Europeanness in not something that simply is, but rather something to be done. In this paper I explore the conflation of whiteness and Europeanness in the particular kind of 'aesthetic self-improvement' literally called by Elizabeth Wissinger (2015) the 'European glamour labour'.
Paper long abstract:
How is the idea of Europeanness embodied through imaginaries, projects or practices of beauty? Taking this idea of "beauty under construction", in this paper I enquire into the "making up" of Europeanness, through stylization, cosmetic alteration and biomedical practices. Following postcolonial, queer-feminist, and race-critical perspectives, I observe how the intersecting categories of race, class, and gender operate in relation to hegemonic beauty standards, racializing 'European but not-European-enough' bodies, and hierarchizing the 'new' and or 'peripheral' populations within Europe. These imaginaries - that continues to shape European everyday realities - are based on a silent but powerful discourse on European cultural hierarchies that conflates essentialised national representations with lifestyles, class, sexuality, beauty ideals, and skin color.