COLONIALTRESPASS:RETHINKINGTHESTATEANDTHENATION
[email protected]
Discussionsofthenation-statearegenerallybasedonthepresumptionofitsemergenceasa‘puretype’inEuropeandtobeunderstoodinmodified,culturallyinflectedtermselsewhere.However,
whatscholarsrarelytakeintoconsiderationisthatthe‘pure-type’ofthenation-statewasactually,
empirically,animperialstatewithmoreexpansiveboundariesandpolities.Inthistalk,Ireconsider
socialscientificaccountsoftheemergenceofthenation-statewithintheconnectedhistoriesof
colonialismandempire.
Gurminder K Bhambra is Professor of Sociology at the University of Warwick. She is also Guest
Professor of Sociology and History at the Centre for Concurrences in Colonial and Postcolonial
Studies, Linnaeus University, Sweden (2016-18). Her first monograph, ‘Rethinking Modernity:
Postcolonialism and the Sociological Imagination’ (Palgrave, 2007), won the 2008 Philip Abrams
MemorialPrizeforbestfirstbookinsociology.SheisSeriesEditoroftheTheoryforaGlobalAge
series,setupbyBloomsburyAcademicandnowpublishedbyManchesterUniversityPressand,in
2015,shesetuptheGlobalSocialTheorywebsitetosupportstudentsandacademicsinterestedin
socialtheoryinglobalperspective.Sheisalsoco-editoroftheonlinemagazine,DiscoverSociety.
HOWGLOBALWASEUROPEANCOLONIALISM
[email protected]
Theglobal‘turn’inhistoricalscholarshiphastransformedthestudyofempireinrecentdecades.
Historians now stress the multiplicity of imperialisms in the modern period and the diversity of
imperialrelationsandpractices;theyalsocontesttheanalyticalseparationbetweenmetropoleand
colony,andexploretheinfluenceofthelatterontheformer.However,manynewworksonEmpire
also re-emphasise the prominence of the British and French Empires as archetypes of modern
colonialismand/orthecentralityofAfricaandtheIndianOceanasthemaintheatresofempire;and
notwithstanding global history’s attempt to challenge Eurocentrism, the assumption that the
northwestregionofthecontinentisthecoreofmodernEuropehasprovenremarkablypersistent.
My lecture considers how the categories of conquest and coercion limit our understanding of
Europeanimperialismandhowthesecategoriesmightbechanged.Focusinginparticularonagroup
ofItalianscientistsandmigrationagentswhowereactiveinmid-19th-centuryLatinAmerica,itasks
whattheinclusionofotherformsofcolonialismanddifferentcolonialprotagonistscantellusabout
thepracticesandimpactofmoderncolonialism,andwhatitmightrevealaboutthepersistenceof
colonialismbeyondtheendofformalEmpires.
LucyRiallisProfessoroftheComparativeHistoryofEuropeattheEUI,andhasheldvisitingpositions
attheÉcoleNormaleSupérieureParis,theFreieUniversitätBerlin,andtheUniversityofFreiburg.
Her publications include Sicily and the Unification of Italy, 1859-1866 (Oxford, 1998); Garibaldi:
Invention of a Hero (New Haven and London, 2007); Risorgimento: The History of Italy from
Napoleon to Nation State (London, 2009); and Under the Volcano: Revolution in a Sicilian Town
(Oxford,2013).
RETHINKINGTHEENTANGLEMENTBETWEENBORDERS,STATE,ANDCOLONIALITY
AnApplicationoftheNotionof'theFrontier'totheRethinkingof'Borders,StateandColoniality'
-anExamplefromtheCaribbean
Philip Nanton (Honorary Researcher, University of Birmingham – University of West Indies, Barbados) -
[email protected]
PhilipNantonisanHonoraryResearchAssociateattheUniversityofBirminghamandisanoccasionallecturer
attheCaveHillcampusoftheUniversityoftheWestIndies,Barbados.Hehasmaderadiodocumentarieson
CaribbeanliteratureandculturefortheBBC.Heisthejointeditoroftwoanthologiesofliterarycriticismand
oneanthologyofcreativewriting.HeistheauthoroftheCDandbookIslandVoicesfromSt.Christopherand
theBarracudas(2014,PapillotePress)andaselectedcollectionofhiswritingCanouanSuiteandOtherPieces
was also published by Papillote Press in 2016. His book Frontiers of the Caribbean will be published by
ManchesterUniversityPressin2017.
Mypaperdefinesthefrontierasaliminalrelationshipbetween'civilization'and'wilderness'.Iwill
suggestthatratherthanexhumingalimitednotionofthefrontierasaconcernaboutborders,the
frontier in the Caribbean context has survived and indeed thrived from earliest colonial times. I
suggest that ultimately the notion offers an alternative framework for Caribbean analysis. To
illustratemyargumentmypaperwilldrawonacasestudybasedontheSt.VincentGrenadines.
BorderingtheSovereign:OntheColonialRootsoftheModernState
JanSmolenski(NewSchoolforSocialResearch,NewYork)[email protected]
JanSmolenskiisaPhDcandidateatthePoliticsDepartmentoftheNewSchoolforSocialResearch.Inhis
dissertationproject"ConstituentPower,Federalism,Bordering:thePrinciplesofDemocraticSpatio-Political
Imaginary",Janexploresdemocraticpotentialofthespatio-politicalimaginaryenactedinnon-statefederal
politiesanditsimplicationsfortherelationbetweenspace,bordering,anddemocracy.Hisbroaderresearch
interestsincludedemocraticandconstitutionaltheory,sovereignty,federalism,bordersandbordering.Before
comingtotheNewSchoolhestudiedsocialandpoliticalphilosophyattheUniversityofWarsawandpolitical
scienceatCentralEuropeanUniversityinBudapest.
Accordingtothedominantnarrative,thepoliticalformofthemodernStateisamoreorlessnaturaloutcome
oftheendogenousdevelopmentsofmodernEurope.Europeanrulersprogressivelyaccumulatedpowerand
monopolized violence within increasingly well defined territories understood as mutually exclusive
jurisdictions.Withinthisnarrative,statehoodofnon-Europeanpoliticalcommunitiesisconsideredaneffect
ofdecolonization,andinthissensetheStateisfundamentallyatoddswithimperialismandcolonialism.In
contrast to this narrative, I argue in this paper that the development of the modern State is intimately
connected to colonialism and imperialism. The goal of this paper is to historicize the State and state
sovereigntyandtheirrelationtostatistborderingprinciples,inordertoshowhowthethreecometogether
to compose the dominant unit of the modern political imaginary. In carrying out this task I aim to
demonstrate two interrelated things. The first one is the centrality of bordering for the formation of the
modernState:TheStateandstatesovereigntywouldnothaveemergedwithoutspecificborderingprinciples.
Thesecondoneistopointtotheimportanceofthecolonialencounterandcolonialisminthedevelopment
ofthemodernState,thedoctrineofsovereigntyandthedevelopmentofthestatistborderingprinciples.I
willarguethatexploringthisaffinityallowsustocomprehendthehistoricalparticularityofthemodernState
andopensupaspaceforconsiderationsofother,non-statistpoliticalandspatialimaginaries.
NEWLOCATIONSOFDECOLONIZATION
Outre-merandEuropeanNetwork:Switzerland’sRoleinDecolonization
MarisaFois(UniversitédeGenève)[email protected]
MarisaFoisislecturer(Maîtreassistante)attheUniversityofGeneva.SheholdsaPh.D.inAfricanHistory
andInternationalRelationsattheUniversityofCagliari,andshehasbeenVisitingFellowattheGraduate
Institute,GenevaandresearcherattheUniversityofCagliariandattheCentred’EtudesdesMondesAfricains
ofAix-en-Provence.Herresearchinterestsincludepostcolonialism,minorities,politicsandidentityinNorth
Africa.SheiscurrentlyworkingonaprojectaboutAlgeriandecolonizationandSwitzerland.
Although Switzerland has never been a colonial power, it has nevertheless played a part in
colonization: Swiss emigrants became settlers and landowners, evangelised in various African
countries, established businesses and industries, and lived overseas for several generations. The
migration flows following the independence of former colonies had effects across Europe, and
Switzerland’s identity was redefined by overseas Swiss. The country was confronted with many
questionsregardingthereturnofmigrantsandtheirdescendants,assistancewithprotectingtheir
propertiesandpensions.GenerationsofoverseasSwissrequestedtheprotectionoftheirsocial,
economicandpoliticalinterests,claimedaplaceinSwisssocietyandsoughtsocialassistance.In
response, Association des Suisses spoliés d’Algérie ou d’outre-mer (ASSAOM) was founded and
become part of Confédération européenne des spoliés d’outre-mer (CESOM) with several other
countries,likeItaly,France,theNetherlands,Luxembourg,BelgiumandGreece.Thispaperfocuses
onthecaseoftheEuropeannetworkofassociationsbornduringthedecolonizationperiodand,in
particular,onASSAOM’sroleinCESOM.Theaimoftheanalysis–basedonSwiss,French,Italian
andAlgerianprimaryandsecondaryhistoricalsources–istoreadthehistoryoftheseassociations
through a transnational historical perspective and, at the same time, investigate the associated
ideasofidentityandsociety.
TheTopicalityoftheFiftiesRegimeforEuropeanInternalColonialism
ClaudiaBernardi(UniversityofRomaTre-Skypepresentation)[email protected]
ClaudiaBernardi(Ph.D.Euro-AmericanStudies)islecturerinLatinAmericanHistoryatUniversitàdeglistudi
RomaTre,andpostdoctoralfellowoftheWeatherheadInitiativeonGlobalHistoryatHarvardUniversity.She
is currently finalizing her first monograph entitled “La fabbrica della mobilità. Storia della frontiera e dei
migrantimessicaninegliStatiUniti(1836-1964)”,andsheisworkingonanewresearchprojectaboutthe
globalhistoryoflabormobilitythathasbeenfundedbyHarvardUniversityandEuropaInstitutofUniversität
Basel.
Thedisrupting“refugeecrisis”nowexperiencedalongthebordersofSouthernandEasternEurope
hasbeencalledthelargestoneaftertheSecondWorldWar,andithasbroughttotheforeonce
morethestrategicroleplayedby“peripheral”countriesand,moreimportantly,thehistoricalrole
ofmigrationinthesamepoliticalandideologicalcreationofEurope.
Indeed,aftertheSecondWorldWar,the1951UNHCRConventionontheStatusofRefugeescreated
the genuine figure of the refugee, aside the “economic” migrant whose movements have been
regulatedthroughtheso-calledguestworkerprogramsinitiatedinthe50s.Thisgesturedivaricated
theconditionofmigrants,assigninglowersocialstatusanddiscriminativerepresentationtoeachof
thesetwofigures:ononeside,therefugeeasavictimdeservinghumanitarianhelp,butcondemned
toeconomicandsocialimmobility;ontheother,theguestworkerasjobstealerandforeignsubject
liabletoberemovedatanytime.
The 1950s were a constituent moment in the regulation, representational practices, and
management of migrant’s movements between the Southern and Eastern peripheries of Europe
anditsverycore.MovingfromtheanalysesofTomasAlmaguer,RobertBlauner,anddecolonial
scholars,thisworkingpaperinvestigatestheconundrumoftheconceptofcolonialismthroughthe
analyses of migration as the driver of an “internal colonization” of Europe, in which the EU
population has been socially hierarchized, differentially racialized, and still transnationally
connected.
Investigating‘PeripheralExperiences’:DecolonizationandLinguisticStrugglesinSouthAsia
RehnumaSazzad(SOAS,London)[email protected]
RehnumaSazzadisaResearchAssociateattheCentreforCultural,LiteraryandPostcolonialStudies(CCLPS)
atSOASandanAssociateFellowattheInstituteofCommonwealthStudiesintheUniversityofLondon.Her
monograph,EdwardSaid'sConceptofExile:IdentityandCulturalMigrationintheMiddleEast,isgoingtobe
published soon. She has published book chapters and articles on contemporary culture in Interventions:
International Journal of Postcolonial Studies, Interdisciplinary Literary Studies and Middle Eastern Studies.
ShewasawardedaPhDinLiteraryandCulturalStudiesfromNottinghamTrentUniversityandanMAfrom
theUniversityofManchester.
MypaperproposestoreflectonsomeofthecomplexitiesofdecolonizationinSouthAsiathrough
examiningtheadoptionofstatelanguagesinIndia,SriLanka,andPakistan.AstheBritishleftthe
sub-continent, Hindi was claimed to have succeeded English as a common language of India.
However,mostofthepeopleinKashmirviewedKoshur,anIndo-Aryanlanguage,astheirnative
language, whereas Kashmiri Muslims remained comfortable with Urdu. Understandably, it was
quitechallengingfortheKashmiristocreateaninstantculturalidentificationwiththerestofIndia.
InSriLankatoo,theimpositionofSinhalaspokenbytheSinhalesemajorityontheminorityTamil
populationledtoagradualdeteriorationoftheirethnicrelations.Thisresultedintoviolentconflicts
thathavecontinuedsincethe1960s,anddevelopedintoaCivilWarinthe1980s,whenaninsurgent
Tamilgroupwantedtoobtainanindependentstatefortheirpeople.Similarly,withinfiveyearsof
theestablishmentofanimplausiblestatecalled,Pakistan,theEasternandtheWesternwingsof
whichweredividedbythevastIndianterritory,thetriumphantfeelingofindependencestartedto
evaporateamongtheBengaliinhabitantsoftheEast;fortheUrdu/Bengalidividealienatedthem
fromthenationbuildingprocess.
Iarguethatthedichotomyoflanguagestrespassedthebordersinpropagatingmarginalizationafter
decolonization. Following Gayatri Spivak’s notion of ‘privileged explanations,’ therefore, I
demonstratehowtheSouthAsiandecolonizationcontainedthehistoricalrootsofconflictsthrough
linguisticpoliciesthatcreatedbinaryoppositionsamongdiverseethnicities. ATTHEMARGINSOFEUROPE:SOCIALANDGEOGRAPHICALDISPLACEMENTS
PostcolonialismandMigrationManagementintheSpanishEnclaveofMelilla,aEuropeanUnion
Periphery
NinaSahraoui(RobertSchumanCentreforAdvancedStudies–EUI)[email protected]
Nina Sahraoui is Research Associate at the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies at the
EuropeanUniversityInstitutefortheERC-fundedprojectEUBorderCareonthepoliticsofmaternity
careamongundocumentedmigrantsontheEU’speripheries.
NinareceivedherPhDatLondonMetropolitanUniversityafterhavingcompletedathree-yearMarie
Curie fellowship. Her doctoral research focused on a gendered political economy analysis of the
articulation of migration, care and employment regimes through the study of migrant workers’
experiencesinold-agecareinLondon,ParisandMadrid.Particularlyinterestedintheuseofvisuals,
Ninaworkedonseveralshortfilmswithresearchparticipants.
Melilla,aSpanishenclaveintheNorthofAfrica,isalongwithCeuta,theotherSpanishenclavein
theregion,theonlyterritorialborderoftheEuropeanUnionwiththeAfricancontinent.Thispaper
analyses how EU, national, and local migration policies are intertwined and how the peripheral
positionofthisterritoryallowsforastateof‘exceptionality’intermsofmigrationmanagement.
SituatedgeographicallybetweenaNorthernMoroccanregion,theRif,whichusedtobepartofthe
Spanish Protectorate during the colonial period and the Mediterranean Sea, Melilla is today a
European Union enclave for migrants on their journey to Europe. The military history of Melilla
shapes to date the social fabric of the autonomous city and impacts its politics. Its geographical
situationoffergovernmentalandlocalauthoritiesincreasedpowerinthemanagementofmigration
flowsinthatmigrantsareinmanywaystrappedintheenclave.ThispaperanalyseshowMelillais
simultaneously at the heart of EU migration management and a periphery in terms of imagined
community,geographyandlegalnorms.
While the triple fence of Ceuta and Melilla make it regularly to international news, migration
managementinthelightofthecity’speripheralandpostcolonialstatusremainunder-researched.
ThispaperprovidesinsightsintothedailypracticeofmigrationmanagementinMelillaasitisbased
onathree-monthsethnographicfieldworkincludingparticipantobservationandsemi-structured
interviewswithlocalandinternationalNGOs,governmentruncentresandlocalauthorities,aswell
asonadiscourseanalysisofthelocalpresswheremigrationrelatednewsarefeaturedeveryday.
PostcolonialBrokerageintheMigrationSector
SaradeJong(TheOpenUniversity)[email protected]
Sara de Jong is a Research Fellow in the Strategic Research Area Citizenship & Governance at the Open
University. Before joining the Open University, Sara de Jong was a Marie Curie Research Fellow at the
Department of Development Studies at the University of Vienna with her research project 'Employing the
CulturalBrokerintheGovernanceofMigrationandIntegration'.Herresearchinterestsincludebrokeragein
post-colonialtimes,migrationanddiversitymanagement,andthepoliticsofNGOs.
Thispaperwilladdresshowbrokerageormediationbetweencommunities,whichhasalonghistory
incolonialandsettlersocieties,playsoutinpost-colonialmigrationregimes.Inparticular,Ilookat
thepositionandroleofstaffmembersinthemigrationsocialsector,whoidentifyashavingthe
samemigratoryand/orethnicbackgroundtotheirso-calledclients;forinstance,acaseworkers
with refugee status who supports asylum seekers. The research is based on interviews in three
countrieswithdifferentcolonialandimperialhistories:theUK,AustriaandtheNetherlands.The
analysisofthiscontemporarycasewillbeinformedbypostcolonialandChicanafeministcritiques
ofthe‘nativeinformant’and‘bridge’aswellasonmoredescriptivehistoricalcasestudiesfrom
ethnohistoryoncolonialgo-betweens.Iwillshowtherelevanceofthesecritiquesalsoforthecase
ofAustria,acountrywhichuntilrecentlyrefusedtoseeitselfasanimmigrantcountryandwhich
untiltodaydisassociatesitselffromothercolonialempires.Thepaperwilldemonstratethatthe
tracesoftheAustrian-HungarianEmpirecanbefound,amongotherplaces,initsmigrationsector
andthewayitunderstandssameness,differenceandboundarycrossing.
ENDOGENOUSBORDERS:ENDURINGCOLONIALLEGACIES
TheBordersofAuthenticity:CantheybeTrespassed?
DanielaVicherat-Mattar(LeidenUniversityCollege)[email protected]
DanielaVicheratMattarisAssistantProfessorofSociologyatLeidenUniversityCollege.Sheconvenesand
teaches courses on diversity, social and political theory, citizenship, gender and the ethics of care. She is
interested in the uses of theory in everyday life and how large socio- political processes, such as
democratization or migration, affect and shape public spaces in contemporary cities in Europe and Latin
America.Herresearchfocusesontheprocessesofbordermaking,intermsofidentitypoliticsandthepolitics
ofbelonging,aswellastheirconcretemanifestationinurbanformslikewallsandmurals.
InthispresentationIwanttotellthestoryofaborderdefinedbyariver,theBío-Bíoriverinsouthern
Chile.IwillusetherivertoillustratewhatIunderstandtobethechallengesofthe“authenticity
border”,namelywhereandwhatconstitutethelineresistingtobetrespassed.InsouthernChile,
theBío-Bíoriverusedtobeavisiblecolonialborder.UntiltheformationoftheChileanstatein1810,
the river clearly divided the territory: to the south of it, it belonged to the Mapuche peoples,
whereastothenorth,itbelongedtotheSpaniardcolonizers.Withtheprocessofindependenceand
thecreationoftheChileanstate,thisvisibleandcontestedborderchangedabruptly.Theterritory
south of the Bío-Bío river became Chilean, as it happen to its mestizo colonizers. In this paper I
wouldliketosuggesthoweverthattheborderdidnotfullydisappearedwiththisbreakingevent.In
fact,thepersistenceoftheMapuchequestionisanillustrationofthis.Theborderwentthrougha
singulargeopolitical,ontologicalandepistemologicaldislocation.Thesetransformationsrequireto
beanalyticallyconsideredinconnectiontoone-another.Buildingonabriefhistoricalaccounton
howtheriverhasactedasacrucialcolonialandpost-colonialborderformorethantwocenturies,
myaimistoreflectaboutthe‘problemofauthenticity’.Theenduringconfrontationbetweenthe
MapuchepeoplesandtheChileanstate,makevisibletheneedtoproblematizethequestionabout
thosebordersthatcan,andthosethatcannot,betrespassed.
China’s (De)colonial Experience: Migration, Social Exclusion, Gentrification and Exploitation of
ResourcesinXinjiang
Chiara Olivieri (University of Granada) - [email protected] / Antonio Ortega Santos (University of Granada) -
[email protected]
Chiara Olivieri is a PhD student working at the University of Granada —Spain—, in the Department of
ContemporaryHistoryandInstituteofMigrationsoftheUGR.PriortobeginningthePhDprogram,Chiara
graduated in Sinologic Studies and Islamic Studies at the University of Granada; she received her Master
degree in Oriental Asian Studies. She is now member of the I+D Project called “Procesos emergentes y
agenciasdelcomún:praxisdelainvestigaciónsocialcolaborativaynuevasformasdesubjetivaciónpolítica”.
She joined several international Congress presenting conferences about her topic of study: “Sino-Muslim
Identities”.
Antonio Ortega Santos is Coordinator of International Network Saberes Instituyentes (Ins-Knows) with
Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, UABCS, Universidad de Querétaro, Universidad Veracruzana,
UNICAUCAandSUNYOldWestburyNewYork.Hisresearchprofilehasbeenfocusingonenvironmentalhistory
andconflictsfornaturalresourceswithspecialapplicationtoLatinAmericanProjects(México,Colombia)and
Asianfieldofinterestfromthisperspective:migrations,environmentalsustainabilityandidentities,dueto
being teaching staff of Master degree in Oriental Asian Studies. He is member of the I+D Project called
“Procesosemergentesyagenciasdelcomún:praxisdelainvestigaciónsocialcolaborativaynuevasformas
desubjetivaciónpolítica”.
SincetheinclusionoftheUyghurAutonomousRegionofXinjianginthePeople'sRepublicofChina
(1949), the Government has acted a number of mechanisms of colonial matrix in the area: our
proposalistogivevoicetoanumberofactors/subjectswhohavebeenrelegated,untilnow,tothe
non-scientific field of "memories" for its anti-nationalist character. The China’s identity diversity
represents an actor we have to dignify, visibilise and we need to give a single voice to it, on an
epistemologicalframework-theEpistemologiesoftheSouthone-tobreaktheacademiccanons
andpublicityimaginaryproposedbytheChineseNation-State,governedbyasystemofcoloniality
ofpower,knowledgeandbeingthatcontinuestobetheresultofadominationprojectofpolitical
andeconomicnature.Fleeingthesocialandenvironmentaldeterminism,likewise,Environmental
Historyoffersusacritiquelookofthesesocio-methabolicrelationshipsbetweennaturalresources
andappropriation,productionandreproductionprocesses(oasisidentities),thathumansocieties
havefeaturedovertime.LookingtowardstheenvironmentalhistoryofChinaputsusonthestage
ofthenecessary"nakedness"ofthisdominantperspective,proceedingtodecoloniseoureyesand
ourresearchproposals.Thus,weanalysethecharacteristicsofthesemechanismsofdominationof
resourcesputupbyChinainXinjiang,andtheconsequentimpactthatthesepolicieshavegenerated
intheindigenouspopulation,territoryandtherelationshipbetweenbothofthem.
WhiteTrashandMizrahiStudies:ReframingPostcolonialAnalysisofMizrahiminIsrael
YaliHashash(TelAvivUniversity)[email protected]
Iamasocialhistorianof19thand20thcenturyPalestine.MyPhDdissertation“ChangingAttitudestowards
thePoorintheSephardiCommunityofJerusalem1841-1880,”(2011)wasconcernedwiththenegotiationsof
womenandthepoorwiththegreatpowersaroundthem:thecommunity,colonialism,andtheEmpire.My
published work combines the approaches prevalent in Sephardi and Mizrahi Studies with questions
ofmodernity,colonialism,andoffersnewwaysofunderstandingtheroleofwomenandthepoorindefining
communal and cultural borders and exchange. I teach in Gender, Middle East History and Jewish History
universitydepartmentsasanadjunctprofessor.
Thispaperaimstocontributetocolonialhistoryandpostcolonialtheoryfromtheperspectiveof
thepoorperipheryofthecolonialpowerbylookingatthecaseofMizrahiminIsrael.
“Mizrahim” refers, for the most part, to the Jews of Islamic and Arab countries living in Israel.
Beginning with Ella Shoat’s groundbreaking work in the 1980’s an extensive body of work has
emerged that is dedicated to deciphering, describing and disputing the power structure within
whichMizrahimwereeconomically,politicallyandculturallymarginalized.Mostofthisresearch
usedOrientalism(ascribibgtoMizrahimthetermArab-JewtochallengeEuropeanZionistdefinition
ofJewishness)orRace(referringtoMizrahimasblacks)asatheoreticalframework.Inthesestudies,
poverty was often considered a byproduct of racial and cultural mechanisms of marginalization.
Zionismwasportrayedasthecolonialpower,whiletheMizrahistrugglewasassignedtheroleof
thepostcolonialradicalunderdogthatwouldsubvertbinarydichotomiesandoppressivestructures.
In this paper I wish to expand and reframe postcolonial theory to include poverty as a colonial
element,ratherthanaside-effectofcolonialracismorOrientalism,offeringtheconstructionofthe
categoryofwhitetrashasacomparativepoint.TracedbacktoBritishcolonialpolicyof“exporting”
whattheysawashumanwastetothenew,leastfertilecoloniesinAmerica,whitetrash,asNancy
Isenberghasrecentlyshown,contestourunderstandingofraceandclass.Beingwhite–partofthe
“rightrace”,andyetverydistinctlydisparagedastrash.IsuggestthatthehistoryofMizrahim,often
consideredassecondgradeJews,isinextricablytiedtocolonialhistoryofpoverty.
QUESTIONINGTHEBORDERSOFGENDERANDSEXUALITY
‘I thought it Would Have Been a Perfect World’. Postcolonial Geographies of Home and
Belonging
AngelicaPesarini(UniversityofLeeds)[email protected]
AngelicaPesariniisPostdoctoralfellowsattheUniversityofLeeds.ShewasawardedaPhDinSociologyin
2015 from the Centre for Interdisciplinary Gender Studies at the University of Leeds. Angelica’s work
investigatesthevisualracialisingpracticeslocatedattheintersectionof‘race’,genderandidentityincolonial
andpostcolonialtimes,withaspecificfocusonItaly.
Inhercurrentresearch,AngelicaexaminesphenomenologicalexperiencesofBlack‘mixedrace’embodiment
livedbytwogenerationsofwomenbornfromaWhiteItalianandaBlackEast-Africanparentintheformer
ItaliancoloniesinEastAfrican(Eritrea,SomaliaandEthiopia).
This paper shows the complexities of identification processes for some mixed race women born
fromaBlackAfricanmotherandaWhiteItalianfatherintheformerItaliancoloniesinEastAfrica,
andwhomigratedtoItalyinthe1970’s.
The analysis of stereotyping practices used during the colonial and fascist regime highlights the
constructionofItalyasa‘racialnation’(SpickardandNandi,2012)whoseidentityseemstobebased
aroundanunspokenideaof‘normativewhiteness’(GiulianiandLombardiDiop2012),inopposition
to an ambivalent African otherness. Within this regime, the visual is intimately connected to
discourses on ‘race’ passing through the reading of visual signs inscribed on the racialised and
genderedbodyofthepostcolonialsubject.
Thereforethispaper,whichdrawsdatafrommyresearch,aimstoinvestigatethenegotiationsand
strategiesenactedbyparticipantsinordertorespondtothenegativepositioningoftheirbody,as
‘dissonant’and‘outofplace’(Puwar,2004;Mahtani,2001),andhowmonolithicconstructionsof
belongingnessandnationalidentitymaybechallenged,contestedandsubverted.Thiscantrigger
newconceptualisationsonalternativeformsofbelongingsshowinghowformationofsubjectivities,
based on discriminatory states, can be turned into tools of resistance capable of challenging
hegemonicstructuresofpower.
Questioning the Third Gender: When Transsexual Natives and Brazilian Travestility Arrive in
Europe
HumairaSaeed(NottinghamTrentUniversity)[email protected]
PhDCandidateinPostcolonialismandGlobalCitizenshipatCentreforSocialStudiesofUniversityofCoimbra
withascholarshipprovidedbyFCTScienceandTechnologyFoundation(Portugal).HoldsaMasterinSociology
ofConsumptionanddegreesinbothSocialSciencesandSocialCommunicationatUniversityofSãoPaulo.She
hasworkedinBrazilianpublic,privateandnon-profitsectorasanactivist,projectmanagerandasaprofessor
infaculties.
Braziliantravestissexworkersareasuigenerisgroupnotaffiliatedtodeterministdiscourseson
westernsex/gendercorrespondencesandrepresentsgenerallyavulnerablegroupsufferingwithan
activeproductionoftheirnon-existenceinsideheteroandhomonormativecontexts,leadingthem
toastrugglefortheirvisibility.
In their struggle to shape their bodies to express femininity as well as living with the supposed
contradiction to keep their genitalia intact, travestis spend their lives moving (out), from their
hometownstolargerbraziliancities,fromBraziltoEurope,whereeachnewplacerepresentsthe
dreamofaperfectbodyandacceptance,ifSãoPauloisHighSchool,EuropeisUniversity,oneof
themsays.
Thedreamofbecominganeuropeiafacesnewformsofviolenceandnewstrategiesofsurviving:
beinganundocumentedimmigrant,astrangelanguage,newworkingrulesandsometimesdebts
duetohumantrafficking.Thisnewcontextshapesnewformofidentitystruggles:beingreadasa
transsexualwoman(notatravesti)andbeinganoversexualizedBrazilianbody.
Considering this, the purpose of the paper is to present Brazilian travestis as a privileged
postcolonial subject, queering postcolonial studies and postcolonizing queer main issues, by
analizingbordersofgender,identities,sexualitiesanddesires.Thepaperisbasedonafieldstudy
withBraziliantravestisheldinBarcelona(Spain)andOporto(Portugal).