Autobiographical Genre, Migration and Identity's (re)construction in Luxembourg

AMIL aims to explore the ties between autobiographical writing and the structure of identity within a specific context of migration like in Luxembourg. Luxembourg is, in fact, one of the European countries with the highest percentage of immigrants, most of them having Italian origins. On the base of the recent studies (Présences, histoires, mémoires des Italiens au Luxembourg et dans la Grande Région and Textualité des Italiens de la Grande Région et Intégration [TIGRI 1 and 2]) of the Section of Italian Letters at the University of Luxembourg, AMIL will explore the multicultural society of Luxembourg. It is worth it to reflect on the processes of identity and in order to achieve that, we would like to focus on the devices of autobiographical memory and narrative as a means of (re)construction of identity and social integration. A PhD candidate will focus the studies on the autobiographical mechanisms of a large group of migrants.

The goal of the project is to create groups with the auto-/biographical focus, to promote and disseminate the value and the practice of the autobiographical writing. The autobiographical writing is in fact an indispensable method for the enhancement of oneself, for the development of cognitive abilities and different forms of thought, for the emphasis of a sensitivity to read the testimonials of others and listen to them, and then rewrite their (hi)story. Luxembourg has a large corpus of literary productions (autobiographical and not only) on migration. The analysis of them allows us to trace the lives of men and women who have shared an experience of migration. The Section of Italian Literature at the University of Luxembourg has already undertaken studies on writing on itself in migratory contexts. The project TIGRI «Textualité des Italiens de la Grande Région et Integration», has analysed the integration of Italian migration in Luxembourg and the Great Region through interdisciplinary analysis of a corpus of published books or manuscripts, which form the BAGROI together (Base des donnés des Auteurs de la Grande Région d’Origine Italienne).

http://www.italianistica.lu/index.php/progetti-di-ricerca.html