Criminalization and the Construction of Selves As Victimized Bodies Among the Followers of the Italian Northern League Political Party

Anti-immigrant politics is largely based upon the perception that immigration will bring crime, and that most, if not all, immigrants are, at least potentially criminals. The vagueness of crime as a legal category aside, supposed link between the immigration and crime justifies the handling of immigration itself with the criminal terms. This study analyzes the processes and experiences that create a supposed link between immigration and crime for the supporters of the anti-immigrant party of Italy: the Northern League. Based on ethnographic observation, this study will go beyond the mere analysis of party discourse and will include the fears, conspiracy theories, racialization and labeling through an analysis of real local-immigrant encounters, interviews, discussions, social media and ceremonializations of immigrant criminality, to understand the view of the xenophobe. The study shows that criminalization functions as a legitimacy discourse and thus, the perception of the “delinquent immigrant”, is both asserted by and used to justify anti-immigrant political actors. However, this justification on the voter’s part, should not be regarded as a mere deliberate political act, or only a result of post 9/11 propaganda and selective media reporting. Rather, it is a way of negotiation for people who have difficulty in making sense of their world as it changes, and have the nostalgia for a communal life; imagined as safe, secure and familiar. The labeling of “other” as criminal provides the right-wing party followers with the means to externalize evil, to maintain their self-perceptions as civilized, and to construct themselves as victimized bodies.