Palermo lives in memory through movement: studying migration in the Mediterranean by day and carrying the feeling of the city long after.
Migration Studies
While we had learned about migration in the classroom in Tunis, Palermo brought our studies to life in the conference room of Molti Volti, a migrant-run restaurant and community coworking space in Palermo. We got to meet with representatives of different immigrant resource and empowerment organisations, navigating a government that had, at the time, just elected a right-wing prime minister who was pushing for a crackdown on immigration from Sub-Saharan and North Africa. We learned about the legacies of colonial violence and prejudice that persist for the people trying to build lives for themselves in the EU, the role of local NGOs and initiatives in breaking down societal barriers and cleavages, and the intersection of a vast array of identities in Sicily.
The Intellectual Frame
Time in Sicily sharpened my attention to migration not as an abstract policy topic but as a lived regional reality shaped by route, border, distance, and history. Palermo made the Mediterranean feel political in a way that was immediate rather than theoretical.
Family Ties Around the World
One of the best memories from my time in Sicily was an opportunity I had to meet with a longtime family friend, whom I refer to as my Zio Mimo. He had been an exchange student with my grandmother’s family when he was young, and had stayed in contact all these years later. When my great aunt and uncle learned that I was spending time in Palermo, they were quick to make sure I got connected to him, and we planned for me to come visit him in Mondello, a stunning beach town not far from Palermo that he calls home.
At his house in the hills of Mondello, we swapped stories about our lives. Over pasta and wine, I told him what my program was about, the issues we studied, and the places I’ve called home up to the age of twenty. He shared his own tales about travelling the deserts of Algeria, his daily swims with his friends that he commits to even at his current age, and stories about my great-grandmother, whom I never actually met, that not even my own family had shared with me up to that point. How beautiful it is that I got to learn more about my own family, thousands of miles from where any of my relatives live. I saw Mimo later in 2023 when he made the trip to North Carolina for the big family reunion, as my family has always lived by the notion that family goes far beyond blood. Again, he is my Zio Mimo for a reason.
The Small Details That Stayed
Some of the other memories that endure most clearly are the least official ones. One of them is running through the streets at night with friends, trying to find the moon. Another is us dancing the night away in an open courtyard, mingling with other young adults from all over the world. These are small scenes, but they capture something true about how that period felt: curious, open, and fully alive to place.
Why It Belongs Here
Not every important place needs a long institutional or overly academic explanation. Palermo belongs because it widened the emotional and analytical map at the same time.
From the archive
Gallery
A few details from Palermo: the food, the street life, and the texture that made the city stay with me.
