Italian Identity at a Crossroads: The Time for Conditional Jus Soli has Arrived
Italian Identity at a Crossroads: The Time for Conditional Jus Soli has Arrived

Summary/Abstract: Maeva Kokodoko holds great respect for her West African heritage although she feels “totally Italian” with all the “good and bad habits” of most Italians of her generation. Her father, a Togolese doctor who went to medical school in Italy in the 1960s, eventually became a naturalized Italian citizen, after living and working in the country for several years. Although Maeva was born in Togo, she moved to Italy at a very young age and had the right to Italian citizenship at birth due to her father’s naturalized status. While this was a relatively easy process for Maeva, who has always lived in Italy as an Italian citizen, she is aware of the difficulties for hundreds of thousands of second generation Italians born or brought up in the bel paese to immigrant parents who do not share her legal status: “It is unacceptable that two young adults with the exact same paths will not be able to do the same competitive exams because one is a de facto Italian while the other is de jure,” she says.

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