Rappresentazioni sociali della migrazione e dell'identità culturale in testi letterari di scrittrici e scrittori di origine africana

In this paper we present a study on social representations of migration and cultural identity. Using a quali-quantitative method, such as the Reinert method, we have analyzed 82 literary texts written by authors of African descent that fall within the strand of Italian postcolonial literature. The results suggest that the shared knowledge of migration and cultural identity conveyed by these literary texts is not unitary but contains many elements of complexity. The migrant is represented as an illegal immigrant, a laborer, as an individual whose identity as a black Italian is not recognized, but also through a dimension of everyday life, with narratives about cooking and expression of emotions. Moreover, the figure of the migrant emerges as a writer who through writing wants to leave a sign, of testimony and/or resistance on the one hand, showing a normalization of everyday experience on the other. The work closes with some reflections on the potential of this type of material and of quali-quantitative methodologies for psychosocial research.