Episode 6: Striving for Whiteness

The Finnish labor market is predominantly white and discrimination based on someone's ethnicity or skin color is not a new phenomenon. Having studied Russian-speaking migrants in Helsinki and Ukrainians in Warsaw, in the last episode of the season researcher Daria Krivonos talks with us about why and how migrants strive for whiteness in their new host country. Racialization and institutional racism are visible not only in the labor market but in several other levels of the society. How is racialization connected the conceptualizations of Europeanness and the division between East and West? What is racial capitalism and how does it operate?

Listen to the episode on: Spotify, Breaker, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Pocket Casts and Radio Public.

References in the episode:

Syed Hussein Atalas - The Myth of the Lazy Native / 1977, Routledge
Akhlaq Ahmad - Do Equal Qualifications Yield Equal Rewards for Immigrants in the Labour Market? / 2020
Larry Wolff - Inventing Eastern Europe / 1994
Beverly Skeggs - Class, Self, Culture / 2004

Contributors:

Daria Krivonos

Dr. Daria Krivonos is a post-doctoral researcher in subproject 3, Migration and the narratives of Europe as an "Area of freedom, security and justice". She is a sociologist specializing in migration, labour, racialization and critical race and whiteness. Her PhD thesis has examined young Russian-speakers’ quest for Europeanness through migration to Helsinki.

Bea Bergholm

Bea Bergholm is the host of the podcast. She has a Master's Degree in Social Sciences (social and cultural anthropology) and works as a project planner at the Centre of Excellence in Law, Identity and the European Narratives. She is interested in human rights issues, environmental justice and sustainable development.

Paolo Amorosa

Dr. Paolo Amorosa the host of the EuroStorie podcast. He is a post-doctoral researcher in subproject 1, Law and the Uses of the Past. He has a background in international law, law and religion, and legal theory. His research deals primarily with the history of international law and human rights in the twentieth century.

Credits:

Episode no: 6
Release date: 26 November 2020
Recording: ArtLab Helsinki
Audio elements: Antonio Lopez Garcia
Banner photo: Unsplash/Jakob Braun
Text: Bea Bergholm
Banner: Tuomas Heikkilä