Strangers in their home town: working with an Italian neighborhood facing major changes. A psychosociological perspective

Extraños en su propia tierra, trabajando con un barrio italiano, enfrentando cambios mayores: una perspectiva psicosociológica.

Porta Palazzo district, a large Turin (Italy) popular and "historical" open market area, is involved in a dramatic socio-economic change, due to the general economic crisis, mass immigration from foreign countries, mostly "irregular", street drug dealing diffusion and microcriminality. Locals face what they resent as a "catastrophic change" menacing either their sense of personal, cultural and social identity or their yearning for a social-economical community and personal promotion. The local population feels uncertain, threatened, abandoned and impotent. Groups of citizens (spontaneous committees) organize to contest changes and irregular immigration and to regain control over the area. Our not-for-profit organization, Chorós, has worked at a self-committed participatory action-research project involving one local citizens Committee, shopkeepers, inhabitants and market customers, groups of psychology faculty students as field researchers, and local administration deciders.

Action-research aims have been: reinforcing committee vocation to act as a pro-social group; prevent racism and violent reactions; helping people clarifying their actual threats and past/present social desires; helping subjects in defining and re-defining their social identities; helping committee to find community continuity in the changing process; and, reinforcing subjects sense of community and will to take collective responsibility.

Methods adopted have been: participatory action research; meetings with groups and individuals; biographical interviews; structured interviews (1500); and community back talk through a publication. Professionals involved were trained psycho sociologists. Main reference theories have been: J.Bruner narrative theory; W.Bion learning from experience theory; G.H.Mead identity formation theory; attachment theory related to places (place attachment); complex systems and negative capability theory; and group and organisations dynamics theories. Our general framework is clinical, with an emphasis on maintaining setting rules in complex situations and on supervision by an outside professional.

For the duration of the research (two years), we noticed a considerable enhancement of committee members self esteem and capacity to express feelings in a positive and constructive way. No violent reaction was registered, no racist expression. Committee members developed competence in identifying the "spirit of place" and imagining a future. They gained a stronger sense of community that enabled them to conceive changes. Psychology students involved could experience directly major changes occurring in Italian society and the sense of ethical commitment.