‘New Italians’ and intercultural citizenship: Challenging hegemonic visions of migration, childhood and identity through fiction

Abstract

This article explores how representations of migration in 21st-century Italian fiction, including texts aimed at children and adolescents, can foster intercultural communication and contribute to the creation of a more tolerant society. Children represent a large proportion of the number of migrants arriving in Italy every year. However, since immigration is a relatively recent phenomenon, and Italians are still struggling to accept their homeland’s transition from emigrant to immigrant nation, Italian fiction offers a useful platform for exploring and challenging stereotypes about childhood, migration, identity and multiculturalism. This article presents a close reading of four semifictional works selected for their child-centric perspective, and their authors’ desire to use storytelling as a contact zone, that is a tool for sharing memories and creating a community spirit capable of promoting a sense of belonging, even in the absence of a single physical place to call home. The texts in question are Sumaya’s Abdel Qader’s Porto il velo, adoro i Queen. Nuove italiane crescono [I wear a headscarf, I love Queen. New Italian women are growing up]; Giuseppe Caliceti’s Italiani, per esempio. L’Italia vista dai bambini immigrati [Italians, for instance. Italy seen through the eyes of immigrant children]; Fabrizio Gatti’s Viki che voleva andare a scula [Viki who wanted to go to School], and Carmine Abate’ La festa del ritorno [The homecoming party]. All four authors have either direct or indirect experience of migration and particularly of the impact that migration has on children. They also share a sense of commitment and engagement and particularly in Caliceti’s and Abate’s case, an interest in language as a form of resistance. Their works are clear examples of the power of literature in challenging some of the more problematic sociological and media discourses about childhood and migration that tend to represent children as vulnerable victims or potential criminals.