Young, unauthorised and Black: African unaccompanied minors and becoming an adult in Italy

Abstract

This article is based on ethnographic fieldwork in an Italian reception centre for male ‘unaccompanied minors’. Drawing on the concepts of ‘hostipitality’ (Derrida), the Black Mediterranean, and ‘intimate citizenship’ (Plummer), we examine the political ambivalence of hospitality for young African men as they transition to adulthood and how this is experienced through the intersections of age, gender and race. The biographical transition to adulthood thus offers a unique empirical opportunity to examine the extent of hospitality, as the (uninvited) Black child guest crosses the threshold into being an unwanted, potentially deportable, ‘invader’. Drawing from the young men’s images (art and photographs) and narratives, we discuss their experiences of differential anti-Blackness during their migration journeys and how hegemonic notions of masculinity circumscribe the quest for legal citizenship and the meaning of adulthood. While capitulation to gender normativity bolsters claims to citizenship, racism is a continuing and profound threat to ontological security.

Everyday navigation between adaptation and resistance: How young people negotiate their well-being in relation to assigned migrant positions in school

“…For example, unaccompanied migrant youths in Sweden are positioned as threats or victims, depending on whether they are considered deserving of protection [ 6 ]. Similar findings have been reported in other European countries [ 8 ]. Considering this dichotomic positioning, researchers have underscored the value of studies that challenge “the single story” and one-sided images of migrant youth [ 5 , 9 ].…”

“…This attention can be understood against an ongoing societal debate about young migrant men as a potential threat and where their cultural backgrounds have been in focus [ 61 ]. Stereotyped perceptions of migrants are not unique to the Swedish context; hence, similar discourses about young men who migrate can also be seen in other countries [ 8 ]. The findings of this study point to the importance of elucidating constructions of migrant positions in health efforts to understand and work with the processes that affect young people’s opportunities for health and well-being in everyday life in the short and long term.…”

Weathering the Ill Wind: The Affective and Embodied Dimensions of Anti‐Immigrant Political Discourses on Young African Men in Italy

“…Whilst this may be an overly sterile description of a group method that can involve a variety of power dynamics, difficulties and conflicts, I aimed to create a “safe space” in the group. The focus was on the young men as experts of their own experiences and their evaluation of the reception system, particularly as relates to becoming adult, the focus of my PhD (see Walker and Gunaratnam 2021). Themes that emerged from the focus group were incorporated into interviews conducted the following year.…”

“…Amadou and Edrisa, like the other young men in my study, sought asylum in Italy after making the perilous illegalised journey from Africa—across the Mediterranean Sea via Libya—aged 16 (Edrisa) and 17 (Amadou). On arrival in Italy, they become “unaccompanied minors”, as I have detailed elsewhere, an incongruous status full of ambiguities for young men who have traversed land and sea and are then “vulnerabilised” as helpless children in need of support (Walker and Gunaratnam 2021). 4 Not only do these young men become “unaccompanied minors” in Italy; they must also confront Italian ideas of Blackness, a racial taxonomy infused with colonial tropes (Giuliani and Lombardi‐Diop 2013), as the above quotes attest.…”