Fantasy upon Fantasy and the Love for Nostalgia: New Forms of Connection in Young Generation Italian Diaspora in Perth, Australia

Abstract

This paper presents and discusses some of the findings of my research conducted in Perth as part of the fieldwork for my PhD thesis “We are both Italians of the opposite sides of the world, a comparative analysis of diaspora and distance”. My work is focused on emigration from my home village, S. Angelo di Brolo, in Sicily, a phenomenon that started at the end of the 19th century and has never stopped, bringing people to different destinations. The key element of my project is that it is based on the trans-national emigration of a micro-community that has never been investigated before but that has largely contributed to the Sicilian diaspora. The subtitle, “a comparative analysis of diaspora and distance”, highlights the concept of distance that is not only used to refer to geographical spaces, as I have studied a trans-national community and the research was conducted in five sites (New York-USA, Perth-Australia, Canton Zurich-Switzerland, Velbert-Germany, Busto Arsizio-Northern Italy) but also to time distance, as the different destinations correspond mainly to different waves of migration. In dealing with the reasons that brought people to leave, it’s also taken into consideration that the distance in time from the event allows a different perception of the event itself and sometimes allows to reveal the true reason why, that is too hurtful in the present or impossible to admit because of the present circumstances. We need also to be aware that in the distance of time, memory, in its selection work, can mythologize the meaning of events. Moreover, I also take into account generational distance: in the experience of migration, the generational distance is particularly evident as there is a gap in the perception of self-identity. As part of a bigger project, this paper will discuss new forms of connection to the homeland used by young generation Italian migrants, born in Perth, Australia. Keywords: belonging, ethnic friends, imaginary, identity, tattoo