What does one’s identity and the way one is popularly taught history has to do with conflict? What may be the link with immigration and racism? And where does Malta and the Maltese people fit into this picture?
Lying half-way between the Straits of Gibraltar and Lebanon, Malta – a tiny island state in the Mediterranean Sea – has forever been in contact with Europe and Africa, which cultures have both contributed to the many traits which have shaped the islanders’ character.
A European member since 1 January, 2004 and a member of the Shengen area since 21 December, 2007, the island (like other Mediterranean islands such as Cyprus and Lampedusa) has seemingly provided a golden gateway for the boatloads of people that escape the African shores in search of a better way of life. Many a study has been done and focused on how this migratory phenomenon has affected the Maltese population. But if migration is as old as mankind, and the Maltese people are the sons and daughters of migrants themselves, one should assume that the Maltese should understand and accept the immigrants in Malta. But an exploratory study in August 2011, where a random sample of Maltese University students aged between 18 and 33 were interviewed one-to-one, in addition to other reviewed recent studies, proved differently.
The shared memories of the conflicts of by-gone eras, such as the way the story of the Great Siege is told, or as the history of the French and British occupation are perceived in the popular imagination but also as reflected in our school history books – as seen from a social identity theory (one’s self-concept as derived from a perceived membership in his or her own relevant social group and as a way of explaining one’s behaviour in the inner-group, as originally expounded by Henri Tajfel and John C. Turner in the 70’s and 80’s) – may have also contributed to the current prejudice against the klandestini and other foreigners.
In this study the students, themselves poised to become Malta’s leaders of tomorrow, when interviewed one-to-one, showed prejudice against foreigners but especially illegal immigrants – and this when asked specific questions with regard to which nationality they preferred; if they would house an immigrant in their home; if they would even marry an immigrant themselves and whether immigrants should be given the right to work, amongst others. The aim of the study was to examine whether it was possible to form a peaceful common identity and/or to form a civic and multicultural meaning of national identity for the Maltese youths, the different salient identities and if history teaching and the history books used had triggered it. The study did indicate problems in this sphere and why prejudice was also leading to discrimination and also to strong political positioning toward specific groups. It also seemed to indicate that the representation of the history of Malta as passed on through the generations of peoples and books, has directly influenced and may have inflamed prejudice against some nationalities such as the Turks and other nationalities from the African continent.
If the suggestion to erect a museum to commemorate the Great Siege should be taken up, a committee made up of historians from Malta and from Turkey should mark the start of a true story told of this moment in history. Such would be a great opportunity for history to be re-told while representing also identity management, a reduction in salient identity and a demythologising of the Great Siege episode itself. Such a definitive guide to the Great Siege should contain pictures which can be truer to the nature of the respective population’s physical characteristics and not as depicted in the older history books as dark, gnarled and ugly. Similarly a modernised set of history books should also reflect an unbiased truth of the history of the Great Siege and of other episodes in Maltese history which have been camouflaged and glorified as local heroism.
Sue Mercieca
The author graduated as Master in Conflict Analysis and Resolution and Mediterranean Security from the School of Conflict Analysis and Resolution, George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia (USA) and the Mediterranean Academy of Diplomatic Studies, University of Malta, with Distinction in November 2011. The double-master was carried out following the award of a STEPS scholarship, part-financed by the European Union – European Social Fund (ESF) under Operational Programme II – Cohesion Policy 2007-2013, ‘Empowering People for More Jobs and a Better Quality of Life’.