From the Introduction: "The notion of “second generation migrants” (herein SGM) made its first appearance in the Swiss political debate in the 1980s following the release of a report from the Federal Commission for Foreigners which stated: “By second generation of foreigners, we mean children born in Switzerland of foreign parents with immigrant background, as well as children who entered Switzerland for family reunion, insofar they have done in our country the most part of their schooling” (CFE, 1980). At the time there was the official recognition that: “these young people grown up in Switzerland have largely adapted to our way of life and they are considered foreigners only on paper” (Feuille fédérale, 1982, vol. II, 142). ‘Secondos’ and ‘Secondas’ have become a popular denomination after the children of immigrants in Switzerland started used this self-categorisation in 2002 (Wessendorf, 2007a). The social understanding of this notion compounds native and foreign-born young people, with migratory background, both naturalised and non-naturalised. The introduction of new questions in the Census – nationality at birth (‘Swiss’ or ‘foreign’) and year of naturalisation – allows distinguishing youth according to place of birth and naturalisation status (Fibbi, Lerch and Wanner, 2007). Purpose of this research report is to shed light on the current status of the SGM in Switzerland with some peculiar focus on their educational and labour path in the Ticino Canton. Research turns around questions of how far the SGM in Switzerland have really “adapted to the Swiss way of life”: can they still be called “foreigners only on the paper” (when we refer to the non-naturalised) in comparison with the above official discourse of the 1980s? What about their educational and employment outcome in Ticino in comparison with the native Swiss?" This preliminary report relies on a review of the extensive literature on SGM in Switzerland as well as some twenty in depth interviews in the Ticino Canton. The autobiographical narrative approach refers to the work of Juhasz and Mey (2003) and Juhasz (2009). (...)
Ruspini, P. (2010). Second Generation Migrants in Switzerland (including an exploratory fieldwork in the Ticino Canton).
Second Generation Migrants in Switzerland (including an exploratory fieldwork in the Ticino Canton)
Paolo Ruspini
2010-01-01
Abstract
From the Introduction: "The notion of “second generation migrants” (herein SGM) made its first appearance in the Swiss political debate in the 1980s following the release of a report from the Federal Commission for Foreigners which stated: “By second generation of foreigners, we mean children born in Switzerland of foreign parents with immigrant background, as well as children who entered Switzerland for family reunion, insofar they have done in our country the most part of their schooling” (CFE, 1980). At the time there was the official recognition that: “these young people grown up in Switzerland have largely adapted to our way of life and they are considered foreigners only on paper” (Feuille fédérale, 1982, vol. II, 142). ‘Secondos’ and ‘Secondas’ have become a popular denomination after the children of immigrants in Switzerland started used this self-categorisation in 2002 (Wessendorf, 2007a). The social understanding of this notion compounds native and foreign-born young people, with migratory background, both naturalised and non-naturalised. The introduction of new questions in the Census – nationality at birth (‘Swiss’ or ‘foreign’) and year of naturalisation – allows distinguishing youth according to place of birth and naturalisation status (Fibbi, Lerch and Wanner, 2007). Purpose of this research report is to shed light on the current status of the SGM in Switzerland with some peculiar focus on their educational and labour path in the Ticino Canton. Research turns around questions of how far the SGM in Switzerland have really “adapted to the Swiss way of life”: can they still be called “foreigners only on the paper” (when we refer to the non-naturalised) in comparison with the above official discourse of the 1980s? What about their educational and employment outcome in Ticino in comparison with the native Swiss?" This preliminary report relies on a review of the extensive literature on SGM in Switzerland as well as some twenty in depth interviews in the Ticino Canton. The autobiographical narrative approach refers to the work of Juhasz and Mey (2003) and Juhasz (2009). (...)I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
