Immigration and Maltese Identity

10 Creative Maltese in Parallel » Part 2

Part 2: Immigration and Maltese Identity

“Immigration from one country to another is a complex and multi-faceted psychosocial process with significant and lasting effects on an individual’s identity. Leaving one’s country involves profound losses. Often one has to give up familiar food, native music, unquestioned social customs, and even one’s language. The new country offers strange-tasting food, new songs, different political concerns, unfamiliar language, pale festivals, unknown heroes, psychically unearned history, and a visually unfamiliar landscape. However, alongside the various losses is a renewed opportunity for psychic growth and alteration. New channels of self-expression become available. There are new identification models, different superego dictates, and different ideals. One thing is clear: immigration results in a sudden change from an “average expectable environment” (Hartmann,1950) to a strange and unpredictable one.” (Akhtar,1995).

If, as Akhtar(1995) explains in his research article, immigration can be so hard on an individual and causes “profound losses”, why do so many Maltese, and particularly Maltese in the creative sector, feel that they need to move away? Is it ultimately a need for the “strange and unpredictable” environment? Does this type of environment provide Maltese creatives with more inspiration, or is it simply because nowadays it is the norm for people to live in different countries? When I asked participants why they think Maltese creatives tend to want to move abroad, most participants answered

that it was probably due to better opportunities abroad, but when I asked participants why they had personally moved, the answer was often more emotional. The word “outsider” was mentioned more than once when participants explained how they felt in Malta, with some mentioning that they didn’t feel that they belonged in their own home country. Some participants even admitted they they used an “opportunity” to “escape”.

This is quite curious, especially when we look back at Maltese immigration during the 60s. In Maltese in London, Dench(1975, p.16) explains that in the 1960s in Malta, emigration was regarded as a short-term “safety-valve” to be used in difficult periods. He states that during the majority of the nineteenth century and perhaps earlier, migrant clow in Malta consisted of people drifting along trade and shipping links with nearby Mediterranean ports. When economy in Malta was suffering, people would move out, but when the situation improved, most Maltese would return.

Dench(1975) also states however, that not every emigrant was a “reluctant exile” with many being “only too glad of the opportunity to get away”. He adds that this was usually related to disaffection with the dominance of the church in Malta, “from which emigration may appear to offer the only release”. Dench (1975) adds that it’s not easy to live in Malta and ignore the church, and that wherever you are in Malta, you’re almost sure to have a church building in sight. He calls the atmosphere as

11 Creative Maltese in Parallel » Part 2

Why do Maltese creatives immigrate?

being “extremely oppressive” and that Maltese who have never moved away also felt a lack of individual privacy and freedom.

“This island is so small and claustrophobic that physical movement within it is no solution; there is nowhere that one can go without being recognised.” (Dench, 1970, p.22).

Of course, we have to take into consideration that the power of the church has decreased dramatically since the 60s, and the Maltese economy is significantly more stable at the present time, so it’s quite interesting that Maltese nationals still feel the need to “escape” to another country. With regards to Maltese working in the creative sector, is it possible that they are looking for personal creative growth, and to enhance or modify their personal identity?

In my Video-call interview with Dr.Daniela Debono, she expresses that with Irregular migrants who come by boat via the African

and Mediterranean route, there is often an erosion or a remaking of identity. She explains that she’s not sure which one comes first, but when immigrants reach Italy, they often speak of their hopes and expectations of their new life. She adds that these opportunities that they want to access through migration, often have to do with a wish to remake their identity. “If identity is how the person sees himself and his role within a community and society, in a very philosophical way, it is what they would like to make of themselves during their lifetime.” (Dr. Daniela Debono, Video-call Interview, 2018). Although we cannot exactly compare irregular migrants to economic migrants, there seems to be a common theme of a remaking of an identity, a need to escape, and that of searching for better opportunities.

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Are there enough opportunities for Maltese creatives in Malta at the moment?

Yes No Unsure 22 % 67 % 11 %

“Money and opportunities make people want to move abroad.” asserts Christopher Aquilina, a Malta-based Graphic Design lecturer who has lived in the UK for a number of years. He stresses that in order to be creative, one doesn’t have to move abroad, but he thinks that one is more likely to make more money abroad and to explore tougher, richer environments. Christopher feels that by experiencing and understanding a different way of living, a person can apply various layers to their identity.

“I was never truly myself before I made the move, I was not allowed to be. I didn’t know how to be.” admits Stephanie Scicluna. She continues to say that Malta often seems to present a person with a selection of templates; archetypes of personalities within which a person may grow. She felt that when growing up in Malta, individuality and the expression of such was shunned.

Stephanie feels that Maltese creatives move abroad because “art in Malta doesn’t really exist”. She thinks that it is very limited and restricted, and although she states that it has improved vastly since she lived in Malta for the first time, she still feels it has miles to go. Stephanie believes that the general collective mindset and mentality of Maltese society is what is restricting art, ideas and the overall growth of the country.

“Well, there was a phase where everyone was leaving, I think a lot of people are still leaving, but you can’t say everyone has left.” Fabrizio, a Budapest-based Art Curator, believes that with regards to Maltese creatives who move abroad, “it’s not as bad as it looks” and that many do go back. He feels that Maltese tend to complain because there aren’t enough opportunities, however he finds that there are people who make do and are still creative in Malta. Others, he says, feel like they have to leave because they feel that there’s nothing for them.

Fabrizio doesn’t think that many people leave for creative purposes, however he also admits that not every person who has left Malta had a job waiting for them. He says that the Maltese know that they can do more and be more elsewhere, and Malta’s not become enough for them. Fabrizio’s reason for leaving Malta was specifically because of identity. He says that he didn’t feel comfortable in Malta and that it was to a certain detriment to his well-being to stay. “I did this for me, with all the good and bad that it entails. I would have a much more stable life at home. I have certain foundations there, I have my friends and family. But apart from that, everything else I did not feel comfortable with.” (Fabrizio Mifsud Soler, Videocall Interview, 2018). Inez Baldacchino feels that Maltese creatives tend to move because there’s not enough money and opportunities in Malta in certain sectors, while Daniela Attard says that she used the opportunity of a Masters Degree as an excuse to move, because she was feeling very “suffocated”. She does say that since the boom of iGaming in Malta, there is more work for illustrators and graphic designers, but she feels that for anyone who’s ambitious, Malta is still very restrictive.

14 Creative Maltese in Parallel » Part 2

Do you think the Maltese lifestyle facilitates professional creative work?

Lifestyle irrelevant

Yes No 22 % 26 % 52 %

“Malta was too claustrophobic. It was not a question of feeling suffocated creatively, but more so as the type of person that I am. The fact that I’m a woman, in graphic design I felt like that in order to work with certain companies, you needed to be a certain kind of stereotype. I wasn’t ready to become a different person to find a job. I also needed a change.” (Alexandra Aquilina, Video-call Interview, 2018). Alexandra explains that some people just need to move, and that she moved specifically because she fell in love with Berlin. She also states that she has no plans to move elsewhere or to move back. Alexandra feels that certain people believe that Maltese creatives take the big step of leaving to be able to grow artistically, because at one point when she was still studying, there were fewer opportunities in the arts in Malta. “Deep down however, I guess it’s more of a social issue, of not feeling that you’re part of something or feeling alienated in your own country because of how you see the world. Being in Berlin allows me to be who I want to be, to explore part of my identity that I would have not had the opportunity to explore simply because it is larger… In Malta I felt stunted, not just as a creative person but as a human being.” (Alexandra Aquilina, Video-call Interview, 2018). Michael Quinton feels that the music scene in Malta is very poor. He says that although there are various interesting bands coming up, there isn’t a proper music scene with regular activities. When asked why he thinks creative Maltese nationals tend to want to move abroad, he replies that they need to move, mainly because locally there is a threshold of how much one can learn. “Once you hit that ceiling, you can’t really develop beyond. Locally you don’t have enough ideas spinning around in the air to influence your work. Somehow when you go abroad, you can experience a much more diverse palette of different things and you meet different people with newer knowledge to expand your knowledge.” (Michael Quinton, Video-call Interview, 2018).

Claudia Baldacchino says that nowadays people don’t have to move away because there are more opportunities in Malta, and so there is less of a need to go abroad. She also mentions that with projects like Maltatype, MaltaDoors and Te’ fit-Tazza, there is a growing interest in Malta and Maltese elements for people who are based in Malta.

An anonymous respondent expresses that although Maltese creatives tend to move for lack of job opportunities, the Maltese need to learn how to create opportunities themselves first, and realise that the Maltese already have the knowledge and resources to achieve this. She feels that once this starts to happen, and the arts as a sector starts to see proper growth, less Maltese creatives will want to move abroad for opportunities.

I found Claudia’s response quite interesting in particular because she specifically mentions Lisa Gwen Baldacchino’s MaltaDoors as a sign of growing interest in Malta. Earlier in this study, Lisa had mentioned that this project was in fact a result of documenting and nostalgia rather than simply a growing interest in Malta. She also mentioned that even other projects like Te fit-Tazza and Maltatype are primarily trying to preserve Maltese traditions that Malta is slowly losing. Are these initiatives a celebration of Malta in that case, or are they an ongoing artistic protest to preserve our Maltese identity?

15 Creative Maltese in Parallel » Part 2

Remaking of an identity

“Clearly, the immigrant must give up part of his individuality, at least temporarily, in order to become integrated in the new environment. The greater the difference between the new community and the one to which he once belonged, the more he will have to give up.” (Grinberg and Grinberg,1989, p.901 as quoted by Akhtar, 1995). This quote resonated with me quite a bit, because when you immigrate, you do feel that your individuality and therefore your identity is changing. I started this part of the study by asking Dr. Debono whether she agrees with Akhtar, that an immigrant must give up part of his individuality to integrate into a new environment. “Rather than loss of identity, it’s remaking of an identity, it’s adding new layers to an identity.” (Dr.Daniela Debono, Video-call Interview, 2018). Dr. Debono explains that an immigrant cannot remain one hundred percent as they were before they moved. The different cultural, social and economic landscape, as well as different politics and communities force immigrants to change their attitudes and everyday behaviour.

When I asked whether they felt their identity had changed when they moved abroad, participants’ answers were quite mixed, with some saying they have felt a change in identity, others saying they felt more Maltese when they moved, and the rest stating that they didn’t see a change. “I think when I was younger and lived in London for the first time, I probably felt I had 2 identities, one for home, one for ‘away from home’, but the second time I lived in London perhaps I was more set in my ways so I didn’t really feel too different. I think I may have felt more special being from tiny Malta when meeting people who weren’t quite sure where Malta even may be!” (Louise Aquilina, Email interview, 2018). Michael Quinton feels that his identity is fluid and that it never stops changing once a person has left their familiar comfort zone behind. “You have to restart and adapt, you have to get into the lifestyle of where you’re living. You realise your mentality is changing according to your circumstances,” he says. Claudia Baldacchino admits that 10 years ago she didn’t like how multicultural her identity was, but now it’s what she loves most about it. She says that having lived in several different countries allows her to pick and choose and to get around her national identity, “My accent changes a lot based on where I live. In Malta my accents goes Maltese. I don’t know whether it’s because I’m trying to fit in but I definitely change the way I act, though I would never change the way I think.” (Claudia Baldacchino, Video-call Interview. 2018).

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Do you have more Maltese characteristics when you’re in Malta?

Yes No 56 % 44 %

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“Once I was on a train coming back, I don’t know where I was and I was crying because I was having an identity crisis.” (Daniela Attard, Video-call Interview, 2018).

Daniela explains that one of the main reasons why she had an identity crisis was that she was trying too hard to be English to fit in. When she moved to the UK, she was very paranoid about her accent and tried her best to blend in rather than embrace her Maltese origin. Daniela also feels that living in London, a city which she describes as a place where “no one talks to one another”, added a layer of insularity and loneliness, but without realising she feels that socially she’s become more like the English.

While Inez Baldacchino and another anonymous participant felt that living abroad has made them feel even more Maltese and made them more aware of who they are, others like Nicole Sciberras and Stephanie Scicluna say that they never really associated themselves with the Maltese lifestyle. Nicole expresses that living abroad gave her more leeway to be herself, despite feeling like a foreigner amongst locals. She feels that in Ferrara, she has more flexibility, freedom and independence without any prejudice, which gives her room to grow. Stephanie, who has lived abroad for several years but is now based in Malta, still doesn’t feel like herself in Malta, although recently she has seen an improvement. “You should not have to struggle and work so hard to try and be yourself in a place which is supposedly meant to be your home, and yet I see this quite regularly in Malta.” (Stephanie Scicluna, Email Interview, 2018). In The Great Sea: A Human History of the Mediterranean, Abulafia(2011) takes us through a rigorous journey of the history of the Mediterranean Sea. Amongst the Mediterranean countries, is of course Malta, located right in the middle, a prime location for trade. As a result, Malta has been colonised several times by Arabs, Romans, the French and the English amongst others. Our island is positioned between Europe and Africa, between Eastern Europe, Asia and Western Europe, so it’s no wonder us Maltese are stereotyped as always feeling like we’re at the centre of the world. Our language and the way we look reflects this history, this geographical position, and a substantial amount of Western and Eastern cultural influences. This led me to ask Dr. Debono whether she thinks that Maltese migrants adapt more easily to other cultures and to a new cultural identity, because of Malta’s particular geographical location and our diverse history?

Dr. Debono explained that the Maltese tend to assimilate even in countries where foreigners are less accepted, and this is possible because identity is multifaceted. She compares identity to a bag of marbles, where an individual picks and chooses the combination that they want in order to represent themselves to a group. “In the past, they became so invisible that we don’t have any trace of these communities anymore. Whereas in countries like Australia, which had a policy of multiculturalism from early on, the Maltese tried to keep some sort of Malteseness together.” (Dr. Daniela Debono, Video-call Interview, 2018). Dr. Debono emphasises the fact that Malta has had different waves of immigration and because the island has been open to different flows of people including the British Colonial experience, this has made the Maltese more adaptable to different cultures. Dr. Debono adds that nowadays, the Maltese who decide to go abroad tend to be people who are searching for

a new migration experience or building another facet to their identity, an added value to how they see themselves and how they project themselves. “In Edinburgh it’s easier to adapt because we have many things in common already, whereas someone moving to Scandinavia might have a different experience. I think it depends on the history of where you’re going in relation to Malta. I do not think it’s a conscious thing.” (Claudia Baldacchino, Video-call Interview, 2018). In Maltese in London, Dench(1975) explains that many Maltese who moved to London in the 60s could very easily adapt to English culture, in fact they actively wanted to be seen as being more English. Dench explains that certain Maltese men who married English women were quite happy when their children used their mother’s surname where their patronymic was not known. “Many seemed to feel that fathering English children enhanced their own claim to English identity, so that the absence of ethnic consciousness among the children is to some extent a reflection of its weakness in the migrant generation.” (Dench, 1975, p.44). Dench(1975) goes on to explain that an expression of this mood can be found in a piece by Lena Jeger in the Guardian in 1963. In her piece, Mrs. Jeger portrayed the Maltese as “quiet” immigrants who were models of “self-effacement” in their concern to assimilate.

As a Maltese immigrant with friends who are immigrants in different parts of the world, I can attest that even though Maltese immigrants find a sense of familiarity with other Maltese immigrants living in their city or town, they are also likely to integrate quite easily and actively look for friends and acquaintances from other countries and cultures. Having said that, various participants expressed that they felt more comfortable with people from “mediterranean” cultures such as Italy, Greece and Spain. Perhaps in them, they find a sense of home away from home.

Lisa Gwen Baldacchino, who lives in Malta, agrees with Dr. Debono that Maltese have a penchant to be a bit “chameleonlike” when they move abroad, and she puts this down to a form of escapism. She says that she’s always been very much in love with Malta and something has always kept her from moving abroad, however she admits that this feeling has dissipated considerably over the last couple of years. Lisa feels that a lot of other people share her sentiment both now and in the past, and that’s what makes them want to get away. “There’s such a finely woven web of intricacy in this little country of ours, and because it’s so small you can easily become very much aware of it and it can easily get to you – when it does, this sense of wanting to pack your bags leave and start afresh and start anew can be quite overwhelming and I think it’s one of the reasons why people are so ready to adopt the customs, the fashion, the trends, the languages of other countries. There’s an incredible lack of structure in this country, and when you find it and experience it elsewhere, it’s like you can finally breathe and thrive, your potential can finally be used to its best.” (Lisa Gwen Baldacchino, Video-call Interview, 2018).