Migrants’ protests: How the borders of citizenship are conceived, mobilized and constructed by migrants’ farm workers protests

Migrants’ workers exploitation in several fields of production is one of the most dramatic and serious aspects of our societies and at the same time one of the not enough explored, discussed, voiced. Nevertheless, hard structural and subjective conditions, migrants workers as several recent case show in Italy and worldwide, protest and more and more raise up their voices and claims, together some times with locals, to equal rights, dignity in work and life conditions. This project explores two contexts – Italy and Canada- of migrant’s labor movements with a central focus on migrants employed in agriculture. It intends to work on the following sets of research questions: how migrant’s workers mobilization and protests:1) challenges the theory and practices of citizenship: do they restrict or enlarge rights for all?2) impact on actors self-representation as citizens and their recognition by other actors in the field?For this very timely issue that urges attention worldwide, the two contexts will be approached recurring to multiple theoretical frames, the main being: Migration and citizenship studies and Social Movement studies. Qualitative methods will be privileged even though second hand quantitative data will be utilized as well. Additionally, in order to give ‘voice’ to the subjects’ lives and struggles the project intends to adopt a participatory action research (PAR) approach mixed with ethnography. Participant observations and interviews will provide mechanisms towards a strong orientation to the field. On the other side the direct engagement of participants throughout the research process will create opportunities for democratic and transformative knowledge creation that align with PAR principles.