Beyond belonging. How migrant children actively construct their cultural identities in the interaction

This article analyses the discursive construction of cultural identity in the interaction among children aged 11-13 who are engaged in learning Italian as a second language. Cultural identity is here conceived as a positioning mode within the interaction, highlighting its processual and relational nature.The Positioning Theory, used as a theoretical framework for this paper, allows to call into question a reified and essentialized idea of identity and culture, acknowledging the possibility of participants' active choice in constructing narratives about their sense of belonging and membership to a particular cultural group. Based on a fieldwork in a primary school and a first grade secondary school, this article observes the different ways through which children actively participate in complex processes of identity negotiation.