Old and New Minorities: The Case of the Arbëreshë Communities and the Albanian Immigrants in Southern Italy

Abstract

The Arbërëshe are an Albanian minority residing in southern Italy. Comparing the previous anthropological literature, this study analyses the Arbëreshë minority while considering three focal points that have contributed to highlighting the differences between the Arbëreshë and Italian communities throughout the centuries: the Arbërisht language, the Greek - Byzantine rite and the ethnic endogamy. Thanks to ethnographic fieldwork, the three focal points have been studied in a community of the Italian Arbëria, San Costantino Albanese. The aim of the research is to understand the change in Arbëreshë identity as a result of recent social changes due to the modernization process and to interaction with the new Albanian immigrants.