Inquieto

Part autobiography, part ethnography, Inquieto is a moving and original study of how migration shapes lives and generations. Seeking to understand the everyday racism experienced by refugees and asylum-seekers in present-day Sicily, author Michelle Reale delves into her own family’s history of immigration to the United States. Encounters with African refugees in Sicily offer a counterpoint to her family’s experience of migration, highlighting a common sense of precariousness, restlessness, exclusion, and (non)belonging. Allowing for dramatic differences in circumstance, she shows how racism, practical challenges, heartbreak, and political complications influence the life of those seeking to make it in a new country.
This is a remarkable new contribution to diaspora and migration studies, connecting human experiences across time and space, and confronting entrenched stereotypes. It will be essential reading for anyone interested in how profoundly migration affects the individual, and how it can haunt future generations.