AEMI

FEDERICA MORETTI
ipants: Italy emerges both as a desired
and a not-for-now country in the stories.
Thus, Italy’s representations display
a well-recognized feature of the imaginaries,
namely that they are not unidirectional,
but to be read “in terms of
co- and counter-imaginaries” (Salazar,
2011b, p. 578).
The same twist also reverberates on
the lives of the people involved into the
research. In the next paragraph I shall
then focus on the relationship amidst
imaginaries and reality, to investigate
how the participants’ conceptions reflect
on their life choices.
Reviving Italy: Life Choices
The Italian language always inspired me.
It is part of me. (Carmen)
The ethnographic research revealed imaginaries
of Italy characterized by several
remarkable features; they are, in fact, at
the same time, manifold, diverse, unique
and shared, similar and stereotypical.
From the stories collected emerged
that places, senses, past, present and
future are all linked by the power of
imagination into variegated mental
conceptions. So, one might think that
imaginaries are purely mental, for they
solely belong to the realm of the mind
and they bear no influence on the empirical
lives. Such conception would
however be flawed, since imaginaries
do not merely concern the individuals’
conception of reality; rather, they
likewise shape reality itself. As protean
representational assemblages, the imaginaries
are involved in a circular relationship
with reality: for the meta- and
empirical dimensions are intertwined,
and the mental images influences the
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practical life of the individuals. In light
of the past – as shaped/evoked through
the imaginaries –, people experience
the present, while building expectations
about the future. Hence, imaginaries
navigate through the everyday travel of
life.
What should, then, be understood as
the potential of imaginaries? How do
they influence everyday lives, shaping
the present and future choices? In this
section, I shall argue that they provide
people with the power to materialize
their mental image.
Therefore, I shall elaborate now on
the second question, thus discussing
how imaginaries open up to various
courses of action. Although concisely, I
shall endeavour to illustrate how sharp
is the influence of Italy’s imaginaries on
life choices.
Thereby, I shall move in the wake of
Vigh (2006), and analyse the prospective
scopes of the imagination to understand
the role of the imaginary in
people’s mapping of their life trajectories
(Sneath, 2009). In fact, the stories
portray how Italy’s imaginaries – and
the thereby shaped identities – contribute
directing the informants’ life
choices, thus determining what their future
ought to have become: from moving
abroad, to pursue a work/academic
career, as well as the choice of not-fornow
future in Italy.
To give a taste of the results, I shall
focus on Sidney’s narrative about how
his imaginaries influenced his decisions
Sidney is a young man, is born and
grew up in Palermo. As a boy, he nourished
the image of Italy as a troublesome
country. He saw it as a not much
to offer, no-future land. His idea and