People "of passage"
an intercultural educator's interpretation of diversity and cultural identity in Italy
pp. 505-528
in: Paul Smeyers, David Bridges, Nicholas C. Burbules, Morwenna Griffiths (eds), International handbook of interpretation in educational research, Berlin, Springer, 2015Abstract
In her chapter Francesca Gobbo revisits the ethnographic research she conducted between 1999 and 2001 among a number of Veneto traveling attractionist families whose children's right to education was seriously impaired by the schools' inability to respond to their nomadic way of life. The researcher's first challenge consisted in interpreting the meaning and practice of occupational nomadism, the learning and teaching taking place within families and "on the square", the families' and youth's epistemologies elaborated through the experience of nomadism and what it entails with regard to their relations with sedentary co-citizens and local administrations. Participant observation during fairs, informal and formal conversations with adults, youth were relevant for questioning a stereotypical interpretation of the nomadic life and identity, and for valorizing the interpretations of work, learning, social positioning that those families had developed. Reflecting on the ethnographic findings and experience led Francesca Gobbo to notice that the work and life of the occupational nomads have fired the imagination of many artists whose visual or literary interpretations can fruitfully promote a reflective and critical view of cultural differences among teachers and intercultural educators.
