‘Milan doesn’t want us to be comfortable’: differential inclusion of refugees in Milan

This chapter is concerned with the experience of a group of refugees in Milan and their feelings of belonging. By refugee, I mean a status holder, namely a person who has gone through the asylum application process and has received a residence permit. Drawing on 13 months of ethnographic fieldwork between 2017 and 2018,¹ this study addresses the changes to their everyday lives on obtaining their status and the perceived and real challenges they face living in Milan. During this period, I examined the ‘asylum question’ in Milan. Immersion in this field has made it possible to observe the relations...