The issue of housing and migrants. The role of women in social movements for housing rights, from stereotypes to social activism

Over the past decades, the range of action of the main social movements has broadened in a more global perspective. The studies about the phenomenon of globalization have contributed to the development of what intellectuals usually call the global civil society. The Nation State is no longer the only space where the protest can take place, but it remains the dominant actor and the main location for all types of politics, also those based on the conflict. Many studies were published but there is a phenomenon that is yet to be completely analyzed: how migrants participate in social movements in our country, focused on issues such as work, political participation, freedom of religion, housing etc. Our exploratory and descriptive research has been mainly concentrated on the right to housing and on the role of immigrant women among the foreign communities that take part in the social movements. This phenomenon seems to represent a symbolic magnifying glass for some interesting social and cultural changes regarding the settling and integration of foreign communities into the Italian society. The main results has been: a) to describe the organizational model applied by migrants to their social movements in Italy: themes/content, processes/practices, goals/common purpose/solidarity, organizational structures and their instruments and way of sharing the information (internally and externally) in order to interact with the elites, the opponents and the authorities; b) to explore the relationship between migrant communities and the Italian territory, with particular regard to the role of immigrant women during the process of integration and settling of their communities in our society; c) to understand if an operational model between groups exists and how it works as “bridge” between movements and to investigate on how the participation of immigrants is interpreted and evaluated by the other Italian activists.