Building boundaries in making policies. Exploring the local construction of migrants in multicultural Italy

The paper provides ethnographic insight into the social construction of migrants by examining the everyday working of the reception system in one of Italy’s regions that is most advanced in terms of multicultural policies. Focusing on migrants’ encounters with the professionals employed in two social services, the article sheds new light on the multi-layered forms of discrimination that take place in a controversial arena in which institutions and policies operate at different levels. On one hand, I argue that the prevailing essentialized or racialized categorisation of ‘foreign users’ framed in the ambiguous context of Italian bureaucracy conveys a form of inequality that reflects the broader asymmetries between the state, local institutions and migrant minorities. On other hand, I explore the discretionary power different categories of workers exercise in their treatment of migrants, highlighting the central role local agencies and their staff play in building symbolic boundaries in Italian society.