Migration and multiculturalism in Italy: Conflicting narratives of cultural identity

Despite the fact that immigration to Italy is not a new phenomenon, the Italian dominant discourse still treats it like an emergency. This attitude has important consequences for the way in which immigrants are represented in mainstream media and often fuels feelings of ‘hysteria’ about immigrants (Law, 2010: 208). In this paper I will discuss the politics of representation of dominant political and media discourses and will juxtapose them to the emerging counterdiscourses of “second generation” activists who, while refusing to be called ‘immigrants’, claim their right to representation, and effectively contribute to the creation of a multicultural country.