Bordering on whiteness: Exploring the racialised subjectivities of Italian women in post-Brexit London

Situated in the field of critical whiteness studies, and taking a 'third wave' perspective which seeks to expose the multiplicities of whiteness and white identities, this research project will investigate the changing processes of racialisation as experienced by Italian women in London in light of the ongoing socio-political fallout of Brexit. This project will focus on the ways 'old' (post-World War 2 to late 70s) and 'new' (post-2007/8 financial crisis) generations of Italian women construct, utilise and perform whiteness in different cultural/communal social spaces. The 'Othering' of white European heritage peoples through the anti-immigration/-EU rhetoric which has come to define the current socio-political climate, will serve as the context in which the psychosocial dynamics of the ways Italian women negotiate 'becoming' (racialised) migrants is understood. The project will address significant gaps in the literature on white racialised subjectivities by focusing on the relative 'invisibility' of South-North migrants in public and academic discourse which, thus far, has been overlooked in favour of a focus on East-West migrants. Furthermore, this project aims to contribute new perspectives on studying white racialised subjectivities by taking a reflexive approach which engages with my positionality as a researcher of colour, and highlights the ways the social power of whiteness is both challenged and (re)produced in an explicitly racialised research encounter.