AEMI

FEDERICA MORETTI
ship with their images of Italy does not
merely occur at the meta-empirical or
empirical levels; for it does, on the one
hand, transcend people’s practical lives,
but, on the other, it likewise interferes
with the everyday practices and the life
choices. Italy’s imaginary indeed reverberates
on the participants’ lives, in the
relationships with themselves, the others
and the environment. Second, the imaginaries
have proven to connect the past,
the present and the future of the participants,
enabling them to take positions
and decisions vis-à-vis their present/future
in light of their past.
Therefore, in similar and different
ways, the imaginaries of Italy enable the
(im)mobility of the people, both physically
and mentally, making them powerful
– and intriguing – conceptions
amenable of influencing on people’s
lives.
Conclusions
This whole investigation started almost
two years ago when, driven by my thirst
for knowledge, I decided to enrol at the
KU Leuven to pursue a master in anthropology.
However, as it is often the
case, a prior captivation pulled me towards
the study of imaginaries and how
they are intertwined with the mobility
of people – both physical and mental.
I was puzzled by the ways people and
places intertwine, and I urged to grasp
and disentangle their patterns of relationship
and their reciprocal inter-connections.
Therefore, the underlying rationale
of my work was to capture how young
Italians abroad conceive Italy. I wanted
to make them subjects rather than the
objects of discussion – as for instance, in
189
the popular debates on the brain drain
issue. So, on the one hand I wanted to
capture the stories of these young people.
Yet, on the other, I likewise wanted
to bring into the discussion other subjects,
who are commonly neglected. I
hereby refer, evidently, to the children of
the past emigrants, the so called second
and third generations.
To pursue my goal, I firstly endeavoured
to capture what was most significant
about the informants’ conceptions
of Italy, and, secondly, to disclose how
the imaginaries relate to physical, geographical
and temporal dimensions. Finally,
I delved into how the imaginaries
influence daily choices and life’s perspectives.
I have soon realized how all three
aspects are entangled; imaginaries are,
in fact, dynamic and travelling meaning-making
and world-shaping devices
(Salazar, 2011a/b). Therefore, they are
not mere meta-worlds of intangible images,
but they influence people’s lives.
The imaginary of Italy thereby mediates
the reality and bears practical implications
on how people (re)invent, (re)produce
and (re)create places, and on the
ways how people relate to them.
To briefly conclude, the geographic
imaginary of Italy emerges in the research
as a collage of images produced/
evoked through memories, sensorial experiences
and projections towards the
future, linking the physical, the social
and the individual world(s) in a dialectic
of co-influence and co-creation.