Mothers and daughters in migration: construction and deconstruction of sexist and racist stereotypes

Abstract

The article analyses the deconstruction of sexist and racist stereotypes carried out in the context of different forms of social activism by migrant women and their daughters. It also outlines the stages of the debate on women’s rights and multiculturalism documenting the emergence in Italy of a feminist post-colonial approach. If on the one hand social and cultural processes tend to construct migrant women as “other” women on the basis of the post-colonial logic, on the other hand, an increasing number of migrant women and girls with a migratory background are becoming the protagonists of actions aimed not only at deconstructing the stereotypes they are subjected to, but also at questioning the cultural constructions of Italian society itself.

Keywords: migration, gender, multiculturalism, postcolonial feminism, social activism.