Review of the book Ruspini, E., Bonifacio, G.T. & Corradi, C., Women and Religion: Contemporary and future challenges in the Global Era, Bristol, Policy Press, 2018, pp. X+242

Report of the Conference Eva e le altre, University of Salerno 15-17 May 2019

The potential of sport for the inclusion of minorities is widely acknowledged. Being a non-verbal language, sport is particularly useful to ease the integration of the migrants in the hosting societies; in the present world – in which migrations are one of the most debated issues of the political arena – it can be a valid tool to create a more inclusive society. However, the potential of sport should not be overestimated, mainly because of the limits of its role and the barriers that hinder the participation of migrants. In this context, the role of scholars, which can provide useful tools of knowledge, is essential.

The research objective that we want to explore concerns the phenomenon of mixed marriages in Italy. Indeed, in the last years (especially from EU enlargement in 2007 with the addiction of Romania and Bulgaria), italian territory is characterized, for its geographical and cultural position, to be one of the European countries with the largest number of foreign residents: suffice it to say that from 2008 to 2016 the increase is equal to +46.4 percentage points. To this purpose, through secondary data analysis from National Institute for Statistics (ISTAT) database, we examine the unions between couples formed by both foreign citizens or by a immigrant and an autochthonous in Italy from 2008-2016 focusing the attention on following four specific variables: area of origin, educational level, rite and type of marriage (first or second). In conclusion, this phenomenon is particularly relevant because it allows to look into the state of integration and inclusion of foreign presence in the host society.

Nowadays in Europe sport and physical activity represent a strategic tool for public health policiesthat aim to promote the wellbeing of population, supporting dialogue for social cohesion and, at the same time, represent an important economic sector. The acknowledgement of sport capability to be a vehicle for integrating diversity- confirming the attention to intercultural dialogue at European level –in an evidence of its importance in the current debate on integration and multiculturalism. Through comparing different sports models of integration within the EU, this paper is going to discuss some questions: what connection is there between the construction of a multicultural society and the diffusion of sports practices? What meanings, values and paradoxes coexist today in the culture of integration implemented in Europe? Is the “sports” habitus a field of competition between migrants and natives, or a space of integration for generations of new citizens?

This paper discusses the manner in which modern spectator sports developed in Colombia in the decade of the 1920s as part of the country’s efforts to modernize. An examination of the dominant theories of the diffusion of European sports to the Latin American elites and eventually to the populace as a technique for social control is undertaken. Scant immigration into the country as well as high mortality rates for men and women resulting from civil war and disease make Colombia a case of special interest. Rather than the introduction of a single sport, we embark on an analysis of leisure, scouting, gymnastics, and sports to describe the matrix from which sporting practices develop. A careful examination of the 1920s press reports allows for a careful description of the roots of these physical activities, the emergence of a new social actor, the sportsperson, and the role of state regulation in the field of sports.

Sport is considered a tool to ease intercultural dialogue and integration of migrants in the hosting countries. Actually, sport activities have great potentialities, but the participation of foreigners and the impact of athleticism on their integration are limited by some barriers. In Campania some attempts to favour the integration through sport have been promoted in recent years by associations and groups of citizens. Among the most successful projects are the football teams Afro-Napoli United, Rfc Lions Ska and Atletico Brigante and the basketball club Tam Tam. These projects have produced significant results in the involvement of the migrants and promotion of their integration, but they have also had to face some obstacles, which have limited their impact.

The articles deal with the environmental rights in the present world, proposing a general framework and connecting the environmental problems to capitalism and economic growth. The article focuses on two cases: that of Mariana (Minas Gerais, Brazil), where the disruption of the Fundão mining tailings dam in 2015 provoked 17 people deaths, and that of Taranto (Italy), where the factory Ilva has caused a serious environmental damage, which jeopardize the health of the local people. The article aims at providing a further demonstration that, where the logic of capital prevails, the concern with the human being and the nature are canceled.