Part 2

Shifting borders - Exploring the relationship between women’s mobility and place belonging

Shifting borders - Exploring the relationship between women’s mobility and place belonging

Barbara Iuliano
Federico II University of Naples - Italy

Abstract
The complex relationship between homeland and host-society reveals new forms of belonging and self-representation, which are related to migrant’s uncertain conditions of existence and multiple interconnections (Iuliano, 2007). The present work aims to preliminary explore the dynamics of place attachment and identity redefinition among foreign women in Italy. The research has been carried out combining complementary methods: documentary research, observation, in-depth interviews and narrative accounts. The main part of the fieldwork took place in Naples, Italy - by means of in-depth interviews with women from Latin America, Eastern-Europe, Balkans and Africa. As revealed by content and thematic analysis of the verbatim transcripts, variables such as time of permanence in the site and geo-cultural context of origin, connote in different ways the emerging of a transitional space of belonging and of an ‘in-between identity’ (Bhabha, 1994).

Keywords : gender - migration - identity - place belonging

Author(s)

Barbara Iuliano

Barbara Iuliano
Federico II University of Naples - Italy

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