Ester Driel (Utrecht University) (webinar)

“Contact theory in context: Intergroup contact and community relations in Riace”

Abstract: This paper uses the case of Riace, a small multi-ethnic community in Southern Italy, as a lens to assess several theoretical and methodological aspects of Contact Theory. Empirically the paper draws upon 11 Months of ethnographic fieldwork conducted between 2015 and 2019 in Riace, a town that has hosted refugees for over 20 years. Findings demonstrate that friendly everyday contact between inhabitants of different ethnic backgrounds serves as the critical ‘social glue’ for the Riace community, but that some group boundaries and social inequalities continue to exist, for example in terms of friendships, stereotyping and spatial segregation. The differential interpretations and outcomes of intergroup contact demonstrate the need for a contextualized understanding of the nature and implications of intergroup contact.

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