{"id":38766,"date":"2026-05-25T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-25T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/swissmig.unine.ch\/?p=38766"},"modified":"2026-05-12T16:28:42","modified_gmt":"2026-05-12T14:28:42","slug":"challenging-racism-in-a-raceless-country-migrant-workers-strugglesin-western-switzerland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/swissmig.unine.ch\/?p=38766","title":{"rendered":"Challenging Racism in a \u2018Raceless Country\u2019: Migrant Workers\u2019 Struggles in Western Switzerland"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-group\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-group is-vertical is-layout-flex wp-container-core-group-is-layout-4fc3f8e1 wp-block-group-is-layout-flex\">\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Author(s): Elsa Gios<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/unora.unior.it\/handle\/11574\/255240\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">https:\/\/unora.unior.it\/handle\/11574\/255240<\/a> <\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Abstract<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In Switzerland, over 40% of the population has a migrant background, and migrants constitute<br>the majority of trade union members. Yet addressing racism remains a persistent challenge, as<br>the very notion of race is largely rejected in public discourse. How, then, can racism be<br>confronted in a country that portrays itself as raceless?<br>This thesis historicizes race and the processes of racialization in the Swiss context, tracing how<br>these have evolved across time and shaped social hierarchies. Building on this historical lens,<br>it explores the antiracist practices and discourses developed by marginalized groups that have<br>organized and resisted, bridging past and present forms of struggle. Combining historical and<br>archival research with ethnographic inquiry, this multidisciplinary and polyphonic project<br>brings to light voices and experiences often silenced in official narratives. At the same time, it<br>opens a reflection on whiteness and its specific articulations, examining how certain migrant<br>communities \u2013 especially Italians \u2013 underwent a gradual process of integration through its<br>performance. In doing so, the thesis contributes to a broader understanding of the ongoing<br>redefinition of racial capitalism and the forms of differentiation it produces, while inviting<br>renewed reflection on the meaning and practice of solidarity.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Author(s): Elsa Gios Source: https:\/\/unora.unior.it\/handle\/11574\/255240<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kadence_starter_templates_imported_post":false,"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[35],"tags":[854,483,589,9,82,87,175,140,711,629,334,220,91,25,349],"class_list":["post-38766","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-history","tag-854","tag-communities","tag-doctoral-thesis","tag-english-language","tag-ethnic-discrimination","tag-history","tag-italians","tag-portuguese","tag-race","tag-racialization","tag-racism","tag-seasonal-workers","tag-social-integration","tag-solidarity","tag-spaniards"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/swissmig.unine.ch\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38766","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/swissmig.unine.ch\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/swissmig.unine.ch\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swissmig.unine.ch\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swissmig.unine.ch\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=38766"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/swissmig.unine.ch\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38766\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38769,"href":"https:\/\/swissmig.unine.ch\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38766\/revisions\/38769"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/swissmig.unine.ch\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=38766"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swissmig.unine.ch\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=38766"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swissmig.unine.ch\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=38766"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}