In this historical moment of tension and intensification of the debate and rules on migration, the border is interpreted as a place and method of intercultural research. Border studies (Anzaldúa, 1987; Van Houtum, 2012) have emphasized the importance of studying territorial borders in relation to these identity, symbolic and mental margins, criticizing the dominant position of the nation-state as the only perspective for the development of research and analysis of reality. Indeed, the border can become the epistemological position and methodological stance of inquiry that allows us to interpret and narrate the complexity of reality, to set in motion processes of research and action capable of overcoming the coloniality, ento-centrism and white oppression of our systems (Pescarmona, Gozzelino & Matera, 2024).

In this perspective, the paper would like to share some findings from a broader inter-disciplinary research project aimed at discussing new categories of representation of education and social work, in order to promote a culture of equity, diversity and plural citizenship. Through the development of borders thinking, based on epistemic disobedience, and creative inter-cultural and inter-generational dialogues, it also intends to discuss forms of research that recognize the right of voice of all the actors involved, even those usually at the margins or silenced, in order to co-construct new narratives. In the horizon of critical, intercultural and decolonial studies (Besley, Peters, 2012; Borghi, 2020; hooks, 1994; Ngũgi, 2015; Bhatti et al, 2017; Pescarmona & Gozzelino, 2023), the research project considers migration and the diversity of human contexts as the most influential factors shaping educational systems and processes: it problematizes permanent colonial attitudes in today's world and activates dialogues that can overcome oppressive borders.

Convinced that addressing the emerging issues in contemporary heterogeneous and multicultural contexts requires the development of complex, dynamic and not one-sided ways of thinking, the paper proposes reflections on how to foster processes of expression and grant epistemological dignity to the voices and experiences of some young professional who inhabit our educational contexts as ‘divergentresources' and active creators of spaces of resistance. Ten young, racialized professional (second-generation migrants or adopted women) working in Italy in the educational, social and care sectors as teachers, educators or activists, change positions and go from being ‘objects’ of study to ‘active interlocutors’, enabling the scientific community to cross the border.

Following bell hooks (1994), entering into dialogue with them invites us to ‘transgress’ the usual real and symbolic boundaries, which are present and reproduced in our educational and social contexts, including through the narratives of people belonging to social categories that are usually considered marginal in public debate. As Mignolo and Tlostanova (2006) note, the challenge of the twenty-first century is to “think from the borders themselves” (p. 214). Only from here is it possible to interpret the complexity of reality and to develop a multi-layered reflection on the phenomena of inclusion and exclusion. “Inhabiting borders means rewriting geographical borders, imperial/colonial subjectivities and territorial epistemologies” (ibidem). This is an epistemic shift: it is not only a matter of changing the content of the discourse, but also the place from which speech and knowledge are constructed.

In order to deconstruct the current dominant discourses on migration and elaborate pedagogical proposals for research and action that include the border as a generative space of divergent voices and as a privileged place for intercultural dialogue, personal and professional life histories (Goodson & Sikes, 2001; Riessman, 2008) are employed as a privileged methodology. This research approach, in fact, can offer a contribution to intercultural discourse (as already experimented in other research such as, Scheffler 1991; Gobbo, 2004, 2022; Bhatti et ali 2007; Pescarmona & Gozzelino, 2023). On the one hand, this make it possible to access and read today's multicultural work contexts in a non-obvious way, reaching those social, educational and cultural environments that, due to their minority or marginal character, might escape official narratives. On the other hand, making these minor stories part of a collective narrative can become a powerful device for speaking out against the culture of silence and for acknowledging the agency of the women interviewed, restoring their power to narrate history from their point of view. Furthermore, by moving under the banner of inter-subjectivity, this methodology makes the researchers’ presence visible at all stages of the research, nurturing self-reflexivity with respect to their situated positioning and related prejudices. In this perspective, the contribution focuses on ten in-depth interviews that traced the identity and professional trajectories of young racialized women (25-35 years old), who grew up in Italy and are now involved in innovative educational projects (for example, in the field of defending the rights of LGBT+ people, associations against racism, literature or social reporting journalism). The stimulus-questions aimed to bring out how they developed their role at the intersection of being women, daughters, migrant family background, care and education professionals, and how they have shaped their (young) educational project, acting as interpreters of the emerging needs and civil and political recognition of the new complex generation youth. All interviews were recorded, fully transcribed and processed, following a qualitative and idiographic analysis proper to the tradition of ethnography of education (Glaser & Strauss, 2009; Pole & Morrison, 2003).

Learning to cross borders and giving voice to the inter-cultural dialogues that can be created from borders can become a unique opportunity to rethink the transformative potential of a pedagogy at the intersection of interculturality, global competence, human rights, and citizenship (Banks, 2017; Palaiologou, 2023). It can allow us to welcome other narratives, overcoming the risk of a ‘single story’ (Adichie, 2009) and co-construct a new narrative and shared knowledge from situated contexts. In particular, listening to and entering into dialogue with the stories of these young women can provoke questions that problematise our (complex) identities and challenge the common sense of our educational contexts, by highlighting the stereotypes, prejudices and bias associated with representations and pedagogical interventions targeting ‘others’. From the dialogues emerges a reflection on the crucial role of racialized women in the process of change in Italian educational contexts and on the need of educational and political, individual and collective, responsibility in creating new forms of equitable, sustainable and plural conviviality and promoting plural citizenships.

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