ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the socially constructed and ever-changing dimensions of belonging of the second and third generations of Italians in South Africa. This sense of belonging is argued to be highly influenced by the socio-political context of post-apartheid South Africa. While white Italians, like white people in general in South Africa, are searching for a new identity, unlike other South African white people, they can leverage their Italian cultural heritage as one that does not come from Africa, simultaneously as a mark of difference and as a mark of belonging. All the participants, albeit in different ways and to different degrees, felt a sense of belonging in Italy. It is argued, however, that when they refer to Italy, they are in fact thinking of an imagined Italy. Their sense of belonging is traced to an interliminal space between South Africa and Italy.
