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 Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies,
Vol. 29, No. 6: 1015–1032 November 2003
New Albanian immigrants in the old Albaniandiaspora: Piana degli Albanesi
Eda Derhemi
 Abstract 
This paper examines the encounter between ‘new’ Albanian immigrants whoarrived since 1990, and the ‘old’ Albanian diaspora (Arbe¨resh) in a Sicilian town, Pianadegli Albanesi. It demonstrates the complex problems that arise when recent migrant groups move into communities with similar historical roots but with a long history asa separate socio-historical and cultural unit. The paper is in six parts. In the first, I briefly introduce the history of migration into this town and the methodology for datacollection. The second section discusses the concept of diaspora and the ways the different Arbe¨resh and Albanian communities fit this concept; the similarities and differencesbetween the two communities are examined. The third section analyses a survey of a group of Arbe¨resh and a group of Albanians from Piana regarding their feelings andattitudes towards each other, which shows the existence of social conflict between the two groups. The fourth section presents the sociolinguistic relations between Arbe¨resh and Albanians, emphasising patterns of linguistic subordination of the Albanian immigrantsand investigating the motivations of the conflict between the two groups. The fifthsection examines the two communities assessing their diglossic and di-ethnic nature, inorder to better understand their relations and to illuminate prospects for futuredevelopment and co-existence. In the last section I summarise current and historicaldifferences between the two immigrant groups with regard to linguistic and culturalmaintenance.
K
EYWORDS:
A
LBANIAN MIGRANTS;
A
RBE¨RESH;
S
ICILY;
S
OCIOLINGUISTICS;
D
IASPORA;
E
THNICITY
Introduction
In this paper I analyse patterns of subordination regarding the ‘new’ Albanianimmigrants of the last 12 years in the small town of Piana degli Albanesi, Sicily.The analysis is based mainly on field research I carried out in this town in 2001.Piana degli Albanesi (henceforth Piana) is an old Albanian enclave in Sicily thatfor more than 500 years has maintained its language. During the past decade,about 70 Albanians have joined the population of less than 7,000 Arbe¨resh (or‘old’ Albanian) residents of Piana. I refer to the Albanians who have lived inPiana for the past 500 years as ‘Arbe¨resh’ and to the new immigrants who cameto Piana after 1990 as ‘Albanians’. The paper focuses primarily on the linguisticpatterns of subordination, but analyses this process in relation to other ethno-cultural and socio-economic factors that have shaped the identities of bothcommunities, the Arbe¨resh community and that of the recently-arrived Albanianimmigrants. The perceptions of the link between language and ethnicity these
ISSN 1369-183X print/ISSN 1469-9451 online/03/061015-18
2003 Taylor & Francis LtdDOI: 10.1080/1369183032000171348Carfax Publishing
 
1016
E. Derhemi
two communities have are different from each other and variable in time. Thispaper demonstrates the conditional nature of this link in terms of changinghistorical and social contexts.The goal of the paper is to demonstrate that the ‘Old Diaspora’ of theArbe¨resh does not necessarily make the life of emigrants of the same ethnicorigin easier, especially when the division in time and space between thecommunities is so great. From the evidence of this case study, I argue, followingDorian (1999: 25), that ethnicity rests fundamentally on social rather than on biological underpinnings, and that socially constructed categories are subject tochange. In the case of the encounter between Arbe¨resh and Albanians in Piana, both groups perceive the language as a salient expression of ethnicity. But itssymbolic meanings and its relation with ethnicity are constructed very muchaccording to local, historic and contextual circumstances.As will be shown, Albanians have a weak position in the linguistic hierarchiesin Piana, which derives from their lower economic and social status in relationto the local Arbe¨resh. In this paper I explain the reasons for this low status, theway it is perceived, expressed and reinforced in the new encounter between thetwo groups, and the social reaction and response of both communities to eachother in the context of local and external events and media influence. Asociolinguistic approach will be used, along with the ‘diaspora’ framework andvarious perspectives on ethnicity.I have had a long and frequent contact with the community of Piana degliAlbanesi. During the 1990s I visited Piana more than 30 times, initially to seefriends and latterly as a researcher into sociolinguistic and ethno-cultural issues.In 2001 I undertook seven months of more concentrated field research, collectingdata on the linguistic features of the Piana Arbe¨resh, and on language use andattitudes amongst the various sectors of the population. Long conversations andinterviews were conducted with approximately 200 people from the town, andI also administered a more focused questionnaire survey, with more than 70questions, to a sample of Piana members, men and women, of all ages, profes-sions and educational levels. This, too, was mainly focused on sociolinguistictopics, including views on Standard Albanian as a way of countering theendangerment of the Arbe¨resh language. The degree of negative responsetowards Standard Albanian was stronger than I expected. This stimulated me toinvestigate the perceived and real conflicts between the long-term residents ofPiana and the recent Albanian immigrants. I began a long set of open-endedinformal interviews with the Albanians and their children; many of the opinionsand assertions in this paper are based on these interviews. I also administereda short (15-question) questionnaire to 30 Albanian migrants who lived in Piana,and part of my analysis is also based on the 26 valid responses I have to thissurvey. This last questionnaire was in Albanian. The interviews with the variousgroups mentioned above were conducted in Italian, Albanian or Arbe¨resh,according to the preference of the person and the topic of the discussion.
Diaspora: Arbe¨resh and Albanians
In his article on diaspora as ‘the past in the present’, Ladislav Zgusta analysesthe meaning of the word in its historical development from its original indo-eu-ropean root ‘sper-’ meaning ‘to sow’, evolving later to the meaning ‘scatter
scattered; disperse
dispersed; people in exile – place in exile; people of a
 
New Albanian immigrants in the old Albanian diaspora
1017certain type living among people of another type’ (Zgusta 2001: 291). Theever-present elements, in every use of the term, were the feeling of separationfrom one’s own community and land, and the sense of something unpleasant.The opposition between ‘exile’ as involuntary and ‘diaspora’ as voluntary, blurswhen it comes to the perception of the community itself about the phenomenon:in both cases the phenomenon is perceived as unpleasant. The dream of the oldplace and community to which the dispersed community once belonged, usuallysurvives for centuries. Although original cultural features are often lost orchanged, the distance in time and space caused the past to become a symbolicicon of longing and pride. In keeping with Zgusta’s definition, a diaspora is notnative to the place where it is settled; it is stationary; it is a minority in relationto its surroundings; and it preserves some original features like ethnicity,culture, religion and language.The Albanian diaspora in Sicily is relatively old. Piana degli Albanesi is notthe first enclave of Albanians in Sicily, but it is more than 500 years old. Thegroup of Albanians who founded Piana left Albania after the death of Skender- beg, the Albanian hero of the anti-Turk resistance. This was a religiously-moti-vated emigration, since the first Turkish occupation forced the islamisation ofthe Christian Albanian population. After a long stop in Morea, in Greece,
1
theyarrived in Sicily in early 1488. In August 1488 the chapters of foundation ofPiana degli Albanesi (also called Piana dei Greci because of its Greek-Byzantinechurch rite) were signed. From that time the compact nucleus of Albanians hasmaintained its language and separate religious rituals for more than 500 years asa minority in Sicily. They call themselves
Arbe¨resh
, a version of the word‘Albanian’, and the people around them (Sicilian Italians),
Le¨ti
, a version of theword
Latini
. The 50 or so Albanians who were added to Piana’s population inthe 1990s are called
Albanesi
(Albanians) as opposed to Arbe¨resh, live in rentedhomes or apartments in Piana, have temporary humble jobs and in general havea low social status in Piana, although they are perceived as part of thecommunity.What features of a diaspora does the Piana enclave have? It is not native toSicily; the Arbe¨resh population, language and culture come from outside thezone where they are now settled. The enclave is stationary, the Arbe¨resh havinglived in Piana for centuries, preserving with conservatism some of their originalfeatures and at the same time developing the necessary economic, political andcultural ties with the surroundings. Piana has always been a minority popu-lation, today with a population of 7,000 people at most, a minority language andculture in a Sicilian-Italian environment. But if one perceives Piana as a unit, atown of its own, it is important to note that inside this unit the Arbe¨reshcommunity has always been the overwhelming majority with a strong assimila-tive pressure towards outsiders who married into Piana or decided for otherreasons to live there. Although demographics and the ethnic composition of thepopulation have changed increasingly rapidly in recent decades, inter-ethnicsegregation can still be observed today; Piana has always been a separate unitfrom a linguistic, cultural and religious perspective. The Arbe¨resh have pre-served their culture, religion and language from generation to generation. Theoriginality of these features is surely relative, since there have been manyelements of transference from the Sicilian environment, as I will show later.How would the recent Albanians of Piana, or other Albanian emigrantsscattered in the world in the post-communist era, fit the above characterisation
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