Shifting Racialised Positioning of Polish Migrant Women in Manchester and Barcelona

Alina Rzepnikowska-Phillips

Research output: Chapter in Book/Conference proceedingChapterpeer-review

Abstract

This chapter focuses on encounters between Polish migrant women and the native white population and settled ethnic minorities and other migrants in multi-ethnic Manchester and Barcelona by drawing on narrative interviews conducted in 2012/2013. What is particularly interesting about these migrant women is their unstable racialised positioning which is explored in this chapter. The empirical examples show how whiteness, in-betweenness and Otherness are (re)produced through various encounters with white and non-white population in both cities. They show how whiteness is not just phenotypic but malleable, conditional and temporary. The chapter illustrates how in some situations, Polish migrants may become victims of racism, xenophobia and stereotyping, while in other contexts, privileged white Europeans, suggesting temporary sameness and partial inclusion in the notion of ‘us’.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationRelating Worlds of Racism
Subtitle of host publicationDehumanisation, Belonging, and the Normativity of European Whiteness
EditorsPhilomena Essed, Karen Farquharson, Kathryn Pillay, Elisa Joy White
PublisherPalgrave Macmillan Ltd
Pages191-219
ISBN (Electronic)978-3-319-78990-3
ISBN (Print)978-3-319-78989-7
Publication statusPublished - 2019

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