IJFS - Interdisciplinary Journal of Family Studies

The phenomenon of women expatriation has only recently taken specific and interesting
facets. ISTAT data (2007) on weddings in Italy show a considerable increase
in mixed marriages. Assuming that the migration due to the project of life with a
foreign partner is a process that mobilizes internal changes and forces to restructure
their identity, this work aims to study the ways of storytelling in which 12 Mexican
women re-build and give meaning to their experience of expatriation to Italy.
The corpus, consistent of narrative interviews, was subjected to various analysis,
semantic-structural (Alceste) and categorical thematic-(N-Vivo). The data show that
women emigrant for love give up parts of themselves and especially their social and
professional identity, but develop resilient mode of behavior as a result of a complex
bridging experience, but this is rarely supported by the host country.