Femminile diasporico tra transnazionalismo e integrazione:il caso delle donne capoverdiane

In this essay I provide a critical examination of the relationship between ‘integration
and transnationalism’ – an important nexus in migration studies – based upon
the result of a multi-located and gender focused study I conducted among Cape Verdeans
in Italy and Cape Verde from December 2001 to July 2004.
A set of questions arise from this analysis: to what extent is integration an obstacle
to the maintenance of transnational ties? And to what extent can ties with the
place of origin and other diaspora communities in the world facilitate the integration
of migrants in the host-place? In the public perception, the more a migrant is invisible
and less attached to his culture and place of origin, the more integrated he will be
in the place of immigration. In this particular historical moment, in which European
policy is increasingly focused on annulling differences and on implementing an idea
of integration based on the notions of assimilation and social cohesion, the issue of
the relationship between transnationalism and integration is particularly controversial
and relevant.
The aim of my essay is to problematise such relation, which in the ethnographic
evidence has shown to be very complex and influenced by many factors closely intersected
with each other such as class, gender, 'ethnicity', age, and contexts. Focusing in
particular on Cape Verdean migrant women, I analysed the peculiarities of gender in transnational/integration relation. Indeed, I highlight how the independent female
migration from the island of Santo Antao is strongly transnational, and has led to
a renegotiation of gender relations and a change in the pre-existing social and family
structures of the island, creating new female role models and matrifocal transnational
families. The migration of Cape Verdean women in Italy is a leading example of ‘multi-
situ’ integration, which optimizes the dual membership so much so, that in some
cases, it is possible – almost paradoxically – to talk about ‘transnational integration’,
which goes beyond the multi-situ integration, thus completely renegotiating the terms
of the integration/trans-national relation.