Queer migrants: being at the crossroads between transnational ties and social remittances

This research investigates queer migration and how queer migrants in Italy, through their experience, make queer-related issues being “discussed” within their communities in the countries of origin and in the country of destination, contributing to queer and human rights activism. The aims of this study are threefold. First, it aims to contribute to the international literature on these topics by adding insights from Italy, a country that has not been academically discussed to date. Second, it aims to explore and re-frame the migratory experience of queer people through the queer migration and intersectionality lens, pointing out the nexus between migration, identity, gender and sexuality. Third, by analaysing the narratives of people about their migratory experience, it aims to address the role of the social remittances in transmitting to fellows and compatriots abroad, in their countries of origin, and in Italy mind-sets, ideas and opinion about queer-related issues. The present study is based on two main types of research, namely bibliographic research and empirical analysis in the form of in-depth interviews with ten queer migrants in Italy of a specific profile. The research into social remittances will be conducted using a case study. Since the social networks of migrants are regarded as the transnational sphere in which social remittances emerge or are enhanced and transmitted, this forms the core of the empirical research element in this thesis. The perspective of queer migrants in Italy is here explored.