Crossing Differences: How Young Children of Immigrants Keep Everyday Multiculturalism Alive

Abstract

This paper examines how children of immigrants use difference in their everyday relations. After a brief critical discussion of how difference is usually conceived in the actual debate about multiculturalism, it proposes a sociological definition of difference stressing its ‘practical’, mundane, and contextual uses. Informed by theoretical approaches to difference which emphasise its political nature, the paper explores the mundane and continuous work of production and overcoming of distinctions–a work, the product of which, requires a certain degree of credibility and stability in order to be effective but that risks losing its effectiveness if it cannot be adjusted to the specificities of the context in which it is used. Interviews with adolescent children of immigrants in Italy show how difference constitutes a relevant tool for claiming recognition and respect as well as demanding inclusion and participation. They also show how to be able to cross differences and identities passing from one context to another is one of the most significant skills for young people living in a multicultural and global world.

Keywords:

• Everyday Multiculturalism
• Belonging
• Youth
• Citizenship
• Cultural Difference

Acknowledgements

I wish to thank Melissa Butcher, Anita Harris, and the anonymous referees for their helpful comments on an earlier version of this paper.

Notes

1. For a synthesis of the current debate see Baumann (1999), Benhabib (2002), Modood (2007), and Featherstone (2002).

2. The research conducted in 2007–2008 is a follow up of a former study (2003–2004) focusing on everyday collective identification among adolescent children of immigrants in Italy (Colombo et al. 2009). The breakdown of respondents according to parental nationality is as follows: Central and South America 32, Asia 31, North Africa 22, Sub-Saharan Africa 7, Central and Eastern Europe 23, mirroring the actual composition of Italian immigration. The narrative interviews focused on everyday life, family, school, friendship, lifestyle, and patterns of consumption. They also attempted to capture how these young people think and present themselves and how they imagine their future. A significant part of each interview explored interest in parents’ societies and cultures, the maintenance of transnational ties, and the idea of citizenship and belonging. The respondents were contacted personally at school, while a survey on the condition of young people was being submitted in the single classes of the 4th and 5th years. The research was conducted in the 12 high schools in Milan with the highest number of foreign pupils. The interviewees’ involvement was voluntary with no restriction other than they had a foreign parent. Mainly, the interviews (lasting from 45 to 90 minutes) took place by appointment at the University; only a few took place in the school attended by the youngsters. All names are pseudonyms to maintain anonymity.

3. Italy in fact only switched from being a country of emigration to being one of immigration as recently as the 1970s. Since the start of its industrial development, Italy has mainly been characterised by internal fluxes of immigration, from rural areas in the South to the industrialised regions of the North. The immigration flux from abroad increased in visibility at the end of the 1980s. Since its beginning immigration in Italy has been characterised by tremendous diversity, and today the almost four-million immigrant community (which accounts for nearly 7 per cent of the population) is made up of people from over 180 different countries and no single group accounts for more than 20 per cent of the total foreign population. According to more recent statistical data around 63 per cent of immigrants live in the Northern regions of Italy. In Italy the debate around immigration has been dominated by rhetorical ‘emergency’ issues and has therefore focused on reducing and quashing illegal immigration. Migrants have been mostly considered as manpower; wanted but not welcome. People have only recently begun to realise that the migration process is going to become established. The rise of family reunions and of children of immigrants born in Italy and attending Italian education is self-evident proof that migrants and their families have become an important and permanent part of the nation. Today the educational integration of young foreigners is constantly increasing, and although the number of children of immigrants born in Italy has become considerable, their increasingly apparent presence and visibility are sometimes perceived as a ‘social problem’, especially in schools and in some urban areas of industrial towns. Young people with immigrant origins have also started to discuss racism and discrimination, especially within their associations. These associations are mainly based on websites and on-line forums that expand their member group's social visibility. For a presentation of recent studies on young children of immigrants in Italy see the Special Issue: ‘Schools, Migrants and Generation’ of the Italian Journal of Sociology of Education, 4 (1), 2010.

4. This is particularly true for children of immigrants born in Italy who often are labeled as ‘strangers’ and are excluded from citizenship even if they have never left Italy and they feel themselves fully part of Italian society. In fact, due to a long emigration history, the idea of citizenship in Italy is deeply rooted in an ius sanguinis perspective, valuing blood community ties more than the free will to participate in its construction. So, for the children – second, third or even fourth generation – of Italian emigrants living abroad and with only sporadic ties with the Italian life it is easier to obtain Italian citizenship than for youths born in Italy with foreign parents who have never left Italy in their lives. The children of immigrants born in Italy can only ask for Italian citizenship when they come of age, but it is only granted if they can demonstrate that they have lived in Italy without interruptions throughout their childhood. The arbitrariness of the recognition of citizenship is always high and even for children that fulfil all the request criteria there is no guarantee of success. It is also important to highlight that all immigrants who wish to legally stay in Italy (including those under age) have to regularly ask for a permit that requires a long bureaucratic process. This permit needs to be periodically renewed; this often means extenuating queues and a long list of necessary documents. The time required for renewal is long, and it's not unusual to receive the official renewal a few months before its date of expiry. People whose permit is near to its expiry date may have huge problems returning to Italy after a trip abroad.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Enzo Colombo

Enzo Colombo is Associate Professor of Sociology of culture and Sociology of Intercultural Relations at the University of Milan. He is currently doing research on youth and children of immigrants attending secondary schools in Italy, as well as on racism and the social construction of otherness. He is interested in the theoretical definition of everyday multiculturalism and in the transformations of citizenship and belonging