Based on ethnographic research on the aging of the Tunisian community in Italy, this article reflects on what it means to “live death in diaspora”. The life stories and ethnographic materials discussed here highlight the creative ways individuals relate to death, considering the challenges posed by the diasporic condition. For seniors of the Tunisian diaspora in Italy, deciding where to die and which homeland to select as a burial site depends on material factors that necessitate a renegotiation of symbolic meanings, spiritual principles, and religious beliefs. Such a choice also reflects an effort to redefine relationships with ancestors and descendants from a transgenerational perspective. Living death in the diaspora confronts crucial choices about prioritizing kinship ties in defining identities, memberships, and affiliations. In this tension between two territories, two countries, and two orders of values, ties of belonging and multiple identities, the seniors of Tunisian diaspora in Italy reshape ritual practices and symbolic meanings associated with death and the afterlife.
Gloria Frisone, «Vivere la morte in diaspora. Riflessioni tanatologiche tra gli anziani tunisini in Italia», Archivio antropologico mediterraneo [Online], Anno XXVIII, n. 27 (2) | 2025, online dal 19 décembre 2025, consultato il 23 décembre 2025. URL: http://journals.openedition.org/aam/11040
Frisone G.
2025-01-01
Abstract
Based on ethnographic research on the aging of the Tunisian community in Italy, this article reflects on what it means to “live death in diaspora”. The life stories and ethnographic materials discussed here highlight the creative ways individuals relate to death, considering the challenges posed by the diasporic condition. For seniors of the Tunisian diaspora in Italy, deciding where to die and which homeland to select as a burial site depends on material factors that necessitate a renegotiation of symbolic meanings, spiritual principles, and religious beliefs. Such a choice also reflects an effort to redefine relationships with ancestors and descendants from a transgenerational perspective. Living death in the diaspora confronts crucial choices about prioritizing kinship ties in defining identities, memberships, and affiliations. In this tension between two territories, two countries, and two orders of values, ties of belonging and multiple identities, the seniors of Tunisian diaspora in Italy reshape ritual practices and symbolic meanings associated with death and the afterlife.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
