“I’m human” – multilingual investment of a young adult with a migration journey in Italy

Abstract This paper explores the multilingual identity construction and investment of Tanvir, a young adult from Pakistan. He arrived in Italy as an unaccompanied minor in 2018, after a migration journey, and currently lives between Italy and the UK. Research on identities and investment has been mainly conducted in EFL/ESL contexts. Far fewer studies explore them in LOTE contexts or in respect to first generation multilingual teenagers with a migration journey. This article reports on a case study approach to capturing the complexities of the lived experience of a single participant, Tanvir. Data were generated through in-depth, biographical, semi-structured interviews and were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis. The findings reveal Tanvir’s awareness of his competence as a multilingual and his ability to negotiate his identities as a transnational entrepreneur. His multilingual investment stems from his sense of agency, which allows him to inhabit transnational spaces by successfully overcoming ideological tensions and other social and structural obstacles to seize opportunities for his own personal fulfilment. The implications reflect on how school institutions can better support the agency and imagination of this under-researched and growing group of learners.