Paper short abstract:

This article examines how whiteness theory can be used to treat whiteness not as a biological category but as a social construct; it also investigates how the modern Chinese conception of beauty explicitly excludes blackness and browness.

Paper long abstract:

This article examines how whiteness theory can be used to treat whiteness not as a biological category but as a social construct; it also investigates how the modern Chinese conception of beauty explicitlyexcludes blackness and browness. Clear skin color serves as a social marker or as an identification marker in China. In other words, having delicate white skin leads to perceptions of belonging to a higher social status because it means one has not been exposed to the hard manuallabor under the sun. White skin is considered beautiful; the darker the skin, the more it is considered unattractive.

The depigmentation of the skin has become a social phenomenon among women in China as well as in Africa. The criteria of feminine beauty - clarity (in Africa) and whiteness in China - are synonymous with beauty and class distinction among the female population. This paper will examines how whiteness and blackness is constructed in habits, discourse, practices and mass media in China. Some of the questions guiding the research are as follows :

How do representations of whiteness and blackness in modern China help us to further the academicdebate on whitenesstheory?

Does whiteness as a cultural and social construct impact on social privilege in china (i.e. jobs, education, accomodation, acceptance)? Is there evidence of 'white privelege' among Chinese ? Is there evidence of 'white privelege' among expatriates ?

What are the common stereotypes associated with whiteness and blackness in China among the Chinese community ? Among the expatriate community ? How are these stereotypes reinforced ?

Paper short abstract:

Whiteness retains a potent symbolism around the world, including in places without significant white populations. My research in Lagos, Nigeria seeks to explore African perspectives on whiteness that have been largely unexamined, but which inform the lived experience of many millions of people.

Paper long abstract:

This paper aims to open up and explore questions of race in the context of Africa. My specific interest is whiteness, how it is made and what it means in Lagos, Nigeria. That whiteness should flex and morph with its geographical, historical and social contexts is well established. Yet analysis of how those not considered 'white' perceive, and co-constitute, whiteness is rare. Compared to the immense and diverse academic literatures devoted to documenting other peoples, consideration of how non-Western non-whites understand their Others is even rarer. The main contention of this paper is that the Anglophone academy will benefit from considering African spaces and incorporating African perspectives into analyses of race and whiteness.

This is particularly important in view of the fact that across the globe there are a multiplicity of terms that can be roughly translated as 'white person', often with powerfully evocative local meanings. In the Yorùbá language, widely spoken in south-western Nigeria, parts of the Republic of Benin and across a global diaspora, this word is òyìnbó (also òyìbó). Usually translated as 'white person' or 'European', the usage of òyìnbó is in fact far more subtle, incorporating a wide spectrum of difference.

I take these imperfections in the translation of òyìnbó as a starting point, and suggest that the term might be a useful way to explore localised understandings of whiteness in Lagos on their own terms.

Paper short abstract:

This paper analyses how the professional and social activities of Europeans and North Americans living in Senegal reveal local conceptions of their whiteness, despite different backgrounds and skin colors. How does it shape their everyday life and contemporary "senegality" and "africaness"?

Paper long abstract:

As a tourist destination in Sub-Saharan Africa, Senegal has attracted European migrations on its seashores for a very long time, as well as it has shaped different types of professional expatriation before and after its Independence for European and more recently for North American citizens. These foreign residents in Senegal come mainly from France, Belgium, Switzerland, Spain, Germany, Italy and the United States. They invest in restaurants, small hotels, holiday renting, travel agencies, or they work in international aid, multinational companies, institutional cooperation and elite private schools in Dakar. The minimum documentation they need to circulate is part of their privileges in North-South migrations.

Based on an anthropological fieldwork, this paper analyses how the activities and social practices of Europeans and North Americans living and working in Senegal reveal local perceptions of their whiteness, despite different backgrounds, skin colors and sociological profiles. How does the articulation of class and race shape their everyday life ?

Whiteness is a concept used in social sciences as an "unmarked marker" within Western societies. But the data collected demonstrate its visibility in an African postcolonial country, by producing racialized confrontation and/or social distinction. This paper will explore whether these foreign residents can negotiate this whiteness reinforced by their standards of living and how they cope with tensions, misunderstanding and disillusionment with Senegalese neighbors, acquaintances, colleagues and employees. The paper will also question their contribution to this local perception of their whiteness and how it also reveals contemporary definitions of "senegality" and "africaness".