Migration in the Context of a Multination State: Language Policies, Division and Intolerance in South Tyrol

Abstract

The aim of this contribution is to situate South Tyrol among other multination states as Flanders, Québec and Catalonia, as an attempt to broad the models of multi-level governance especially in what regards the accommodation of migrants. Furthermore, this paper shows how language policies affects migrants settled in this Italian multinational context, presenting data collected in semi-structured interviews that shows the perspective of migrants towards the policy of declaration of linguistic affiliation or aggregation and division in society. The topics of racism and xenophobia were also raised by the participants, relating to linguistic issues of non-legitimation of the speaker. The outcomes showed that migrants perceive the policy of declaration as a burden, since part of the participants interviewed claim that they do not feel represented by this policy, which enhances social division.