Reconstructing the contemporary Greek diaspora in Italy: Second World War and student mobility

Abstract

ABSTRACT In light of the poor and fragmented literature on contemporary Greek diaspora in Italy, not yet adequately covered by the historical and social disciplines, this article attempts to fill that void, thus providing an essential contribution to the studies on the Greek diaspora. Using the results of a field research, we analyze the two main push and pull factors of Greek migration to Italy in the second half of the twentieth century, namely the student migration and the migration related to the Second World War. Through the narrative reconstruction by the second generation members, we retrace the most important phases that have characterized the migratory experience of Greek migrants in Italy within a wider historical framework of analysis, also by using unpublished documents collected in Greek, Italian and American historical archives. We use an analysis method that combines the narratives of second generation members with the statistical analysis of the variables, by reconstructing the family history through the use of data derived from both questionnaires and life stories.