Re-negotiating national belonging in contemporary Italian migrant literature

Abstract

This article focuses on the concept of national belonging by drawing on the theoretical framework of affective citizenship. Our aim is to show how, on the one hand, the national remains at the forefront of the political and cultural debates in the age of super-diversity and, on the other, how affective ties can be considered as a means of triggering the process of re-definition of national belonging. Relying on a critical reading of selected works of contemporary Italian migrant literature, the article explores the plurality of meanings associated with the national, thus challenging mainstream interpretations which sees it as a cultural, ethnic and religious homogenous register.