1) The research unit of the University of Pavia (UNIPV – P.I. Marco Gardini) will explore how the mobility (or immobility) of elderly people of both Italian and African origin, belonging to different classes, genders, and geographical origins and with different migratory trajectories, emerges as a crucial factor for the redefinition of elderhood in a transnational landscape. The achievement (or not) of successful models of aging often involves the renegotiation of elders’ social status toward younger generations in both their countries of origin and residence as well as the transnational restructuring of kin-based care systems. Case studies will include the Tunisian diaspora living in urban and “inner areas” of Italy and elderly people of Italian origin living in Tunisia.
2) The research unit of the University of Milano-Bicocca (UNIMIB – P.I. Luca Rimoldi) will address how elderly members of these diasporas become (or not) leading figures in transnational networks of remittances and investments and create new economic activities in their countries of origin or arrival. Case studies will include elderly members of Senegalese diaspora in Italy and elderly people of Italian origin living in Senegal.
3) The research unit of the University of Bologna (UNIBO – P.I. Paolo Gaibazzi and Federica Tarabusi) will complement the Italo-Tunisian and Italo-Senegalese case studies above by investigating the institutional context of transnational aging. It will analyze how the politics and policies of highly differential access to travel in the Euro-African space impact on aging subjects and their families living between Italy and Senegal and Tunisia. It further assesses national and transnational/bi-lateral welfare policies and provisions, and how these shape the spatial, social and economic dynamics of transnational aging