Migrazioni, legami familiari e appartenenze religiose: interrelazioni, negoziazioni e confini

The research focuses on the mutual interrelations between three phenomena of social and individual relevance: migration, family ties, and religious affiliations. These links will be analysed by the three units of the project (RU) through an ethnographic research in various Italian regions in relation to different religious and national affiliations, which do not necessarily coincide. The selection of fieldwork sites has been carried out by taking into account the numerical relevance of different nationalities of migrants: Romanian, Albanian, and Chinese are the top three nationalities of migrants in Italy (Istat 2011). The main research hypothesis is that long duration migratory processes force subjects to rewrite their family life and their religious affiliations and practices. In fact, they are constantly engaged in transnationalism practices, negotiating boundaries at different levels with the host societies and re-creating forms of social belonging. Integration, interculturality and the rise of a 'plural' society constitute precisely the result of a social interaction between different groups playing a “game of cultural difference” in which religious affiliations along with gender and age relations perform as instruments of contention and/or dialogue. In relation to this research hypothesis, the main project objectives consist in the verification: - of the functional and conflictive relationships between migration, religion, and family in relation to the practices of inclusion/exclusion in the host society and the agency of the different actors - of the forms of religious and family transnationalism - of the tensions and changes which affect family ties, taking into account a comparison with new forms of "monastic family". The ethnographic method and an intensive/multi-sited fieldwork on a comparative basis will be practiced during the research. Methods and techniques of visual anthropology will be used in order to produce a visual documentation of the research. A digital platform will be also created in order to give the possibility to the RUs to share the information related to the project activities. The research results will have an impact at a national and international scientific level through the publication of articles, the organization of conferences and seminars and the research planning activity for Horizon 2020. It is also expected that the collaborations of the University of Perugia with European and extra-European universities of the migrants' fatherlands will be implemented and strengthened. The research project will have a socio-economic impact through the collaboration with institutions dealing with project planning on migration and socio-cultural integration. A collaboration with Caritas Migrantes will be carried on, in order to provide information for the annual report on migration in Italy. The collaboration with the Italian Ministry of the Interior will be functional to plan initiatives on interreligious dialogue.