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.