Growing Up Transnationally: Biographical Narratives of School Trajectories among Chinese-Origin Youth in Italy

This paper presents an ongoing biographical study on the school experiences of young adults of Chinese origin who grew up between China and Italy. My presentation will display the theoretical framework, the research design, and the first insights of such a study. The research focuses on individuals who experienced a transnational childhood, spending significant periods of their early childhood in Zhejiang Province, cared for by grandparents or by the extended family, before reuniting with their parents in Italy during childhood or early adolescence. These trajectories — marked by family separation, reunification, and by the educational and linguistic transitions — are subsequently analyzed through dynamics experienced within the Italian school system, where such prior transitions are re-elaborated and negotiated (Ardizzoni & Omodeo, 2022; Costantini, 2023; Marsden, 2015; Paciocco & Baldassar, 2017; Paciocco, 2018). The theoretical framework of this study is situated within the literature about transnational childhoods and youth (Baldassar et al., 2007; Bohr & Tse, 2009; Gao & Sacchetto, 2024; Fresnoza-Flot & Nagasaka, 2015; Lamas-Abraira, 2019, 2023; Liu et al., 2017; Suárez-Orozco et al., 2002), which highlights how mobility, separation, and family reunification contribute to redefining emotional relationships, identities, and educational pathways. Within this framework, school emerges as a crucial institutional space, as it represents the first space of encounter with the host society and of renegotiation of one’s own identity (Demetrio, Favaro, 1992; Moro, 2001; Fiorucci, 2020; Gobbo, 2000. Existing research on students of Chinese origin in Italy has highlighted dynamics of exclusion and othering, often interpreted through deficit-based frameworks (Cologna & Breveglieri, 2003; Ghisalberti, 2008; Paciocco, 2021; Omodeo, 2002; Scolaro, 2025; Segatto, 2023). The present contribution seeks to move beyond such interpretations by giving voice to and focusing on young people’s subjective narratives and the ways in which they attribute meaning to their school experiences over time. From an empirical perspective, the study is based on semi-structured biographical interviews (Bertaux, 2003; Bichi, 2022; Merrill & West, 2009) with young adults (18–31 years old) of Chinese origin who have experienced family reunification and who currently live in Italy. The biographical approach allows to explore educational trajectories from a retrospective point of view, empathizing moments of discontinuity such as migration, entry into or re-entry into the Italian school system, language learning, and the construction of relationships with peers and teachers. The analysis pays particular attention to dynamics of inclusion and exclusion, peer relationships, processes of language learning, and the negotiation of cultural and linguistic identities in both formal and informal educational contexts. Moreover, the paper discusses the methodological choices guiding this specific research, grounded in a multi-sited ethnographic approach (Marcus, 1995) as well as in the integration of digital materials drawn from online spaces frequented by the Chinese diaspora in Italy. This design opens to access spaces of interaction that, due to the exclusive use of the Chinese language, would otherwise remain unexplored. On the basis of the literature review, this contribution argues for the need to move beyond deficit-based readings of the school experiences of young people of Chinese origin, rather valuing transnational resources, adaptive capacities, and forms of agency that may emerge along their life trajectories. Finally, the contribution aims to open a broader reflection on how school systems can respond in a more inclusive and informed way to the complexity of transnational biographies. It acknowledges that schools often do not have access to the lived meanings of these trajectories and, therefore, struggle to adequately respond to their unique needs. By foregrounding young people’s voices, the research suggests that creating spaces of listening can be a key step in enabling schools and teachers to develop more aware practices. Methodology, Methods, Research Instruments or Sources Used The research adopts a qualitative design that integrates biographical methods (Bertaux, 2003; Merrill & West, 2009), multi-sited ethnography (Marcus, 1995), and netnography (Kozinets, 1998, 2010, 2015), in order to capture the complexity of educational experiences within transnational life trajectories that unfold across physical, relational, and digital spaces. The main corpus of empirical data consists of semi-structured biographical interviews with young adults of Chinese origin who experienced periods of separation from their parents during childhood and a subsequent family reunification in Italy. The biographical approach makes it possible to reconstruct educational trajectories through participants’ narratives, exploring the ways in which they retrospectively reinterpret their school and migratory experiences. The interviews are designed to elicit significant moments, conceived as developmental transitions (Bronfenbrenner, 1986) with particular attention to entry into the Italian school system, relationships with peers and teachers. The interviews are conducted in Italian or Chinese, according to participants’ preferences, recorded, and fully transcribed. Although the research is mainly carried out in Italy, it takes into account transnational ties with China, as they emerge from participants’ narratives. School experiences are therefore analyzed in relation to family histories, transnational care practices, and educational imaginaries that cut across multiple national contexts. A key methodological element is a netnographic exploration that situates participants’ narratives within a broader digital discursive field. The digital materials analyzed are drawn from the Chinese platform Red Note 小红书, an online space widely used by the Chinese diaspora in Italy to share experiences, advice, and autobiographical narratives related to migration, schooling, and growing up across multiple cultural contexts. The analysis focuses on posts, comments, and narratives concerning family separation, reunification, schooling, and identity negotiation. These materials are treated as texts that make it possible to explore collective discourses, emotional repertoires, and shared interpretive frames. The netnographic materials function as a contextual and interpretive resource, allowing the interview data to be read against wider circulating narratives and meaning-making practices within the Chinese diasporic digital space. Data analysis follows a thematic-narrative approach (Riessman, 2008; Braun & Clarke, 2009) and is informed by an ecological perspective that considers the interaction between the individual, the family, the school, and broader socio-cultural contexts. Particular attention is devoted to ethical issues, especially with regard to informed consent, participants’ anonymity, and the responsible use of digital materials. The study is being conducted in full compliance with the procedures approved by University of Milano-Bicocca’s Ethics Committee. Conclusions, Expected Outcomes or Findings Although the research is still ongoing, the first insights highlight several elements that are relevant for the educational debate on transnational biographies. Participants’ narratives help to problematize linear and deficit-oriented readings of the school experiences of young people of Chinese origin, instead showing complex trajectories of adaptation, negotiation, learning and meaning-making that develop over time. School emerges as an ambivalent space: on the one hand, a site of difficulties related to language learning, dynamics of exclusion, and perceptions of otherness; on the other hand, a context in which transnational resources such as flexibility and resilience are progressively mobilized but often remain invisibilized and unrecognized. The biographical approach also highlights how school experiences are deeply intertwined with family histories of migration and separation. The integration of netnographic materials makes it possible to situate individual biographies within broader transnational discourses, showing how the experiences narrated by participants resonate with shared narratives circulating in the digital spaces of the Chinese diaspora in Italy. These online spaces appear as significant sites for the collective elaboration of experiences, for the construction of a sense of belonging, and for the production of counter-narratives with respect to dominant representations of students of Chinese origin. Overall, the contribution argues for the need to rethink educational responses to transnational biographies, moving beyond culturalist and essentializing approaches. Recognizing the relational, transnational, and digital dimensions of students’ lives is crucial in order to promote more inclusive, reflexive, and youth-centered educational practices. References Ardizzoni, S., & Omodeo, M. (2022). L’istruzione dei sinodiscendenti nelle scuole italiane. Tracce e percorsi. Sinosfere, 15. Baldassar, L., Baldock, C. V., & Wilding, R. (2007). Families caring across borders: Migration, aging, and transnational caregiving. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 33(2), 276–297. https://doi.org/10.1080/13691830701227126. Bohr, Y., & Tse, C. (2009). Satellite babies in transnational families: A study of parents’ decision to separate from their infants. Infant Mental Health Journal, 30(3), 265–286. Dobson, M. E. (2009). Unpacking children in migration research. Children’s Geographies, 7(3), 355–360. https://doi.org/10.1080/14733280903024514 Fresnoza-Flot, A., & Nagasaka, I. (2015). Conceptualizing childhoods in transnational families: The “mobile childhoods” lens. In I. Nagasaka & A. Fresnoza-Flot (Eds.), Mobile childhoods in Filipino transnational families (pp. 1–20). Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137515148_2. Gao, R., & Sacchetto, D. (2024). Constructing a transnational childcare bricolage: Chinese migrant families in Italy coordinating transnational mobility and childcare. European Societies, 26(3), 880–907. Lamas-Abraira, L. (2023). Fluid childhoods: Chinese migrants’ descendants growing up transnationally. In D. Bühler-Niederberger, X. Gu, J. Schwittek, & E. Kim (Eds.), The Emerald handbook of childhood and youth in Asian societies (pp. 61–82). Liu, C. H., Chen, S. H., Bohr, Y., Wang, L., & Tronick, E. (2017). The practice of transnational separation among Chinese immigrant parents and children. In The cultural nature of attachment: Contextualizing relationships and development (pp. 171–190). Marsden, A. (2015). Second-generation Chinese and new processes of social integration in Italy. In Chinese migration to Europe: Prato, Italy, and beyond. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137400246_6. Orellana, M. F., Thorne, S. H., Chee, A., & Lam, W. S. E. (2011). Transnational childhoods: The participation of children in processes of family migration. Social Problems, 58(4), 479–504. https://doi.org/10.1525/sp.2011.58.4.479. Paciocco, A., & Baldassar, L. (2017). Italian-schooled Chinese migrant youth in Prato: The liability of outsidership and social identity formation. In Native and immigrant entrepreneurship: Lessons for local liabilities in globalization from the Prato case study (pp. 97–113). Paciocco, A. (2018). Performing Chinese diasporic identity through Mandarin: The case of Italian-schooled Chinese migrant youth in Prato (Italy). Journal of Language, Identity & Education, 17(4), 207–221. https://doi.org/10.1080/15348458.2018.1437348. Riessman, C. K. (2008). Narrative methods for the human sciences. SAGE. Suárez-Orozco, C., Todorova, I. L. G., & Louie, J. (2002). Making up for lost time: The experience of separation and reunification among immigrant families. Family Process, 41(4), 625–643. Wen, F. 文峰. (2014). 侨乡跨家家庭中“洋”留守儿童问题探讨 [An analysis on foreign left-behind children in the transnational family of overseas Chinese hometowns]. 东南亚研究 / Southeast Asian Studies, (04). https://doi.org/10.19561/j.cnki.sas.2014.04.011