Garha Nachatter Singh, Paparusso Angela
1Centre for Demographic Studies, UAB, Carrer de Can Altayo, Edifici E2, Campus de UAB, Bellaterra, 08193 Barcelona, Spain.
Institute for Research on Population and Social Policies (IRPPS-CNR), Rome, Italy.
Genus. 2018;74(1):12. doi: 10.1186/s41118-018-0037-7. Epub 2018 Aug 22.
According to 2016 municipal register data, Italy has the highest number of Indians in continental Europe (151,000), followed by Spain (41,000). Mass immigration from India to Italy and Spain started in the 1990s, but economic and political environments more conducive to the entry and permanent settlement of immigrants have resulted in more rapid growth of the Indian immigrant community in Italy than Spain. Due to the unskilled and irregular nature of Indian immigration and the lack of integration policies for unskilled labour in both countries, the level of integration of Indian immigrants remains unexplored. In this research, we used a qualitative methodology to explore the integration level of Indian immigrants into different spheres of these host societies. We conducted 86 semi-structured interviews with Indian immigrants in seven cities with high concentration of Indian immigrants in both countries over 2016-2017. We found that the level of integration of Indian immigrants into the host societies is fragmented: some segments of the Indian community are integrated into specific spheres of the host societies, while the rest remain excluded. The main reasons for this fragmented integration are the absence of integration policies for unskilled immigrants, Indians' provisional attitudes towards permanent settlement in these countries, the internal diversity of the Indian immigrant community and frequent international mobility through transnational networks.
根据2016年的市政登记数据，意大利是欧洲大陆印度人数量最多的国家（15.1万），其次是西班牙（4.1万）。印度向意大利和西班牙的大规模移民始于20世纪90年代，但更有利于移民入境和永久定居的经济和政治环境，使得印度移民群体在意大利的增长速度超过了西班牙。由于印度移民缺乏技能且身份不合法，以及两国都没有针对非熟练劳动力的融合政策，印度移民的融合程度仍有待探索。在本研究中，我们采用定性研究方法，探讨印度移民融入这些东道国社会不同领域的程度。2016年至2017年期间，我们在两国印度移民高度集中的七个城市对印度移民进行了86次半结构化访谈。我们发现，印度移民融入东道国社会的程度是碎片化的：印度社区的一些群体融入了东道国社会的特定领域，而其余群体则被排斥在外。这种碎片化融合的主要原因是缺乏针对非熟练移民的融合政策、印度人对在这些国家永久定居的临时态度、印度移民社区的内部多样性以及通过跨国网络频繁进行的国际流动。
