The Rise of Italy’s Neo-Ghettos

Abstract

Italy’s urban camps for segregating the Roma minority have received much critical attention recently, yet few attempts have been made to explore how they have evolved historically and function as systems of social control from a theoretical point of view. This article seeks to fill that gap, drawing on Wacquant’s framework for identifying constituent elements of ghettos past and present. It explores whether a genealogy can be traced between the early modern Jewish ghetto and today’s camps, focusing on the Italian capital, Rome. It suggests that many of the original ghetto’s functions operate in contemporary camps; however, it also argues that a crucial feature of the ghetto—its ability to strengthen solidarity within the segregated community—is being strategically undermined. The camps can thus be defined as neo-ghettos, rooted in the past but refined in the present and functional to their specific contemporary social and political context.