The media as ‘home-making’ tools: life story of a Filipino migrant in Milan

Abstract

According the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) there are 850 million international passenger arrivals each year; and according to the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), in 2008 there were 42 million refugees across the globe. The condition of mobility, in all its spatial and temporal variations is a condition of daily life in a globalized world. Even those who are lucky enough not to be forced to abandon their home are at times obliged to be away from home temporarily. A migrant who is far from his country, a seasonal worker or asylum seekers, all share a sense of displacement, more or less intense. This article addresses precisely the universe of migrants, with the aim of demonstrating that this existential condition can be alleviated and eventually ‘domesticated’ (albeit temporarily) thanks to the media. The article will explore the use of media on the part of migrants and the role of the media not only in temporarily connecting them to their private homes or to their public sphere of origin, but also in recreating the ‘warmth’ of domesticity, in other words in ‘making them feel at home’. The main part of the article will attempt to partially verify this thesis by presenting the case study of a Filipino family living in Milan.