Transnational Families' Experiences. A Research on Generations of Italians Living in Belgium

Abstract

The research in question, through a qualitative methodology, analyzes how socialization processes can evolve through generations within the family dimension. Migration experiences are indeed very different from one generation to another. Moreover, it turns out like the transnational social fields in which migrants and their descendents are embedded, span different countries and form a significant context for their everyday lives. The country chosen as case study is also for this reason Belgium, where the Italian presence is still very relevant and rooted in the territory. The study was attended by descendants of Italians who emigrated in the country after the Second World War. It seemed relevant to propose a research that deal with the Italian emigration of the past, analyzing however the most recent implications. The result is a complex renegotiation process of the migratory experience that takes place in the family dimension across generations, both of relationships and of transcultural practices.