ABSTRACT
Migrations are a constant in the history of humanity, as the circulation of people, goods, objects, cultures, and knowledge has fostered and accompanied the development of civilizations. Recently, these movements seem to have grown in quantity, rapidity, extent, and complexity. European nations are experiencing unprecedented patterns of mobility, not only in terms of volume but also in terms of the diversity of new migrants. The profound transformation of economic, social, and cultural dynamics triggered by the accelerated movement of people is furthered by advances in transportation as well as in communication technologies. The ubiquity of words and images, and the almost instantaneous and self-selective access to a multiplicity of information, have vastly expanded opportunities for multicultural encounters, hybridity, and exchanges of products, ideas, cultures, and identities. We may thus refer to the present as an age of migrations (perhaps even “an age of super-migrations”), as these movements come to represent the globalized, interconnected, multicultural world, where identities constantly shift and cultural systems blend.
