The Erasmus programme: lived experiences of mobility in the making of a European sense of belonging in the Southern European context

The Erasmus programme it’s an acronym that stands for “EuRopean Community Action Scheme for the Mobility of University Students”. Since 1987, Erasmus student mobility flows have reached significant numbers of students involved in the project, with the aim of integrating European cultural values to foster a stronger sense of identity and citizenship within the European Union, also called Europeanization process. Indeed, the programme contributes to spatial and identity mobility, creating new geographical imaginaries and shaping social spaces. The aim of this thesis is to address and critically analyse how Erasmus alumni experience and narrate processes of Europeanization from below, focusing on their lived experiences of mobility, and assessing whether the programme serves as a driver of European identity, narrowing it to a specific geographic area often marked by economic precarity, social inequalities and the historical North-Soth divide within the EU. To this extend, the research question is: “How does Erasmus mobility affects participants’ sense of belonging to the European Union among students from Southern European countries?”. The research is inspired by the mobilities turn in the social sciences and humanities and uses a qualitative research technique, with the use of semi-structured interviews to gather data. Many are the limitations and barriers to a broader analysis, but the study will investigate them trying close the gap in understanding the everyday dimension of European identity and belonging in specific areas historically known for their disparities compared to the North of the EU. By contributing to research with qualitative insights this thesis wants to be of assistance for further investigation on the topic.