Women, language and relationality. Intercultural dimension and plurilingualism

Abstract

Research attributes a significant role of the agent of integration and cultural mediation in the contexts of arrival to migrant women. This figure of the woman, who is able to act as a bridge between two or more cultural boarders and appears to be more evident among the young migrant women in Italy who belong to the so called second generation, are the subject matter of our exploratory investigation. The data tend to point out an openminded, bicultural identity profile in the face of past experiences of school integration which are not always positive. The given feedback valorizes the role of the school which is central and decisive for the construction of cohesive and inclusive societies, but reveals a gap between the principal declarations and the real educational practices which seem to still be struggling to assume clear intercultural connotations which are able to give priority and facilitate the relational processes with Otherness.