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‘Once you get here, you realize that thinking Foucault was writing for you was terriblynaïve, since in reality I did not exist as a subject for anyone like Foucault, or if I did itwas only as an object of study’, recalls one of the protagonists in this essay, a collage offragments of interviews with foreign immigrants from impoverished countries who havesettled in Barcelona and other Catalan towns in recent years. Widespread prejudice inthe host society dictates that these people are generalized as being on a lower culturallevel, anonymous members of the growing mass of immigrants prepared to work at anyprice. The prejudice seems to be confirmed by the fact that the great majority of them dolow-skilled or unskilled work in sectors such as the building trade, hotels and restaurantsand domestic service. The reality, however, is very different. The average level of formaleducation of these immigrants is similar to that of the host population. It is theprecariousness of their legal status or the often insurmountable barriers preventingrecognition of their academic and/or professional qualifications, or simply culturalprejudice, that condemn them to accept jobs well below their personal potential. Thus,the host society wastes social and cultural capital of the first order, and lays foundationsfor a permanent division between ‘us’ and ‘them’. This essay offers a modest butrevealing sample of the quality and diversity of the ideas and viewpoints of theimmigrants themselves, an asset we continue to at best underestimate or more oftenignore altogether.
