Racial capitalism and the production of difference in Helsinki and Warsaw

Abstract

Drawing on fieldwork among young among post-Soviet migrants in Helsinki (2014–2016) and Warsaw (2020), the article seeks an answer to the following question: what kind of work does racialisation of Eastern European migrant workers accomplish? The paper analyses young post-Soviet migrants’ position within the structures of racial capitalism in Europe, thus, shifting the focus from race as located in the body towards racialised positionings within the hierarchies of labour. I argue that following the analytical terms of racial capitalism and racial triangulation is a helpful way for thinking about the ways subjects racialised as ‘Eastern European’ are brought into the service of the capitalist order as located at a distance from both Blackness and hegemonic whiteness. In this article, I analyse the production and management of racial difference within whiteness and Europe itself for the purposes of economic exploitation. By bringing attention to the ‘peripheralised’ locations of the EU, the article highlights the workings of racialisation in the locations that tend to escape race critical analysis.