29 Jan Draft Submission, Delina Petiros
Draft Submission, Delina Petiros
{Diaspora Blues
“so, here you are
too foreign for home
too foreign for here.
never enough for both.”
— Ijeoma Umebinyuo}
According to the European Commission 134,000 are the refugees and migrants who reached the European shores through the Mediterranean Sea in 2018. Those people are known as first generation immigrants. However there is an other category we don’t often hear about from media and other organisations: the second generation immigrants. Those are the children who are born in the country their parents have migrated to or got there at a very young age. My story focuses on their identity crisis. (BBC) Migration to Europe in charts: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-44660699
“Us human beings we spend most of our lives trying to answer many philosophical questions we’re unable to actually answer and therefore we sort of experience an internal “crisis”, but for me it was a very simple question the one that left me perplexed: where are you from?”.
I was born and raised in Italy, however I would have had nothing to do with that country if it wasn’t for my parents who migrated there from Eritrea a few years before my birth. Growing up I’ve always felt both, Italian and Eritrean, and neither at the same time. Now that I’m older I’ve realised this is not just my story but millions of other people around the world, who also grow up experiencing the same situation and feelings as me and so I decided not only to tell our story but also try to understand the causes and possible resolutions for this issue.
The Identity crisis of second generation immigrants:
“Where’s our home?”
- Introduction with PTC. It will be something along those lines however less “improvised” and talkative but straight to the point and filmed outside. I will lead the story with my own experience as this is a very personal story and I’ll break it through by showing how others coped with their struggles compared to myself.
2) First interview is with Lydia (a girl who was born and raised in Germany from Eritrean and Ethiopian parents) who will talk to us about her own experience by answering some questions.
-What do you say when asked where’re you from?
-How do you identify yourself?
-Have you ever struggled to identify yourself?
-If so what has been your identification process like?
-Did your skin colour have an impact on how others perceived you?
She will also talk about colourism associated with the identification of an individual and consequently racist behaviours.
Here are some clips:
When asked where she was from Lydia said she was German but had East African origin so I asked her why did she give me such a long answer that explained a bit of her background and here is what she said:
She goes on explaining whether she identifies herself as German or Eritrean and Ethiopian and talks about how this feeling she has of being a hybrid:
Lydia continues by telling me how her identity crisis first started with an episode with her parents. She realised the same rules applied to her pals didn’t really apply to her although she was in Germany too. Growing up she says her parents gave her an education imprinted on their background whilst her friends were raised as “westerns” so that made her realise she was different.
3) Vox pops style: a few second generation immigrants in their twenties will answer same questions as Lydia but they will be more flash-styled:
-What do you say when someone asks you where are you from?
-Have you ever struggled to identify yourself?
-Do you feel “closer” to your nationality or ethnicity ?
-Did others ever had an impact on your identification?
-Do you think your looks (features/skin colour) made it easier/harder?
I filmed with a “various” group with different backgrounds, however questions are kind of the same I asked Lydia because I want to prove with my story that the thoughts/feelings I talked about in my PTC and Lydia talked about in her interview are not just mine or Lydia’s, in fact I want to present the identification crisis as a generational problem.
4) We will be hearing an expert’s opinion on the subject: Michelle Gooden Jones journalist who wrote for The Prisma, and second generation herself. We will focus on the identity crisis that comes from having different cultures growing up. (Interview scheduled for 6/02) http://theprisma.co.uk/2018/03/26/third-generation-migrants-or-simply-british/
The Prisma is multicultural newspapers/media project in the UK run by volunteers from different disciplines and nationalities that wants to connect and integrate people with different backgrounds and nationalities but with the same goal of making a better society by building up ties between different cultures.
5) More to hear from youths (2) on their thoughts and possible resolutions they’ve achieved. These Vox pops will break in throughout segment 2 and after experts opinions
6) Other experts: journalist Yuly Jara and professor Rosa Aparicio, who will be the main interviewee. We will try to explain this phenomena and find solutions on how to help second generation feel more integrated . (Interview planned via Skype for 12/02). Rosa Aparicio is a professor and researcher at the Instituto Universitario de Investigación Ortega Y Gasset, specialised in migration studies. The reason I decided to have professor Aparicio on my project was to obviously have someone specialised in the topic but also from a different reality in fact Madrid (Spain) is where she lives and works.
As I said earlier I want to prove how second generation immigrants share a very similar process of identification regardless of their nationality or ethnicity and therefore could perhaps be helped with very similar solutions that professor Aparicio will help us find. I tried to build a very specific story without referring to any specific country. I first introduced myself as Italian, to then bring on Lydia from Germany, introduce Vox pops from London and have a professor from Spain.
7) Conclusion with an other PTC where I’ll recap all thesis and conclusions and finish with my personal story. Although I did struggle growing up I now see things from an other perspective and what made me different now makes me special: being able to live between two or more cultures, languages and worlds is a richness that many don’t have so instead of doubting ourselves and let others divide us through walls we should use our richness to build bridges between our societies.
Contacts:
Michelle Gooden Jones : michelle.Gooden-Jones@outlook.com
@MGoodenJones on Twitter
Rosa Aparicio : rag.migraciones@fogm.es
Yuly Jara: @YulyJara on Twitter
https://elpais.com/autor/yuleidy_jara_guarnizo/a/
Link to her article from El País (Spanish daily newspaper and most read newspaper in Spain)
Additional sources/research/inspirational material
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXUbt-jeTg4
Some GVS of London I’ve filmed and put together as draft for a “trailer” :
