When integration meets assimilation: Madai’s love history and self-realization

Migration is a phenomenon whose reasons are still varied, if we consider that each person who migrates, he or she comes from a different country, with many different cultural and political situations and has different social reasons, to migrate. Something few people talk about regards the processes of integration and assimilation.

They are not the same issue:

• If we look at the integration process, immigrants have the possibility to participate and being included in the society of the country they’ve arrived. It isn’t still not about culture and language, because here people go on with their own life, keeping their cultural characteristics, doing the same things of the citizens of that country.

  
  

• The assimilation process forces people to put apart their own traditions, to be part of a society and being included in the social groups. Cultural and linguistic differences are here seen like a danger that can affect the traditions of a country, undoing all the cultural variations.

For instance, in Italy’s society assimilation is often a constriction and it’s not fair, because it’s typical that Italians are seen like an example for their diet and their fashion. So, we demand to be welcomed, even if we don’t do the same thing with others. The truth is that we’re scared from the diversity, what’s unknown.

An example of a good process of integration could be the one of Madai’s, an immigrated woman from Guatemala to Italy, with the aim to stay with her husband. She tells us that their love has been celebrated both in Italy and in Guatemala, teaching us how two different cultures met and started something special: something fulfilled with love, peace and a good economic basis to build her future in Italy. She tells us the truth about the integration process: it’s something that depends on each person, and for this reason, it’s unique. A good integration occurs also for everyone’s desire to start a new life, with new opportunities.

So, she hasn’t moved to Italy only for her marriage, but also to realise all the projects that would make her a truly Italian citizen: she has the Italian drive license, she keeps studying at the University, she dedicates herself to some voluntary activities and started all the procedures to obtain the Italian citizenship.

Madai shows us how determination can help our person and others: she was alone in her fight, without the help of her family, because too distant from her. Thanks to her story, we can take her as an example to understand that everything we want to do, if we really desire it, we’ll reach out it always.

References:

• Assimilazione culturale - Wikipedia

• Il racconto di Madai: una storia di migrazione e integrazione - CSER

• Migranti: Integrazione o Assimilazione? - The Daily Cases