Trans-Mediterranean Generation: Youth of North African Origin in Italy between Local Configurations and Global Connections

'Youth' - conventionally understood as a phase of transition to adulthood - is a controversial and ambiguous concept, difficult to define from a global perspective, as it varies from one context to another (Bessant, Collin, O'Keeffe, 2024; Philipps, 2018). In Western societies, and particularly in Italy, youth is a complex and elusive stage of life (Gambardella et al., 2021; Magaraggia, Benasso, 2019). This is particularly true for young people with a migrant background, for whom the liminal nature of youth is intertwined with the liminality of their 'in-between' experience of identity and citizenship (Besozzi, Colombo, Santagati, 2009; Caneva, 2011). This paper presents the first results of the research project 'Growing old, feeling like citizens?' (PRIN, University of Padua & Milan-Bicocca) - a multi-site qualitative study based on biographical interviews, focus groups and ethnographic observation - which addresses the transition to adulthood of young Muslims of North African origin in Italy. Drawing on an intersectional and 'lived citizenship' perspective (Kallio et al., 2020), the study explores the transnational, diasporic and trans-Mediterranean connections between practices of identity performance, political engagement and cultural expression (Acocella & Pepicelli, 2018; Camozzi et al., 2019; Cingolani, Ricucci, 2014). In constructing their own sense of ‘multiple belongings’ (Valtolina, Marazzi, 2006), the descendants of North African migrants in Italy must come to terms with structural constraints that reiterate their exclusion (Hepworth, Hamilton, 2014) and a sense of ‘marginality’ linked to their family history (Ricucci, 2005) but also to the particular life phase they are experiencing. Nevertheless, they manage to mobilise multiple resources and adopt different strategies to navigate this complex liminality, linking their own identity, political and cultural practices to transnational dynamics, often involving their parents' countries of origin (Queirolo Palmas, Stagi, 2018; Zanfrini, 2018).