(Im)Migration Research in Italy: A European Comparative Perspective

Abstract

This article analyzes research on (im)migration in Italy since the early 1980s until the present as compared to research in other European receiving countries. Two periods are singled out. In the 1980s, the need to make sense of the dramatic Italian U-turn from an emigration to an immigration country prevails. Since the mid-1990s, some trends toward convergence emerge, following a number of theoretical and methodological challenges arising from North American research. Whereas for sociologist and anthropologist much of the debate is on social networks and transnationalism, in political science the gradual emerging of a policy approach to migration studies can be pointed out. However, despite the consolidating research infrastructure, there are still open questions and gaps in contemporary research on migration in Italy, for instance, second-generations, immigrants' associational and political participation, and last but not least, the impact of the European Union on Italian immigration and immigrant policy as well as policy making.