Jacqueline Andall - Böcker

The book examines the experiences of Black women in Italy from the 1970s to the 1990s. Although Italy is still perceived as a recent immigration country, the book demonstrates how Black women were among the first groups of new migrants to the country. Black women migrating to Italy were employed almost exclusively as live-in domestic workers and detailed attention is paid to the history and political organization of this sector. Unlike much published work in Italian, this book adopts an integrated form of analysis where gender, ethnicity and class are seen to be interconnected constructs. The book also situates Black women within the framework of the national constituency of gender. This approach challenges the ideology surrounding the Italian family and demonstrates that while live-in domestic work created specific forms of social marginality for Black women, it paradoxically allowed Italian women to express their new social identities within and outside the family. The book concludes that Italian women have largely failed in their attempts to transform the division of labour within the home and that the decision to employ other (migrant) women to fulfill household tasks is a trend which sits uneasily within the framework of an inclusive feminist project for women.

The book examines the experiences of Black women in Italy from the 1970s to the 1990s. Although Italy is still perceived as a recent immigration country, the book demonstrates how Black women were among the first groups of new migrants to the country. Black women migrating to Italy were employed almost exclusively as live-in domestic workers and detailed attention is paid to the history and political organization of this sector. Unlike much published work in Italian, this book adopts an integrated form of analysis where gender, ethnicity and class are seen to be interconnected constructs. The book also situates Black women within the framework of the national constituency of gender. This approach challenges the ideology surrounding the Italian family and demonstrates that while live-in domestic work created specific forms of social marginality for Black women, it paradoxically allowed Italian women to express their new social identities within and outside the family. The book concludes that Italian women have largely failed in their attempts to transform the division of labour within the home and that the decision to employ other (migrant) women to fulfill household tasks is a trend which sits uneasily within the framework of an inclusive feminist project for women.

Contemporary Europe is in the midst of a cultural and social crisis. Debates over how European societies should respond to their changing ethnic profile lie at the heart of this crisis, whilst the issues raised have been given sharper focus by nationalist political parties espousing an anti-immigration agenda. This book examines the relationship between gender and ethnicity in Europe, viewed from within an immigration framework. To date, much of the research on Europe has treated gender and ethnicity in isolation. The contributors to this collection rectify this. They make the links between these two areas thus giving ethnic minority women greater visibility within the European context. They consider the relationship between gender and ethnicity from a number of thematic perspectives including the feminization of migration, political mobilization by ethnic minority women, women and Islam and the formation of identity.The case studies examine Islamic cultures in Italy, Turkish identity in Germany, the political experience of South Asian women in the UK, migrant women in Spain, challenges to the social reputation of Muslim women in the Netherlands, evolving perceptions in Post-Communist Russia and political activism in France. The book also considers white women's identity and questions whether or not a service caste, drawn from contemporary migrant women, is emerging in today's Europe. Throughout, we learn about the new and different forms of 'Europeanness' that these women are forging.

Contemporary Europe is in the midst of a cultural and social crisis. Debates over how European societies should respond to their changing ethnic profile lie at the heart of this crisis, whilst the issues raised have been given sharper focus by nationalist political parties espousing an anti-immigration agenda. This book examines the relationship between gender and ethnicity in Europe, viewed from within an immigration framework. To date, much of the research on Europe has treated gender and ethnicity in isolation. The contributors to this collection rectify this. They make the links between these two areas thus giving ethnic minority women greater visibility within the European context. They consider the relationship between gender and ethnicity from a number of thematic perspectives including the feminization of migration, political mobilization by ethnic minority women, women and Islam and the formation of identity.The case studies examine Islamic cultures in Italy, Turkish identity in Germany, the political experience of South Asian women in the UK, migrant women in Spain, challenges to the social reputation of Muslim women in the Netherlands, evolving perceptions in Post-Communist Russia and political activism in France. The book also considers white women's identity and questions whether or not a service caste, drawn from contemporary migrant women, is emerging in today's Europe. Throughout, we learn about the new and different forms of 'Europeanness' that these women are forging.