The attitudes, perceptions and feelings of immigrants towards Malta and the Maltese

Abstract

A phenomenon often overlooked, is that of the attitudes, perceptions and feelings of immigrants towards Malta and the Maltese population. There appears to be little knowledge about the subject and this was the major determinant for the research. A social psychological perspective was adopted, whilst data collection was conducted through the use of semi-structured interviews with immigrants, who related their interpretation of the reality in Malta. The results show that these people have a somewhat vague view of the Maltese. Their experience in Malta is not an easy one, due to many factors including status, work and the resentment shown by some Maltese towards them. Further areas of study will be proposed to tackle some of the major priorities and problems as perceived by the immigrants. This may hopefully lead towards more awareness of the situation faced by these people in our country.