"Noi rumeni lavoriamo di più". Discorsi egemonici e senso comune di un gruppo di immigrati a Bologna

Based upon participant observation in a construction site and forty in-depth interviews with Romanian immigrants in Bologna, this article analyses certain changes in this immigrant group's common sense. The research points out some notable differences between the immigrants' self-representations and their working practices, as observed in the building yard. On the one hand, Romanians define themselves as «hard workers» and emphasize their own national belonging; on the other hand, loyalty among coworkers independently from their nationality and implicit and explicit conflict with the employer emerge during on-the-job observation of building work. It is argued that selfrepresentations are influenced by hegemonic discourses about immigration, produced by Italian society (the discourse of the «immigrant as a worker» and the multiculturalist discourse) as well as by some legacies of the ideological system of Ceausescu's rule. Finally, discrepancies within and resistances to such hegemonic discourses, to be found in Romanian immigrants' migratory trajectories and working practices, are discussed.