The Albanian Diaspora-in-the-Making: Media, Migration and Social Exclusion.

Unlike many other groups living and working in Italy, Albanians have not gathered in communities. Moreover, only a minority of them have referred to home or diasporic media in order to recreate and sustain a positive sense of ‘ethnic’ belonging while living abroad. In fact, most Albanian migrants rely solely on Italian public and private television for entertainment and information. On the other hand, but in a sense consistent with the above picture, Albanian individuals and families seem to have integrated into Italian society better than many other migrant groups. They have developed family-based private networks of friendship and solidarity, which have generally increased the success of their migratory projects. Although some of these aspects can be understood as a consequence of their recent settlement in Italy, the peculiarity of Albanians' diaspora-in-the-making can be better explained by analysing the interaction between the two main roles Italian media have played in the mass migratory outflow that accompanied the process of Albanian post-communist transformation. Firstly, Italian media have articulated an aspect of Albanian people's identities that Albanian culture could not provide. Secondly, they have been the main source of information about Albanians living and working in Italy for Italians and Albanians alike, thus playing an active part in enforcing Albanian migrants' social exclusion and marginalisation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]