Esoh Elamé (a cura di), Dossier: Migrazioni e sviluppo nell’Africa sub-sahariana / Migrations et développement en Afrique subsaharienne / Migrations and development in Sub-Saharan Africa, pp. 259-388

Birahim Gueye, Repenser le co-développement / Rethinking co-development, pp. 276-291

The objective of this article is to examine why, in spite of the expectations that it arouses, co-development delays the realization of its intended results. Starting from a perspective mainly oriented to the African Diaspora, we propose a new vision of co-development whose focal point is a concomitant development of Africa and its Diaspora. We formulate a set of solutions for a better use of the African Diaspora following the example of other large Diaspora communities in the world.

Marisa Fois, La diaspora virtuale e il suo contributo allo sviluppo / Virtual diaspora and its contribution to development, pp. 292-304

The involvement of the highly skilled in the virtual Diaspora seems to be a valid and suitable strategy to reverse the brain drain and to make African professionals with advanced degrees able to participate to the development process in a more definite and decisive way. The so-called virtual Diaspora – the new intelligences, skilled people who study and work abroad – is the promoter of a North-South exchange that is not simply a money transfer – the well-known practice of remittances – but also concerns human resources, expertise, and skills. It is concerned with a virtual mobility, a sort of return, that can become the engine of a social and economic African regeneration, giving the emigrants the possibility to be useful to their countries of origin without changing their status in the hosting countries. This Diaspora can be an active development instrument, a main actor in the development process and an inventor of development policies.

Renaud H. Frossard, Une stratégie de codéveloppement pour le retour volontaire et l’emploi durable des jeunes diplômés Africains / A strategy of co-development for the voluntary return and sustainable occupation of African diplomats, pp. 305-328

This essay reflects on the critical issues of migrations and development in the context of the difficulties the African continent has been facing. It proposes the scientific interdisciplinary framework of an Euro-African research and experimental program to promote the voluntary return and sustainable employment in their countries for young graduate and/or skilled Africans. It is based on the potentials of “co-development” and of the decentralized cooperation in expertise, experiences and connections accumulated “here” and “there”. It explores the hypothesis of their professional insertion in a strategy of cooperative network for productive enterprises, with social and ecological finalities. It illustrates a proposal of scientific partnership in French-speaking countries to make an experiment with new methods based on adaptation, evaluation and generalisation of innovative systems originated in Quebec and France.

Andrea Stocchiero, Pratiche di co-sviluppo nel progetto MIDA Italia-Ghana/Senegal: limiti ed opportunità / Practices of co-development in the MIDA project (Italy-Ghana/Senegal): opportunities and shortcomings, pp. 329-349

In 2002, the International Organisation for Migration launched a Migration for Development in Africa (MIDA) project promoting the participation of Ghanaian and Senegalese immigrants residing in Italy. After more than five years of activities and research, various findings on co-development practices emerged. The practices have different characteristics according to the distinct migration profiles of Ghanaian and Senegalese immigrants, the structures available at the local level, the role of immigrant leaders and their visions of local development negotiated with local partners. The practices create real local opportunities for the alleviation of poverty, although it is difficult to see their impacts in terms of basic transformation. The political and economic relationships with local and national powers is fundamental in order to bring about change.

Esoh Elamé, Valérie Darjo, Yera Dembelé, Maurizio Mandolini, Migration et retour volontaire dans le pays d’origine: le cas des étudiants africains en France / Migrations and voluntary return to the countries of origin: the case of African students in France, pp. 350-362

This article presents the first results of an opinion poll on the issue of voluntary return to their countries of origin conducted among 450 students coming from Sub-Saharan Africa who are residing in France. This inquiry enables to face as correctly as possible the subject of voluntary return of African students and a better understanding of the close link existing between return and aid to development. In connection with this, the conclusion of the article takes stock of the situation of the different proposals of solution to this issue.

Andrea Condotta, Davide Libralesso, Percorsi di sostegno alla migrazione circolare attuati dalla Regione del Veneto: l’esperienza di «Re.M.: Return of Migrants» / Trajectories of support to circular migration implemented by Regione Veneto: the experience of «Re.M.: Return of Migrants», pp. 363-372

The article describes the experience carried out by the Italian Region of Veneto in the last two years in the field of management of circular migration. Innovative actions were planned under the «Re.M.: Return of Migrants» project, implemented by the Regional Agency for Labour in Veneto. Since economic reasons are considered as the main push factors in migration, «Re.M.» aims at fostering the link between migrants, their human capital, and co-development strategies in sending countries, through the implementation of pilot initiatives. Senegal and Ghana were reported as the nationalities with the highest attitude in approaching return paths, according to a research conducted in Veneto with the contributions of Diaspora associations. The project is now supporting the follow-up of six start-up initiatives, where migrants are expressing their potential in the field of agriculture, farming, international trade, and commerce.

Gabriella Presta, Daniela Bandelli, Buone prassi di co-sviluppo. Il Tavolo Migranti e Cooperazione della Regione Friuli Venezia Giulia / Successful practices of co-development. «Il Tavolo Migranti e Cooperazione» of Regione Friuli Venezia Giulia, pp. 373-388

The active participation of migrants in the cooperation for development may have a positive impact on both home and destination countries, also in terms of a greater integration. This is the outcome of the so-called «Tavolo Migranti e Cooperazione», started in 2005 by the autonomous Region of Friuli Venezia Giulia. Several stakeholders from the regional community, mostly migrant associations from Sub-Saharan Africa, sought innovative ways to maximise the positive impact of migration on development. Through a participatory process the group developed some guidelines for supporting small-scale rural development projects, implemented by migrant associations with their local partner in Africa, based on a community-driven and self-reliant development approach. The present article analyzes the experience, as an innovative proposal in terms of cooperation for development, in which migrants become development agents, taking on the responsibility for this process in their countries.

Pietro Manca, Per una lettura interculturale: il Memoriale per la costituzione di una commissione pontificia Pro emigratis catholicis (1905) redatto da Mons. G.B. Scalabrini / Toward an intercultural reading of the Memorial for the Constitution of a Pontifical Commission Pro emigratis catholicis (1905) by Bishop Giovanni Battista Scalabrini, pp. 389-404

The leading figure of the bishop of Piacenza Giovanni Battista Scalabrini, «Apostle of Catechism» has been studied in-depth especially for the contribution that he offered to the Italian society, between the first half of the 19th and the beginnings of the 20th century, in terms of the effects of the massive emigration process of Italian citizens toward the American continent and their precarious living conditions. However, his writings have received little attention from a historical-pedagogical and intercultural perspectives. The main objective of this essay is precisely to offer a contribution to research and propose an intercultural reading of the guidelines that Bishop Scalabrini formulated at the beginning of the 20th century for his missionaries. From the published documents, particularly the Memoriale per la costituzione di una commissione pontificia Pro emigratis catholicis (1905), can be inferred modern and “original” pedagogical insights.

Serena Brigidi, Mediazione culturale e migrazione. Sistemi educativi e centri d’accoglienza: la percezione dei mediatori scolastici / Cultural mediation and migration. Educational systems and reception centers: the perception of school mediators, pp. 405-420

This article grows out of the meeting with various cultural mediators of different nationalities who are working in schools in Genoa. The purpose is to observe their viewpoints on education systems, inclusion and a welcoming school environment which deals with problematic aspects, and how to resolve them. The themes concern curriculum programming and its difficulties considering the lack of sex education programs and health education in junior high schools and also the difficulties experienced by many foreign students in accessing the high school (educational training and orientation, family involvement, disappointed expectations and school attendance caused by migration). At the same time, our attention will focus on the role of the cultural mediator and its internal (the relationships with teachers) and external (with the family and the community) functions. Moreover the school mediators pointed out possible prejudices and cultural misunderstandings on the part of some teacher and, at the end of meeting, each of them proposed actions to improve and facilitate the procedure of cultural mediation in the educational processes.

Antonia Cava, Migranti autoctoni: giovani e nuovi percorsi migratori nel sud d’Italia / Autochthonous migrants: youth and new migration paths in Southern Italy, pp. 421-446

This paper aims at defining the main transformations in Italian internal migration by comparing current migration flows to past internal migrations and also to immigration by people non belonging to the European Union. Contemporary internal migrations have unknown peculiarities that will be analyzed within the new social and cultural frameworks from where they origin. Certainly, Italy is characterized by a new internal mobility of men and women going from the southern to the central and northern regions of the country. There is a trait that differentiates these new migrations from those from the past: young postmodern migrants live a condition of permanent transition that seems to deny the achievement of a lasting stability. The research’s hypothesis is that this mobility is at first compulsory, but it becomes soon a lifestyle that young migrants appreciate for the economic, social and cultural advantages that this elsewhere life offers. The analysis focuses on Southern young migrants who leave Southern Italy in search of new opportunities. The reconstruction of six life-stories has been used to delineate the metamorphosis of internal migrations as a social and cultural process. It is an inquiry into the migration journeys of youth from a Southern province, Messina, whose demographic, economic, and social characteristics reflect perfectly the migratory trends in Southern Italy.

Germán C. Friedmann, Alemanes antinazis e identidad alemana en la Argentina. La conformación de una identidad colectiva en un grupo minoritario / Anti-Nazi Germans and German identity in Argentina. The configuration of a collective identity in a minority group, pp. 447-467

Das Andere Deutschland (DAD) was established in Buenos Aires in 1937. Its members were German political exiles and Austrian opponents to National Socialism, all belonging to a wide range of left wing organizations, and German-speaking Argentine residents of diverse political, social and religious tendencies. DAD members appealed to the conscience and responsibility of «good willing Germans» to defend the culture and values of the “true” Germany. They organized and directed a wide range of activities, most importantly directed towards providing economic help and work both to Nazi Germany refugees and to German Argentine residents who had been sacked from diverse community associations aligned with the Third Reich. These groups became noticeable through their intense denunciation of the atrocities committed by Nazism in Europe, and of the actions of diverse Nazi groups in Argentina. In addition to political and solidarity activities, within DAD cultural action was also of great importance. This paper focuses on the cultural activities deployed by this association and points out that, their political content, thematic diversity and artistic quality aside, cultural manifestations that developed around DAD as a whole gave shape to a social common ground to Nazi regime exiles and German-speaking people who had previously resided in Argentina, and thus contributed to the formation of an identity that was both anti-Nazi and German.

Mariella Guidotti, L’integrazione degli alunni stranieri nel sistema scolastico tedesco, dagli anni 1960 ad oggi / The integration of foreign students in German schools from 1960 to the present, pp. 468-486

The integration policies of foreign students in Germany are taking a direction prominently oriented toward interculturality and the appreciation of a plurality of languages. This new course, in agreement with a more open national politics that is consequential to the recognition of Germany as a country of immigration, is translated into a reinforcement of the measures of school integration and guidelines that aim at inclusion. The application of the outline of national policies is implemented differently in the various Länder that have great autonomy in school matters. Here, in particular will be examined the cases of Baden-Württemberg and Nordreno-Westfalia, regions with a strong concentration of immigrants that have translated in different ways the policy of welcoming and integration. The picture that emerges from the examination of the federal and regional school policies in the last decades allows for a better understanding of the lines of development that, though not immune from criticism, are prospectically oriented toward a formation that takes into account the plurality that characterizes today’s societies.