in Rome

This volume contains the final papers written by twenty-five students from eighteen different countries who participated in the second International Course on Applied Anthropology in Development Processes. The course was financed by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and implemented by the Chair of Development Anthropology of the University of Roma, Sapienza, interfaculty of “Cooperazione allo Sviluppo”. The purpose of the course was to train students coming from the so-called “developing” countries to acquire skills that are usually required of an “international expert” in the field of anthropology to work as a development practitioner in development cooperation activities, especially in connection with externally-financed projects. Readers will find that the enclosed papers illuminate a subject much discussed, but little understood. It is a subject that directly touches the lives of each and every one of us living in Rome today. This volume is being published to serve as a record of the work done by these students. It is intended to serve as a resource and reference for future students participating in similar courses. It will also be of considerable interest for people working with the immigrant populations described herein and for those working in Rome on issues of immigration generally.

Paolo Palmeri, Professor of Development Anthropology, Sapienza University of Rome. Director of the International Course on Applied Anthropology in Development Processes, he has conducted  research in East and West Africa and Southeast Asia working for World Bank, UNDP, ILO, FAO, IFAD and WFP. His books have been published in English, French and Italian. Among his most important works are: Living with Diola of Mof Evvi, Senegal (2009), AIDS and Land Tenure in Africa (2006), Etiopia: l’ultimo socialismo africano, La Civiltà tra i Primitivi (1980).