Il progetto COMICS: Significati e pratiche di partecipazione per i giovani immigrati a Modena

This paper reports on the results of a research studying the aspects of the social practices of citizenship, and the construction of identities by young immigrants; the analysis of the social wellness and integration of the participants. To analyze the social participation and wellness of the interviewed we haven't used indicators elaborated by other researches or by previous theoretical studies: we chose, instead, to build our own indicators accordingly to what the participants indicated during the interviews as the most relevant aspects of their everyday life. This paper finds that participation in the relevant processes of the host society requires neither uncritical engagement in its cultural forms nor full sharing of the meanings of cultural symbols. Social participation is effected through a series of processes of negotiation and mixing of symbols, meanings and cultural forms, through intercultural communication, both in school and in dealing with their peers. As categories like "integration" and "adaptation" seem to oversimplify the degree of participation, this paper wants to stress the variety of meanings, expectations and problems encountered by young immigrants, on the path to integration accordingly to their autonomous self-expression.