ABSTRACT

This chapter examines how transgression and difference figure into the construction of Italian integration, or convivenza, through two common requirements identified in the convivenza discourse: 'democracy' and 'civic participation'. That is, to achieve convivenza, there must be the successful management of difference through the honoring of established common values and norms. Within the Italian immigration discourse, when the claim is not for 'universal' values, it is for European values that are authorized through the universal. While a degree of so-called juridical and political harmonization occurs due to the circulation of European Union (EU) policy discourse, EU member states' national narratives of integration also intersect with national histories and social practices. The Italian 'citizenship regime' is like that of Germany in that it is based on a jus sanguins model, meaning the children of nonnational immigrants, while born in Italy, are considered immigrants.