Going ‘global,’ (re)locating privilege: a journey into the borders of whiteness, foreignness, and performativity

Abstract

In this article I draw on my personal experience of partially forced repositioning as a way to advance our understanding of the theoretical and practical contours of whiteness, foreignness, and performativity. In particular, I consider how specific aspects of our identities can get strategically redefined depending on the context where they operate, thus placing the transposed body at a constant risk of being excluded from certain privileges. I also bring foreignness to light as an organizing principle that (re)creates places for belonging and marginalization as it interacts with other dimensions of identity. From here, I propose to emphasize the incontrollable aspects of experience and thus expose the strategic attempts to protect privilege and also, and maybe more importantly, the limitations of such strategies. At a broader level, with this contribution I hope to turn a self-reflexive eye on the politics of language and/as method, and how different assumptions and expectations for particular kinds of writing styles may affect the possibilities for those whose first language is not English to make our voices heard.