Migrations and local memories. An inclusive pathway for “old” and “new” Italians

This contribution is based on the growing awareness of the changes that the concept of cultural heritage has undergone within contemporary societies due to the increased mobility of people and ideas. Migration, accompanied by transnational exchanges, is transforming the museum from a static storage and preservation site into an active space to generate encounters with distant, often repressed stories and memories. As part of the support for the processes of inclusion of disadvantaged groups, it seems appropriate to recover the lost local stories of Italian emigration in order to encourage the development of a collective memory (one that can be shared with new Italians from other countries), as well as enable the emotional involvement and empathy of the visitor through a process of identification. These themes can be fruitfully investigated from the perspective of Italian Diaspora Studies through objects of material culture as well as written and visual texts. The aim is to re-narrate the past, both collective and individual, in light of the challenges posed by the stories of a present perceived as radically “other”. Emphasizing the need to reawaken repressed memories and to question the consolidated vision of an Italian and European identity, this contribution suggests that museums, libraries and related institutions can play an active role in fostering such processes of re-evaluation of the collective vision and thus facilitate the inclusion of newly immigrated populations.