Contact theory and the multiethnic community of Riace, Italy: An ethnographic examination.

This article uses the case of Riace, a small multiethnic community in Southern Italy, as a lens to evaluate key theoretical and methodological aspects of the influential Intergroup Contact Theory. The article draws upon 10 months of ethnographic fieldwork in Riace, Italy, a town that for more than 20 years has hosted and integrated refugees into the local community. We analyzed the ethnographic material in light of assumptions underlying intergroup contact theory.