1 Moving Lives
A Reflective Account of a Three Generation Travelling Attractionist Family in Italy
Francesca Gobbo
INTRODUCTION
Among the many minority groups of Italy are numbered the esercenti di attrazioni viaggianti, literally, the proprietors of travelling attractions, or attrazionisti viaggianti. My reasons for studying Italian travelling attractionists1 were twofold. The first was a civic urge to understand how the right to education was implemented for pupils whose travelling allowed them only a patchy learning experience. As an educator, I was puzzled by the fact that the Italian educational debate on intercultural education made no mention of the problems that attractionistsâ children had with school attendance. Even a discussion of Roma pupilsâ limited school attendance2 did not lead policy-makers to view the regular classroom from a sociopolitical perspective.
My second reason for studying the attractionists was my interest in late 20th century anthropological research, which had been influenced by the demand of minority groups across Europe and North America that respect for diversity be recognised as a way to attain social and educational justice (see Berube, 1994; Gobbo, 1977). Concerned cultural anthropologists had objected to attempts to explain the âunsuccessfulâ performance of minority students purely in terms of cultural deprivation. These anthropologists theorised that minority students experienced cultural discontinuity in schools in which cultural diversity received little consideration. Ethnographic research pointed out that schools are âcultural environmentsâ (Gobbo, 2000) characterised by majority norms, rules and expectations that may well conflict with the cultural standards that minority children have learned within their own families (see also Gobbo, 2000; Gomes, 1998; Philips, 1993; Saletti Salza, 2007, 2008; Sidoti, 2007; Willis, 1977; Wolcott, 1974). Ethnographers emphasised, moreover, how failure to acknowledge diversity calls into question a nationâs de jure responsibility to pursue social and educational justice.
From this theoretical point of view, I hypothesised that there would be a considerable degree of discontinuity between what children of attractionist families were taught at home and the national curricula that had been established for an overwhelmingly settled school population. As my fieldwork proceeded, the theory of anthropologist John U. Ogbu appeared more fitting: a communityâs attitude towards education, and the studentsâ expectations of it, are affected by the minorityâmajority historical relationship. Differing minority groups will manifest different levels of trust and cultural âaccommodationâ to schooling that will result in differing educational performance and success (Ogbu & Simons, 1998). This perspective invited me to see attractionists as âautonomous human beings who actively interpret and respond to their situationâ (p. 158), and who construct their distinctive work and family environment, as far as circumstances allow. I thus aimed to understand what schooling meant for those who are defined as minorities, though they present themselves as fully fledged members of Italian society (see also Gobbo, 2003a, 2006). It is the cyclical presence of the attractionists among settled people that highlights what I would call their separate participation in ongoing sedentary life. Thanks to their communication skills, many attractionists are respected in each village that they visit. Still, given their peripatetic lives, attractionists do notâcannotâfit the order of a sedentary society.
Finally, I wondered what ethnographic research might offer to educational theory. My fieldwork3 indicated that the process of enculturation could explain only partly the relatively gratifying schooling experience among children of attractionist families. A nuanced interpretation was needed that would take into account the travelling familiesâ sophisticated knowledge of the sedentary populationâs habits and values4, and the schoolsâ inability to acknowledge the attractionist cultural experience in any fashion (see also Gobbo, 2007b).
SCHOOLING THE CHILDREN OF TRAVELLING ATTRACTIONISTS
Because attractionists5 move from fair to fair during most of the school year, their children change schools almost weekly6. Still, because families tend to plan their circuit to cover the same fairs every year, their children return to the same schools, often becoming a familiar presence for teachers and peers in particular classrooms. The attractionist families whom I interviewed all recognised the importance of schooling, but saw no alternative to limited and fragmented school attendance, unless sedentary relatives took care of the children for the whole school year (see also Gobbo, 2003a, 2006, 2007a, 2007b). For their part, teachers sounded as frustrated as the attractionist families and children (Gobbo, 2007a, 2007b). Teachers claimed that the booklet (quadernino) in which attendance is certified, and in which teachers are encouraged to give a detailed description of each studentâs performance, rarely bears enough content to help the next instructor to draw up an effective instructional plan. Teachers felt helpless and discouraged because they did not have enough time âto followâ those children and fill their âgapsâ.
I must add that the teachersâ accounts of their experience with attractionist pupils helped me realise that contemporary educational theory could paradoxically raise an unexpected barrier for Travellers. Intercultural education emphasises the importance of familiarity with the cultural differences present in most societies. Unfortunately, an abstract understanding of cultural diversity can lead even well-meaning teachers to interpret the dialectics of studentsâ cultural identities as a fixed cultural distance between mobile and sedentary lifestyles (Gobbo, 2007c; Piasere, 2007). The teachers whom I interviewed warmly praised the attractionist childrenâs good school behaviour, and expressed deep regret for their own inability to help them effectively. However, they saw the mobile life of attractionist families as something that had always been distant from theirs, separated by a symbolic border that the teachers portrayed as hardly crossable (Gobbo, 2007a, 2007b).
Theoretical Background
Literature on occupational migrants shows that there are many subgroups (for example, Travellers, Roma and circus and show people [ECOTEC Research and Consulting Limited (ECOTEC), 2008]), and there is growing research attention to them and to the cultural and educational differences among the groups. Researchers repeatedly express concern for the learning problems and social barriers that Traveller children face in school (for example, Danaher, 1999, 2000; Danaher, Hallinan & Moriarty, 1999; Danaher, Moriarty & Hallinan, 2000; European Commission, 1994; Jordan, 1997, 2000, 2001a, 2001b; Kiddle, 1999; LiĂ©geois, 1992). The most recent, ECOTECâs The School Education of Children of Occupational Travellers in the European Union (2008), also stresses the great diversity among these groups. With regard to schooling, âthey all share problems related to access, support and continuityâ (ECOTEC, 2008). ECOTECâs findings confirm that the lives of mobile workers and their childrenâs educational experiences warrant educatorsâ and researchersâ consideration.
Early studies were sensitive to Travellersâ and Gypsiesâ difficulties with formal education, and were deeply aware that cultural discontinuity, not simple economic disadvantage, explained exclusion. The sedentary majority was seen as âentrenchedâ in its educational beliefs, unable or unwilling to question its own attitudes, expectations and actions towards pupils perceived as different from the others (see LiĂ©geois, 1992). The 1994 European Commission Report recognised that school success and the equality of educational opportunities had so far been negatively related to diversity. Both these studies acknowledged the different reasons that attractionists have for choosing a mobile lifestyle, and how much more positive their approach to schooling7 is than that of the Roma or the bargees. Travellers were seen not only as âpart of the European heritageâ but also as representing âan important element in the socio-cultural fabric of Europe, as it is demonstrated by their contribution to the functioning of the economies and the cultural role they play during the festive days of the people of Europeâ (European Comission, 1994, p. 16). Yet, as other research documented, sharing the European heritage has not always guaranteed Traveller families and their children an effective education. Teachers, frustrated by the irregular, though predictably cyclical, school attendance of attractionistsâ children, have not succeeded:
- in finding ways to evaluate the childrenâs learning;
- in communicating to the next teacher what the children have been taught;
- in giving the families accurate accounts of their childrenâs educational progress;
- or in making useful suggestions about how to help the children.
The ECOTEC (2008) study confirms the familiesâ positive attitude towards schooling, and the efforts that they make to provide their children with a good education. It also details the persistent prejudices of the sedentary populations and schools, stemming from a total lack of recognition of the Travellersâ distinct culture. A number of possible reasons for this situation are profferedâthe small number of occupational travellers; their rather fleeting presence in national and regional territories; and their accommodation to sedentary waysâwhich makes them less âvisibleâ than other minority groups. At school, this cultural âinvisibilityâ allows teachers to ignore or devalue the childrenâs strong work ethic and the âhigh degree of decision-making, independence and responsibility from an early ageâ that are assigned to children who are fully âintegrated into the family business and upkeep of the family homeâ (ECOTEC, 2008, p. 36). The need to overcome the teachersâ and policy-makersâ poor understandings of the Travellersâ cultural background is reiterated by ECOTEC (2008): it urges teachers to seek out information on these minoritiesâ specific needs, recommends that the âone-size-fits-all approach to their educationâ (p. 60) be avoided, suggests that the curriculum make room for cultural diversity and encourages teachers to coordinate efforts across schools serving these children. Ultimately, ECOTEC recognises that, although âthere are no simple solutionsâ, efforts should be directed towards
⊠customisation and experimentation, as well as flexibility in provision. A move towards individual, tailored learning pathways, with a focus on âlearning outcomesâ rather than attendance at school, seems to present the most suitable approach towards developing provision for occupational traveller children. (p. vii)
In sum, ECOTEC favours a shift âfrom the idea of equality of opportunities to equality of outcomesâ (emphasis in original).
Past research about occupational travellers aimed to identify âgood [educational] practicesâ8, as they are called today, which can effectively answer the needs of this internally varied groupâs children. With specific regard to initiatives implemented in Italy to meet the educational problems of attractionist children, their inclusion in school and the reduction of unsatisfactory results were promoted by the 2004 project (Fondazione Migrantes, MIUR, Regione Toscana, 2004) launched by the Tuscany Region, the Ministry of Education and University, and the Catholic Foundation âMigrantesâ. Following European Union recommendations, the Tuscany agreement established a network of 35 schools, provided families with a more detailed enrolment form and encouraged teachers to keep precise notes in the newly prepared âfoglio notizieâ. The overall good results of the initiative have been attributed to its bottom up approach to the educational goals, and a âfollow-up of show childrenâs schooling and progress, as well as their educational competencies and skillsâ (ECOTEC, 2008, p. 63) has been planned to strengthen what has been achieved so far9, while the original project has been extended to schools and families in other Italian regions10.
THREE GENERATIONS OF A TRAVELLING ATTRACTIONIST FAMILY
In this section, I offer a narrative of three generations of an attractionist family which gives invaluable insight into the cultural complexity of the lives of attractionists. This ethnographic account is a substantial contribution to the European and international research outlined above, and to efforts to handle the difficulties of the children of Italian attractionists. To this purpose, ânarrative languageââwhich Scheffler (1991) identifies as one of the âf...
