Although “counting the Walser” is an obviously complex and delicate endeavour because of the very difficulty one encounters in defining who should be considered a Walser, both in the past and today, there are reasons suggesting that this issue needs nevertheless to be addressed. Tapping a variety of documentary sources, this short piece aims first of all to provide estimates of the size of the populations of the Walser colonies south of the Alps from the sixteenth century to the present day. An attempt is then made to sort out those who could speak the local German dialects from the other inhabitants. These rough calculations point to a massive decline in the overall number of German-speakers over time and to a growing numerical gap between German-speakers and inhabitants, but also reveal significantly different historical trajectories among the various Walser colonies. While linguistic competence is commonly used as the main indicator of ethnic identity, in the Italian Alps recent demographic and legislative changes have strongly favoured what some scholars call “diffuse ethnicity”, whereby linguistic competence no longer constitutes the most important element for identifying ethnic groups; instead, ethnic identity is increasingly expressed subjectively through ethnic self-assertion. Assessing the presence of, and the scope for, “diffuse ethnicity” in the Walser colonies south of the Alps, and evaluating whether it represents a threat for linguistic minorities (as some fear) or rather an opportunity for cultural revitalization, is an urgent task for both socio-linguistic and ethnographic research.
Quanti erano – e quanti sono – i Walser a sud delle Alpi? Dal XVI secolo alla legge 482/99
Pier Paolo Viazzo
2017-01-01
Abstract
Although “counting the Walser” is an obviously complex and delicate endeavour because of the very difficulty one encounters in defining who should be considered a Walser, both in the past and today, there are reasons suggesting that this issue needs nevertheless to be addressed. Tapping a variety of documentary sources, this short piece aims first of all to provide estimates of the size of the populations of the Walser colonies south of the Alps from the sixteenth century to the present day. An attempt is then made to sort out those who could speak the local German dialects from the other inhabitants. These rough calculations point to a massive decline in the overall number of German-speakers over time and to a growing numerical gap between German-speakers and inhabitants, but also reveal significantly different historical trajectories among the various Walser colonies. While linguistic competence is commonly used as the main indicator of ethnic identity, in the Italian Alps recent demographic and legislative changes have strongly favoured what some scholars call “diffuse ethnicity”, whereby linguistic competence no longer constitutes the most important element for identifying ethnic groups; instead, ethnic identity is increasingly expressed subjectively through ethnic self-assertion. Assessing the presence of, and the scope for, “diffuse ethnicity” in the Walser colonies south of the Alps, and evaluating whether it represents a threat for linguistic minorities (as some fear) or rather an opportunity for cultural revitalization, is an urgent task for both socio-linguistic and ethnographic research.
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