On August 30, 2024, the Millennium Nucleus ICLAC, in collaboration with the Chilean Asian Project and the Department of Anthropology at Universidad Diego Portales, organized the launch of the book Chinese Espresso: Contested Race & Convivial Space in Contemporary Italy by researcher Grazia Ting Deng. The virtual event featured prominent academics who discussed the work, including Monica DeHart, Professor at the University of Puget Sound and Senior Advisor at ICLAC, and Nifta Lau, Researcher at Universidad del Pacífico. The discussion was moderated by Carol Chan, ICLAC researcher and member of the Chilean Asian Project.
The book published by Princeton University Press represents over a decade of research by Ting Deng, Professor of Anthropology at Brandeis University. Through an ethnographic approach, the author explores how Chinese immigrants in Italy have transformed the social and economic landscape by establishing and managing cafés—a space traditionally associated with Italian identity. This seemingly trivial phenomenon reveals deep dynamics of race, place, and friendliness in the context of increasing hostility toward immigrants in Europe.
During her presentation, Ting Deng highlighted how her initial curiosity about the presence of cafés managed by Chinese individuals in Italy—an observation she began making in 2012—led her to investigate the conditions and mechanisms behind this expansion. In her book, the author uses the concept of Chinese Espresso to challenge traditional perceptions that link this beverage exclusively with Italian identity, exposing the contrast between apparent multicultural coexistence and the reality of hostility toward immigrants.
The author explained that her analysis focuses on three levels of social context: cafés as spaces of economic and social production; Italy as a European country facing demographic and political dilemmas related to immigration; and the global context in which the Chinese diaspora and China’s geopolitical rise challenge dominant racial ideologies.
Reflections from Latin America
Monica DeHart and Nifta Lau provided critical reflections on the book, connecting the experiences of Chinese immigrants in Italy with those in Latin America. DeHart emphasized how the author's research manages to place immigrant entrepreneurs at the heart of Italian cultural production, rather than relegating them to an enclave context. On the other hand, Lau underscored the importance of understanding the adaptation of Chinese immigrants to the local context, noting that, similar to Latin America, Chinese entrepreneurs in Italy must navigate between preserving their cultural values and integrating into a society that often rejects them.
Both commentators highlighted how Chinese Espresso offers a rich and nuanced view of the realities of the Chinese diaspora, inviting readers to reflect on the complexities of coexistence in an increasingly globalized and racialized world.