Constructions of whiteness

Latvian women workers in post-war britain

Bibliographic Data

ID11264911
AuthorsL Mcdowell (0000-0001-7888-0886, Russian State Agrarian Correspondence University, corresponding author)
Year2007
Volume38
Issue1
Pages85-107
Publication date2007-03-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Baltic Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0162-9778 • E-ISSN: 1751-7877
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/01629770701223593
OpenAlexW1993563123
LanguageEN
Citations received10
References cited38

This article examines the ways in which Latvian women recruited by Britain as ‘volunteer’ workers in 1946 were constructed by the state as superior to other female economic migrants entering the United Kingdom at the same time. It draws on the notion of the ‘wages of whiteness’ to show how the British state defined Latvians as superior to Caribbean women but also argues that whiteness itself is a multiple construct as Irish and Latvian women–both white–found themselves differentially positioned in the gender and ethnic division of labor developing in post-war Britain. Based on interviews with 25 now elderly Latvian women, the article adds personal testimonies to Paul's (Paul, K. (1997 Paul, K. 1997. Whitewashing Britain: Race and Citizenship in the Postwar Era, Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar]) Whitewashing Britain: Race and Citizenship in the Postwar Era (Ithaca, New York, Cornell University Press)) arguments about the significance of skin color vis-à-vis citizenship in post-war British immigration policy

Citizenship · Ethnic group · Immigration · Irish · Latvian · Political science · Politics · Race (biology · Sociology · State (computer science · White (mutation · World War II · Australian History and Society · Gender Studies · Law · Political and Economic history of UK and US · Race, History, and American Society