White migrations: Gender, Whiteness and Privilege in Transnational migration

Abstract

The migrant is often thought of as a non-westerner in search for a better future in Europe or the United States. From a multi-sited ethnography with Swedish migrant women in the US, Singapore and Spain, this project explores the intersections of racial and class privilege and gender vulnerabilities in contemporary feminized migration from or within the West. Through an analysis of white migration, I develop theoretical tools to understand the dynamics that shape the women?s lives as wealthy housewives, expatriate wives and lifestyle migrants. Using the concept of white capital, I approach whiteness as an embodied form of cultural capital that is interlinked with and upheld by (transnational) institutions, citizenships, a white (Western) habitus and other resources that are transferrable (but mediated differently) cross-nationally, yet complicated by gendered and heterosexual norms, and its dependencies and regulations. By shifting the gaze towards privileged migrants, I illustrate how race and whiteness shape contemporary transnational migration and how white privilege is reproduced globally.

Keywords

Gender, Migration, Transnational, Whiteness, White capital

Publications

Lundström, Catrin (2019) Creating ‘International Communities’ in Southern Spain: Self-segregation and ‘Institutional Whiteness’ in Swedish Lifestyle Migration,European Journal of Cultural Studies, 22(5-6): 799-816.

Lundström, Catrin (2017) Embodying exoticism: Gendered Nuances of Hyper-Whiteness in the US. Scandinavian Studies, 89(2): 179-199

Lundström, Catrin (2014) White migrations: Gender, Whiteness and Privilege in Transnational Migration. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

Lundström, Catrin (2013) ?Introduction: Researching ?transnational? women. In Special Issue on Gender, Culture and Work in Global cities: Researching ‘Transnational’ women. A co-edited special issue, eds. Cynthia Joseph and Catrin Lundström, Women?s Studies International Forum, 36(1): 1-4.

Lundström, Catrin (2013) ?Mistresses? and ?maids? in transnational ?contact zones?: Expatriate wives and the intersection of difference and intimacy in Swedish domestic spaces in Singapore. In Special Issue on Gender, Culture and Work in Global cities: Researching ‘Transnational’ women. A co-edited special issue, eds. Cynthia Joseph and Catrin Lu

Lundström, Catrin och France Winddance Twine (2011) White migrations. Swedish women, racial privileges and gender vulnerabilities. The European Journal of Women?s Studies. Vol 18(1): 67-86.

Lundström, Catrin (2010). White Ethnography. (Un)comfortable Conveniences and Shared Privileges in Fieldwork with Swedish Migrant Women. NORA, Nordic Journal of Feminist and Gender Research. Vol 18(2): 70-86.

Lundström, Catrin (2010) Transnationell vithet: Svenska migrantkvinnor i USA och Singapore. TGV. Tidskrift för genusvetenskap. Tema: Vithet, nr. 1-2: 23-45.

Lundström, Catrin (2010) Women with Class. Swedish migrant women?s class positions in the USA. Journal of Intercultural Studies. Special Issue: Women, Intersectionality and Diaspora. Vol 31(1): 49-63.