Exploring (In)Visible Religious Identities in Multicultural Classrooms: A Qualitative Analysis from Italian Schools

Religion plays a crucial but controversial role in shaping the identities of immigrants, particularly among immigrant-origin youths, and in influencing interethnic relations in host societies. However, social sciences have often forgotten and underestimated the religious dimension in understanding intergroup dynamics. Assuming that education could be a relevant public space to observe and deepen these processes, the study aims at analyzing the complex role of religion in shaping the identities of children of immigrants, affecting their free, open, and/or timorous expressions in multicultural, public, and educational environments. The study presents a qualitative analysis of seven focus groups involving seventy-four adolescents (aged 11–14) in Northern Italy, as a part of a research project promoted by the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore. The analysis of these qualitative data allows for the exploration of the collective strategies used by students to express (and/or conceal) their religious identity, examining the emergence of religion as a source of personal and social belonging with an emotional significance. The study aims to answer the question: Under what conditions can public education facilitate the expression of religious identity as a resource for inclusive education? The analysis suggests that concealing religious identities, avoiding conflicts, or transmitting ambiguous messages about religious identity would not eliminate the risk of cultural clashes and violent conflicts. The study posits that public education could benefit from the strategy of visibility used by some immigrant-origin students, who employ positive words, good experiences, and social emotions to enhance interreligious relationships in multicultural settings.