Abstract
In order to avoid confusion between the multiple and sometime incompatible defintion that has been given for the ghetto, we propose here to start from the idea that the ghetto indicates a space of reclusion characterized by concentration and spatial segregation. In this it is different from the ethnic neighborhood where " segregation is dishomogenous and the result of the solidarity among immigrants as well as of ethnic affiliation rather than of the hostility of external groups (Wacquant, 2005).
However, if the ghetto forces its inhabitants, it allows also a certain agentivity, rather a form of cultural and social creativity. As a matter of fact, as Wacquant (2005) says, the ghettos by delimiting spaces enable the inhabitants to reinforce their social relations and create new collective identifications.
The aim of this issue is to analyze the ghetto by establishing the primacy of its material character and thus see how it can be acknowledged both as a concept as well as a object of enquiry.