Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Discussion of findings (not ready)



As I wanted the achieve the best results from my questionnaires pruvajt inqassam il questionnaires lin nies b opinjonijiet u hsibijiet differenti, kif ukol livell ta edukazzjoni differenti. Xtaqt ukol li jkolli varjeta bejn nies li jejxu fin north u nies li jejxu fis south, halli jek em din id differenza kbira tohrog. Fil fatt din id differenza  harget mir rizultati tal questionnaires pero xtaqt li nkun iktar konkrett fir ricerka tijaj alluwra amilt zewg interviews wahda lil lectuture li toqod fin nahat tas south ta malta u lohra toqod fin nahat tan north ta malta. Dan eni hafna hu ibbenefikjat minnu minhabba li zidli mux bi ftit lamont ta qualitative research. Issa kelli kem informazzjoni basicka u generali, kif ukol informazzjoni iktar iddetaljata u kumplessa.

Although the gender doesn’t make that much of a difference in a person’s opinion about the location discrimination in Malta, jina xorta pruvajt u qassamt il questionnaires tijaj lil nies ta Gender differenti bix ikolli iktar varjeta fit twegibit tahhom. Wahda mil aktar fatturi important kinet l eta, puvajt u irnexxili nqassam il questionnaires tijajj lil nies ta etajiet differenti bhekk zgur kin ha jkoli hafna opninijet u hsibijiet differenti. Filfatt irrizulta ir responders kola li kinu naqa avanzati fiz zmien ma tantx jatu kas ta din il qasma bejn in north u south. Huma iktar passivi u jharsu lejn il problema biss bhala li nies tan north huma ‘pepe’, u nies tas south huma naqa iktar ‘hammali’. Mentri iz zazah jsemmu fil questionnaires tahhom li in nies tan north huma iktar ‘pepe’ pero jajdu li ma jsibux problem kbar fl areas tahom, waqt li in nies tas south semmew hafna iktar nies li jamlu vandalism, glied esagerat u anke issmew xi sparaturi. Din hija haga zajra li harget mil questionnaires b kawza ta differenza fl age groups tar responders. Jiena nahseb li vera hemm naqa affarijeit li jarawom iz zazah rigward din id diskriminazzjoni, ax anke meta johorgu iz zazah u anke nies ta fuq it 30’s dawn bilfors li ha jkunu jafu l problema xini, peress li johorgu u affacaw wiccom ma certa nies.  Ragel anzjan li adu jahseb li kollox kwiet u seren bhal pjazza tal lokalita tijaw ma jistax nahseb li ma jistax ikun jaf hafna bdin id diskriminazzjoni. Alkem din id diskriminazzjoni ila addeja hafna pero nahseb li issa saret gravi wsiq. Illum sirt issib skejjel li ax andom reputazzjoni li l isokola hija sdingata u li listudenti ma jridux jitalmu, l allima ma jamlux xolom sew u jehduwa forgrantet. B’hekk l istudenti kola ma jistawx jitalmu u dawk li jkunu jixtiequ ma jirnexxilomx jaddu mil ezamijiet. B’hekk il younger generations ta xi locations fis south qed dejjem tigi iktar traskurata u irresponsabli.

The responder’s majority agreed that the best places to live in Malta are the northern areas because of the clean environment, mentality of the people, due to social and economic advantages and quite citizens. The majority also agreed that the worst places to live in Malta are the southern areas especially; Bormla (cottonera) and Hamrun. This is because of crowded, mentality of the people and attitude, noisy and pollution problems. Most people are mostly scared or iffastidjati bl aggir jew l attitudni ta certi nies li joqodu fis south, kwazi kul min mela l questionnaires ma jdumx jahsiba bix bhala worst jitfa il bormla u jajd ax in nies ta dawk l akwati huma ‘hammali’. Jiena persnalment naqbel li Bormla muwhiex xi post idejali bix tejx fih specjalment illum il gurnata, pero nahseb li hafna nies huma affetwati sew bl stereotype. Nahseb li hafna persuni jaqbdu u jaqtaw line dritt li south hazin u north tajjeb nahseb li alkem em ir realta f dawn it twegibit nahseb li xorta em input qawwi  ta default stereotype.
Jikomferma dan li nahseb jiena dan iz zazuh Indjan. Jiena uzajt ftit mil kitbit tijaw fuq blog ar ricerka tijaj (lit rev). Dan iz zazuh jahseb hekk; 
I think if such stereotype doesn’t end it can impact our citizens, workforce, students etc from North-Eastern states which can adversely affect India’s growth in general”. (Prakash 2010)

Ir responders kolla kem north kif ukol south qablu li hafna nies fl akwati tahom huma nies edukati u ta laffari tahom, jirrispetaw l ambjent u lil ta madwarom. Fil waqt li meta ir responders kellom iwigbu al question fejn isemu xi attributes hziena dwar in nies li jejxu fl akwati tahom, dawn kolla qablu li alkem joqodu fin north u fis south xorta jaraw certra azzjonijiet listess. Biss in nies tan north semmew affarijiet bhal vandalism, nies li jhossuwom superjuri min ohrjan, kullhad jejx alih qas qisek aijad f city, lack of help from neighbors etc... While the people living at the southern ares mentioned more things like vandal acts, fightings, gun shooting, irresponsible driving. When compering these answeres one can immediately identify li l azzjonijiet hziena tan north huma just affarijit zar u li issibom kullumkin waqt li l azzjonijiet hziena tas south huma naqa ikgtar inkwitanti. B’hekk tinduna li vera em naqa differenze wara kollox bejn in north u south ta Malta. Din id differenza jaf bija kulhad min ftit u min hafna, min ma tamilux hafna differenza u min huwa xettiku hafna. Mux kul Malti jitqies listess, hawn ftit li jhossuwom differenti mil bqija. F’Malta issib kazi fejn il lokalita tijak taffetwak personalment, bhal per ezempju titlef xi xol li tkun kwalifikat alih.
These actions happen as well in Italy and have been going on for a long period of time. Dawn ir rizultati jaqblu hafna ma din il bicca nformazjoni li sibt waqt li kont qed namel il literature review.
". . . We prefer very greatly the northern Europeans, but could use handsomely to their profit and to the profit of our people, some from northern Italy . . . I am certain that we do not want and we should insist that we do not get, people from the southern parts of Italy . . . "  (Immigration and the South, The Atlantic Monthly, November 1905)
Another interesting fact was that the responders all agreed that in Malta, people do discriminate each other according to our geographical location. The responders all agreed ukol mal fatt li the people of the so-called ‘North” part of the island, feel truly different from the people living in the ‘South’. B’hekk jider li in nies taf bil problema li ana f Malta, imma hafna nies accetawa u qalu li mijix f estrem/kas allarmanti.  B’hekk il maggoranza tan nies li imlew il questionnaires jahsbu li we should embrace our traditional lifestyle, instead of become more similar to another.
Jiena nahseb li memx xi differenza kbira u li jek in nies tan north ihossuom naqa iktar ‘puliti’ min tas south why not hallijom jahsbu hekk, ma nahseb li had tamilix differenza personalment. Pero min naha lohra nipretendi li hadd la north u la south ma andu la jhossu inferjeri u laqqas superjuri fuq haddiehor, ghax min hemm jibda il prejudizzji. U minflok intaffu l problema li ana nkomplu nkabruwa ax wara kollox din mija xejn hlief sterotype, dan kollu qijad go mohna umbad minn em jibda jwassal al fatti.
Din ir realta tikomferma (Nita, 2006) mara Indjana fejn kitbet li tajd li had ma andu jiddomina lil hadd, u hadd ma andu poter jiggudika lil had kem north u kif ukol south.
“North Indians are not our rulers. They are one of us. You are one of us. We are one country. We have to respect each other’s religions, languages and culture.” (Nita, 2006)

I have tried to translate my research to a tangible framework which would make viewers reflect on Maltese culture as a whole, rather than as separating north and south in two different entities. 
I have chosen to play around with the idea of property names because ahna l Maltin ghandna l impressjoni f’mohhna minhabba  l stereotype tana li in naha tan north ta Malta andom hafna ismijet tad djar bl inglis u xeba pepeti whekk. Nahsbu ukol li id djar tan nahat tas south ikun jisimom hafna affarijiet bil malti, u ismijiet tan nies whekk. Mill l informazzjoni li gbart jina matul iz zmin li amilt bix hadt ir ritratti al progett, jina indunajt li din il mentalita mijix koretta 2 d full. Filfatt l ismijiet tant huma simili ta xulxin li meta tamilom hdejn xulxin wihed laqqas bis jinduna min fejn kinu migbuda. Waqt li kont qed nihu ir ritratti irrizulta li ismijiet tad djar bl inglis sibt numru sostanzjali kem fin north kif ukol fis south. Ir ritratti imanipulajtom billi tajtom dera totalment differenti milli wihed qatt jipretendi li jista jimaginom. L istilli Pop Art u l contemporanju hadmu sew bix amlu id differenza kola li kin hem bzon, u ikrejaw dik is sens ta kurzita.  L ghan ta din l installation huwa wihed li min jara jistaqsi lilu nnifsu, dawn min fejn gew migbudin? Umbad hu jiprova wahdu jara jipruvax jaqta, b hekk automatikament ha juza id default stereotype tijaw. Issa jek wihed jirraguna li id djar tan north ha jkollom ismijiet  li jkunu bl inglis, u lit tas south ha jkunu bil malti u iktar ‘hamali’ sippost andu jmur zbaljat.  Alkem mux ha jkun em lebda tabella li turih dan, dan ir ragunar ha jkun kollu bejn il viewer u linstallation mentally. Ma niddejaq xejn li l installation ma jifimix min kulhadd, infatti nipreferi niddisinja xi haga li tkun tista tigi aprezzata min xi hadd li kapaci jifem u jittolera id design contemporanju.

My project is about a feature in our culture, specifically the quirky names of our homes which is present in all parts of the country, and therefore something which brings us together.
Therefore I wanted to work on something which would make people reflect how even though we clearly discriminate against one another,  we all still have similarities which differentiate us from other countries.

To poke fun
Don’t design for everyone. It’s impossible. All you end up doing is designing something that makes everyone unhappy.
Leisa Reichelt  ()









Findings ------- Analysis of questionnaires


I distributed the questionnaires to different people of different age groups, to have more perceptions opinions. So that my research will be wider and deeper, Azilt li nqassam il questionnaires il age groups differenti ukol ax nahseb li iz zmien ta persuna taf tbidel hafna il mod ta kif wihed jahseb minhabba l stereotypes.
 
 
The responders had different opinions and obviously their answers differed according to their beliefs. 30% of the responders belief that St. Julians is the best place to live in, in Malta making it the majority. This is due to the social and economic advantages that these areas offer. 20% think that Sliema is the best, while the other responders belief that San Gwann, Madliena, Iklin, Qawra, Zabbar and Pembroke are the best places to live in Malta.

 
The responders had different opinions and obviously their answers differed according to their beliefs. The absolute majority is that 60% don’t want to live in extreme South such as Bormla, due to social situation and because of the attitude of the citizens. 20% of the responders think that Valletta is the worst place to live in because of its noisy and some citizen’s attitudes. The same thing applies for Hamrun because 20% of the responders belief that this place is always so chaotic. While 10% beliefs that Sliema is the worst place to live, because of lack of spaces, narrow roads etc…

 
All the responders agreed that, people living in Malta discriminate each other according to our geographical location.

 
All the responders agreed that, people of the so-called 'North', feel truly different from people living in the 'South’ of our island.

People living in the ‘North’ mentioned these postive attributes on people living in their location;
§  Everybody minds his own buisness
§  Quite
§  Well educated
§  Reserved and respectful
§  Responsible
§  Generous
§  Friendly

People living in the ‘North’ mentioned these positive attributes on people living in their location; Everybody minds his own business, quite, well educated, reserved, respectful, responsible, generous, friendly.
People living in the ‘South’ mentioned these postive attributes on people living in their location;
§  Some of them are friendly
§  Very outgoing
§  Kind

People living in the ‘North’ mentioned these negative attributes on people living in their location;
§  There isn’t a community feeling
§  Sometimes some of them don’t bother to much to help
§  Some people think that they’re superior than others
§  Snobs
§  ‘Pepe’

People living in the ‘South’ mentioned these negative attributes on people living in their location;
§  Proud
§  Arrogant
§  Gossiping
§  Rude
§  Ignorant
§  Do not hesitate to fight


The responders living in the ‘North described in one sentence a stereotypical individual living in their location;
§  A jolly morning person that gossips a lot
§  Polite and helpful citizen
§  Everybody is almost too busy living his own life
§  From home to work and from work to home
§  Hardworking people going to work and back to their homes with their family
§  Middle aged man, with big expensive car holding a newspaper

The responders living in the ‘South described in one sentence a stereotypical individual living in their         location;
§  Feast fanatics
§  Not generous
§  A woman shopping at the ’monti’ and an old man sitting on the square bench
 
The responders living in the ‘North’ responded that they never pretend to see these attitudes in their location;
§  Fighting in an aggressive way
§  Extreme fights with gun shooting like I saw in another location
§  Noise pollution and garbage
§  Swearing in public areas
§  Gossiping
§  Shouting across the streets

The responders living in the ‘South’ responded that they never pretend to see these attitudes in their location;
§  Extreme gossiping and people trying to mind my own business
§  Robberies
§  Prostitutes and drugs



The responders living in the ‘North’ responded that they never pretend to see these attitudes in their location, and yet they have seen them at one point;

 
The responders living in the ‘South’ responded that they never pretend to see these attitudes in their location, and yet they have seen them at one point;

 
All the responders agreed that in Malta we have a large contrast between a local southerner and a northerner. They were also asked to give their opinion on whether we should embrace our traditional lifestyle, or we should become more similar to one another.