Matteo Sanfilippo (a cura di), Dossier: Migrazioni, identità e intercultura: il contributo di Charles Taylor e Will Kymlicka / Migrations, Identity, and Interculturality: The Contribution of Charles Taylor and Will Kymlicka, pp. 3-134

Matteo Sanfilippo, Migrazioni e comunità: le riflessioni di Charles Taylor e Will Kymlicka / Migrations and community: the reflections of Charles Taylor and Will Kymlicka, pp. 3-17

The Canadian context is predominant in the work of Charles Taylor and Will Kymlicka and gives it a slant that the European reflection ignores. In the “Old Continent” multiculturalism is about living together in the receiving society and blocks of immigration that do not form cultural communities in the Canadian sense. Moreover in Europe multiculturalism is a theoretical proposal, while in Canada is a policy that has already been applied for decades now. Precisely because they are eminently Canadian, the communities studied by Taylor and Kymlicka do not completely correspond to those analyzed by scholars on the European side of the Atlantic.

Matteo L. Bellati, Politica del riconoscimento e pluralismo liberale. Note introduttive a Charles Taylor e Will Kymlicka / Politics of recognition and liberal pluralism. Introductory remarks on Charles Taylor and Will Kymlicka, pp. 19-34

This article offers some introductory remarks on current “multicultural” issues through the analyses made by Charles Taylor and Will Kymlicka, two of the leading scholars in contemporary political philosophy. According to Taylor, it is necessary to develop a “politics of recognition” in favour of minority cultures, to give them the opportunity to survive in social contexts usually very different from their original ones. On this issue critics notice that some problems are raised when the “culture” has to be identified and the measure of its “value” in comparison with other cultures has to be established. Kymlicka, instead, argues that a “liberal pluralism (or culturalism)” may be a better way to help people from minority groups find their place in the wider state, to assure an adequate form of “ethno-cultural justice” to everyone. In this context specific “group-differentiated” rights should be useful for a proper integration without losing particular cultural memberships.

Bruno Ramirez, Multiculturalismo canadese e riconoscimento delle minoranze nel pensiero di Will Kymlicka e Charles Taylor / Canadian multiculturalism and the recognition of minorities in the thought of Will Kimlicka and Charles Taylor, pp. 35-47

Canada’s policy of multiculturalism has been in effect for almost forty years, engendering both admiration and controversy. The article discusses the two Canadian philosophers most associated with this controversy by focusing on the main features of their theoretical contribution. Will Kymlicka sees in Canada’s multiculturalism a genuine effort aimed at favouring the integration of ethno-cultural minorities, yet, in an attempt at formulating a theory of justice that takes into account the multinational and pluricultural character of modern liberal societies, he has insisted on the need to expand multiculturalism’s conception and mandate and to transform it into a system of minority rights. While also arguing for a pluralist model that recognizes the cultural particularities of the various minority groups, Charles Taylor has held a more critical posture toward multiculturalism, though his theoretical forays on the subject have been rather sporadic. However, the recent escalation of ethno-cultural tensions in Quebec around the issue of “reasonable accommodations” has given him the opportunity to spell out the limitations of multiculturalism when applied to the particular character of francophone Quebec society and its aspirations.

Domenico Melidoro, Liberalismo e diritti delle minoranze culturali. Analisi e critica della proposta teorica di Will Kymlicka / Liberalism and rights of cultural minorities. Analysis and critique of Will Kimlicka’s theoretical proposal, pp. 49-68

This article discusses and criticizes Will Kymlicka’s systematic attempt to locate the defence of minority rights within liberal theory. Kymlicka’s liberalism recognizes the value of cultural membership and argues that certain collective rights are needed to protect minority cultures. This view is extensively presented and objected on the basis of its reliance on the value of individual autonomy, which does not allow grasping the deep diversity that marks contemporary society, and on the basis of its underestimation of the complexity of diversity represented by immigration.

Barbara Henry, Alberto Pirni, La via identitaria al multiculturalismo: oltre Charles Taylor / The identity path to multiculturalism: going beyond Charles Taylor, pp. 69-85

The objective of this essay is to show that Charles Taylor’s identity theory is weakened by limits linked to the notion of multiculturalism itself and by the self-centeredness of the philosophical language in which it is proposed. The essay tries to formulate the concept of identity in a different way, departing from different disciplinary languages and, in this way, going beyond Taylor. In doing that, the authors focus particularly on the dimension of multiple belongings, referring to patterns of coexistence and conflictive situations among individuals and groups.

Patrick-Michel Noël, Martin Pâquet, Un filosofo e la società. Charles Taylor e la “Commission de consultation sur les pratiques d’accommodement reliées aux différences culturelles” / A philosopher and society. Charles Taylor and the “Commission de consultation sur les pratiques d’accommodement reliées aux différences culturelles”, pp. 87-104

This article examines the historical circumstances surrounding the establishment of the Consultation Commission on Accommodation Practices Related to Cultural Differences (CCAPRCD) in the province of Québec (Canada) in 2007-2008. It also focuses on the role of Charles Taylor, one of its co-chairs, in the determination of the political norms of integration formulated in the report of the CCAPRCD as a case study of a philosophe dans la Cité. To this end, this brief study outlines the two major models of integration in Quebec – Canadian multiculturalism and Québec’s “interculturalism” – and Taylor’s political philosophy. In this way it brings out the influence of the Canadian philosopher in an episode, which reveals the contemporary stakes involved in the process of integration within a political community.

Lorenzo Prencipe, Migrazioni e società multiculturali. Quale coesione sociale? / Migrations and multicultural societies. Which social cohesion?, pp. 105-134

Migrations are now at the center of the political, social, cultural and religious European debate because they are intrinsically linked to the main challenges that Europe must face: development, economic growth and productivity, the demographic evolution, the maintenance of the system of social protection, the preservation of social cohesion and intercultural dialogue, the defense of human rights and the primacy of law. Before the growing conflicts intrinsic to the encounter and coexistence among people of different traditions and cultures, this article presents Europe as a multicultural and multi-religious continent that is bound to face the intensification of migration flows by ethnic minorities that are increasingly differentiated, with the substantial presence on non-Catholic migrations, the demand of the defense of the human and religious rights of immigrants, the promotion of a complex and difficult dialogue that is otherwise necessary to social cohesion.

Angela Bagnato, Matrimoni misti: a tu per tu con l’alterità / Mixed marriage: a face to face with otherness, pp. 135-150

While trying to observe and interpret the phenomenon of mixed marriage, one realizes how these are strongly related to the specific context in which they emerge and how difficult it is to provide a univocal definition. The mixed couple represents the union between two worlds that perceive themselves as totally “other”. Yet what is perceived as “other” often changes its mask and its contours are far from being stable. The comparison between two western neighbouring countries such as France and Italy provides the opportunity to show the need to always relativize and historicize the reading of this particular form of relationship.

Viola Barbieri, Tra il qui e l’altrove. Una ricerca sul rimpatrio dei cittadini marocchini / Between here and elsewhere. A research on the repatriation of Moroccan citizens, pp. 151-161

This article reports the main results of an empirical research about the repatriation of Moroccan citizens from Italy. This research was conducted in Morocco in 2007. The theme of repatriation is addressed from different perspectives: first, we propose a background analysis of the repatriation from a normative point of view. Then we report the main remarks of some interviewees who, at different levels, are involved in migration matters and repatriation procedures. These witnesses are: a) four Italian and Moroccan operators working for institutions that promote actions to support regular emigration and b) two operators of a project whose objective is to reinsert repatriated citizens in their original context. To complete the analysis some repatriated Moroccans have been interviewed; they described their direct experience of migration ad repatriation from Italy.

Daniela Cosmini-Rose, Dall’Australia a Caulonia: esperienze di rimpatriati calabresi nel dopoguerra / From Australia to Caulonia: experiences of returnees from Calabria in the postwar period, pp. 162-178

This article investigates the return migration experience of a group of Italian migrants from the town of Caulonia in southern Italy who, after living for a period of time in South Australia, decided to return permanently to Italy. It deals with the issue of return, which has often been neglected in the studies related to the settlement of Italian migrants in Australia. Drawing on qualitative research data, the article highlights the reasons that caused the cauloniesi to migrate to Australia and the motives that subsequently led to their return to Caulonia. Considering the recent investigations on transnational migration, the study examines the difficulties associated with the social reintegration of the returnees in their hometown, and takes into account the connections that they maintain with Australia, which in recent times, thanks to improved forms of communication, are intensifying. The data illustrate the ambivalent sense of belonging of returnees to their birthplace and to the town in which they settled abroad, and the implications that this has had on their identity.

Melissa Blanchard, Le ricerche sugli immigrati in Francia: dal “lavoratore ospite” al commerciante à la valise / Researches on immigrants in France: from the “guest worker” to the trader à la valise, pp. 179-195

Migrations and their interpretations are strongly related to the social, economic and political situation of the country in which they take place. In particular, migration studies often appear as a pensée d’Etat, revealing vital information on the social issues of the societies that generate them and on the interpretations, evolutions and contradictions that mark them. In this paper we will analyze the French social sciences’ publications on migration, from the moment they start, in the sixties, to the present. Following their evolution, observing the concepts and analyses that develop over time, as well as recurrent topics and research streams, will allow us to identify, in a well-established scientific tradition, some important tools for analyzing and understanding issues in contemporary Italian society.