Old and new minorities: the case of Arbereshe communities and Albanian immigrants in Southern Italy

The Arbereshe are an Albanian minority residing in southern Italy. Comparing the previous anthropological literature, this study analyses the Arbereshe minority and considers three main topics that have contributed to highlighting the differences between Arbereshe and Italian communities throughout the centuries: the Arberisht language, ethnic endogamy, and Greek-Byzantine religious Rite. Using ethnographic fieldwork, these three main topics, which outline the Arbereshe identity, have been examined in a community in the Italian Arberia, San Costantino Albanese. The aim of the research is to understand changes in Arbereshe identity resulting from recent social changes due to the modernization process and interactions with recent Albanian immigrants.