School Activism: the meanings of political participation of young migrants in Italian schools

The chapter presents the results of four researchers with young migrants that took place in Italy between 2006 and 2014, over an unfinished economic crisis, the rise and fall of xenophobic political parties and a continuing debate around migration and inclusion in different social contexts. Data consists of young migrants' narratives, promoted and collected in 62 focus group and 118 individual interviews. Narratives produced by young migrant converge in suggesting the criticism of the idea of cultural identity as an “essential” identity, something given and fixed (Hofstede, 1980; Ting Toomey, 1999). The researches presented in this contribution support a different theoretical claim, underpinned by social constructivism, advancing the idea that cultural identity is negotiated in public discourse and interaction (Baraldi, 2009; Holliday, 2011; Piller, 2011; Zhu Hua, 2014). Data collected in the four social research projects invite us to consider political participation as a crucial context of the construction of cultural identity through social practices.