‘Swissness Abroad’: Whiteness and the Boundaries of Belonging

Author(s) : Angela Sanders

Source : https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-94247-6_14

Abstract:

“The article links Swiss migration to questions of ‘race’ and ‘whiteness’ and shows how Swiss immigrants in Lima benefitted from the legacy of a colonial logic in post-World War II Peru. It problematises Switzerland’s economic and ideological interests, which influenced the representation of Swiss migration as ‘exceptional’. I argue that up to the present day the celebration of ‘Swissness abroad’ along with the construction of ‘Swiss whiteness’ form the basis on which Swiss actors imagine themselves as ‘superior’ while upholding imagined differences with ‘creolised’ Swiss nationals.”