ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book argues that the social struggles of the future will be built around much wider and more ambiguous ranges of identity. It explores a many-layered understanding of identity, memory reconstruction, and the situational aspect of both as political strategy. The book also argues for re-examining what could be called a typical story of ethnic assimilation. It examines how young Senegalese men reconcile their participation in the informal street economy in the south of Italy via their gendered responsibility to be providers in the home context. The book describes different ways in which racialization is imposed upon immigrant people of colour in the Americas, Western Europe, and Australia and how it in turn disrupts the coherence of national, ethnic, and class identities. It illustrates the complexity and contextuality of identity construction through an important elaboration of intergenera- tional scope.
