Subjectivity-building yards. Intersectional perspectives on work in Genoa’s shipyards

Journal title MONDI MIGRANTI
Author/s Luca Daminelli
Publishing Year 2026 Issue 2026/2
Language Italian Pages 17 P. 59-75 File size 132 KB
DOI 10.3280/MM2026-002004
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The Fincantieri shipyards in Genoa are an example of on-site outsourcing of production. Within the same site, the company’s direct employees coordinate hundreds of contracting and subcontracting firms which employ thousands of Italian and migrant workers to construct cruise ships. This system aims to contain labour costs and is characterised by poorer contractual and wage conditions, as well as greater informality, the further down the contracts ‘pyramid’ workers are positioned. This article proposes an analysis from an intersectional perspective to investigate how the structural conditions of the labour market intersect with the subjective conditions of class, legal status and specific ways of performing masculinity, producing exploitation, fragmentation and hierarchisation of the workforce.

Keywords: shipyards; migrant labour; masculinity; exploitation; intersectionality.

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Luca Daminelli, Cantieri di soggettività. Prospettive intersezionali sul lavoro nei cantieri navali genovesi in "MONDI MIGRANTI" 2/2026, pp 59-75, DOI: 10.3280/MM2026-002004