AEMI

FEDERICA MORETTI
into a slightly different notion of geographic
imaginary. This served the purpose
of clarifying the imaginary’s role in
place-constructing, whereby places are
conceived as phenomenological spaces
around and through which narratives
and practices are developed. As far as the
imaginary’s conception is concerned,
Salazar’s definition proved particularly
useful to grow my own understanding of
the imaginary. In his own words imaginaries
are ‘socially shared and transmitted
(both within and between cultures)
representational assemblages that interact
with people’s personal imaginings
and are used as meaning-making and
world-shaping devices’ (Salazar, 2011b,
p. 576). Likewise, I held utmost beneficial
his reflections on the connection
between imaginaries and (im)mobility. I
especially shared the author’s suggestion
that imaginaries have the ability to trigger
people’s motion (ibid.). Evidently,
this conception of imaginary overcomes
the level of the mind, to foster practical
consequences on the ways people
(re)invent, (re)produce and (re)create
places (Salazar, 2010 & 2011), and on
the ways people relate to them.Bearing
the above in mind, in this work I shall
refer to the imaginary as a meta-empirical
and dynamic concept.
As far as the meta-empirical dimension
of the notion is concerned, it suffices
to note that far from being just a
meta-world of intangible images, the
imaginary influences the lives of the
young people participating in the research.
Then, imaginaries are dynamic because
they are involved in a circular
relationship with everyday empirical experiences.
Essentially, they are protean
185
representational assemblages, through
which people explore, escape, transform,
expect, experience and make sense
of the occurrences in their lives. They
are, in this sense, dynamic.
None of those features is overarching
vis-à-vis the others. On the contrary,
they are caught in a mutually-influencing
tie, epitomizing a cause-effect
circular relationship. Thus, the resulting
portrait shall bear a multi-coloured
livery, whereby every shade fades into
the other, offering a vivid picture of the
mind and the world lived by the individuals.
Envisaging Italy: Between Wishes
and Disenchantments
Maybe I already adjusted to the stereotype
that there is here. I think
about the sun – but last time that I
went to Italy it was Christmas, and
there was no sun. Then the sea – but
Modena has no sea. One follows the
stereotype. (Marco)
Envisaging is a complex phenomenon:
rather than still-life drawing, minds
shape images of reality that are compounds
of synesthetic/unique conceptions.
As a collage is composed by
smaller tiles giving form to the final
oeuvre, so is the imaginary of Italy. Not
a homogenous, but a manifold picture
emerges from the accounts, whereby intertwined
bonds link the temporalities
and the meta- empirical worlds. Postcards,
family pictures, economic newscasts,
socio-historical and culinary books
are recalled in the stories, thus conjuring
an image mentally and empirically lived
by the Italian protagonists.
In this paragraph, I shall disclose such