Paper short abstract:

Using the example of Italians in Switzerland, this paper discusses today’s culturalist public discourse against migrants and their children, and how cultural difference is constructed as problematic in regard to groups who are structurally disadvantaged, but not to those who are upwardly mobile.

Paper long abstract:

"No pizza without migrants." This is the slogan used by a political movement in Switzerland, founded by the children of migrants, members of the second-generation. The goal of the so-called 'Secondo Movement' was to change Swiss citizenship laws in order to facilitate naturalisation for the second and the third generation. In their campaigns, the secondos emphasised that they belonged to Switzerland, for example with photos of themselves eating Swiss fondue. At the same time, the far Right fought against the new law with posters showing Swiss identity cards with photos of Bin Laden to demonstrate what kind of people might just become Swiss citizens if the laws changed. Despite being opponents, the arguments of both groups were based on culturalist concepts of citizenship, interpreting cultural adaptation as precondition for Swiss citizenship.

Second-generation Italians were particularly active in the movement, especially those with high social status. However, many other second-generation Italians, mostly of lower social status, were not involved in the movement. They represent a different position on a spectrum of various second-generation identifications which are not paralleled, but cross-cut by different degrees of transnational involvement. In contrast to the political activists, some of them consciously express their Italian backgrounds by taking up a counter-position against the Swiss and representing themselves as 'casual Latins'. Although much public debate is concerned with the lack of integration of migrant youth, these 'unassimilated' children of Italian migrants do not represent a threat to 'Swiss culture'. Why is the second-generation Italian's emphasis on cultural difference not perceived as a problem? And why is cultural difference perceived as a problem in regard to some groups, but not others?

This paper discusses the emerging culturalist public discourse against migrants and their children and how cultural difference is constructed as problematic in regard to those groups who are structurally disadvantaged, but becomes redundant for those who have been upwardly mobile.