“Help them back home”: Italian fantasies of (neoliberal) inclusion from Buona Scuola to Salvini’s Government

Amidst growing political turmoil and anti-immigration and anti-Blackness propaganda, this paper explores major shifts in the conceptualization of inclusive education in Italy, from its initial formulation with the policy of Integrazione Scolastica, to more recent neoliberal approaches. Drawing on the framework of Disability Critical Race Theory (DisCrit), this paper shows how universalistic human rights and Leftist values, underpinning the policy of Integrazione Scolastica and Renzi’s Law n. 107 of 2015, colloquially known as Buona Scuola, are essentially colour-evasive (Annamma, Jackson, Morrison, 2016). The lack of critical considerations of the intersection of racism and ableism within Italian inclusive education discourse has led to the proliferation among school professionals of neoliberal fantasies of inclusion of migrants and refugees. Following the recent creation of a coalition government between the Five Star Movement and the far-right party Northern League, these fantasies have evolved into more populist, overtly racist, and discriminatory narratives. Ultimately, the paper advances an intersectional approach to inclusion in Italy, aimed to disrupt the reproduction of spaces of ableism, racism, and exclusion.