Transnational Ties and Diasporic Identities: Practices of Mobility and Performances of Citizenship among Young Italians of North African Descent

Abstract (English)

Literature often portrays youth with a migrant background as caught between 'two worlds': the country of origin of their parents and the country where they were born and/or raised (Notarangelo, 2007). However, this dual framework fails to fully capture the complexity of their identity constellations (Cingolani, Ricucci, 2014). This paper examines the transnational ties, mobility practices, and diasporic identities of young Italians of North African origin, focusing on how they navigate intimate, cultural, and social affiliations in a globalized world. It presents the initial findings of the research project "Growing Old, Feeling Like a Citizen? Lived citizenship experiences among Muslim young adults of North African origin in metropolitan and provincial Italy" (University of Padua and Milan-Bicocca), a multi-site qualitative study based on biographical interviews, focus groups, and ethnographic observation. The study underscores the complex, multifaceted nature of their identities, shaped by the intersection of their North African heritage, Italian upbringing, and their mobility experiences – physical, digital, and social – within a broader social context. By analyzing their transnational ties and the role of social, political, and digital networks, the paper demonstrates how these young individuals construct and perform hybrid and fluid identities that transcend national borders, drawing on transnational references such as Islam (Acocella, Pepicelli, 2018) or Arabness as well as Afropolitanism and political Blackness (Beaman, 2017). At the intersection of migration, youth and transition studies (Marchetti et al., 2022), this study contributes to a deeper understanding of how global configurations and mobility practices shape the identity formation and the transition to adulthood of migrants' descendants, challenging traditional notions of nationality, citizenship, and belonging (Wagner, 2017).