Seminar Of The Institute Of Ethnology 4. 5. 2023

SEMINÁŘ ETNOLOGICKÉHO ÚSTAVU AV ČR /  SEMINAR OF THE INSTITUTE OF ETHNOLOGY CAS

4. 5. 2023

Stephanie Rudwick: The Costs of Otherness: Afroczech Belongings

Abstract: The increasing presence of African diasporic people in Europe and their identity politics have given rise to a proliferation of studies, albeit with the exception of central eastern Europe. This research broadly aims to expand on and advance the growing body of this decolonial scholarship by addressing lived experiences, racialisation processes and struggles to belong among Afropeans in the Czech Republic. With the distinctive focus on individuals who self-identify as Afroczech, this paper examines how race as a socially constructed category of human belonging and as a conceptual tool allows for the analysis and interpretation of lived Othering experiences, raciolinguistic profiling, and ‘real’ power dynamics. Based on a multi-sited and semi-ethnographic approach, this paper shows the ambiguous, multi-layered, and fluid nature of race by also providing insights into the limits of language against ideologies of race and colourism. It carves out specific conditions which concretize how race, hegemonic whiteness, and essentialist cultural identity ideologies co-construct each other and shows the ways in which this ultimately translates into complex and complicated identity politics.

Discussant: Dr. Margaret Ohia-Nowak, Marie Curie-Sklodowska University in Lublin

čtvrtek / Thursday 4. 5. 2023, 14:00 CET

zasedací místnost Etnologického ústavu AV ČR / Meeting room of the IE CAS

Na Florenci 3, Praha 1

5. patro / 5th floor

ONLINE MS Teams: ZDE/HERE

Pdf here