Young people with Tunisian origins living in Italy: a case of transnational lived citizenship?

Abstract

In recent years, the merging of the lived citizenship approach with the transnational perspective has shed a brighter light on the spatiality of everyday citizenship practices. Starting from this premise, the present study investigates whether and how a group of young people, aged between 22 and 28, with Tunisian parentage residing in the province of Modena (Northern Italy) live their citizenship transnationally. It involves questioning what their citizenship practices are, whether their transnational ties translate into lived citizenship, and what are the sites in which these people live their citizenship. The study draws on 14 in-depth interviews collected between 2020 and 2021, offering fresh insights into the role of transnational bonds in shaping the geographies and the contents of citizenship practices among young people with migrant parents. The findings confirm the heuristic validity of merging the transnational perspective with the lived citizenship approach, especially when inquiring into the practices of citizenship among migrants’ descendants.