SEXTANT: masculinities, sexualities & decolonialities

ABSTRACT

This article looks at how racial hierarchies manifest in material ways through the operation of housing segregation in Sao Paulo. Whiteness is central to the analysis of race hierarchies and this article discusses the migrations of white migrants to the city of Sao Paulo. An overview of Sao Paulo’s complex racial politics drawing on social, historical and political discussions on race allows for an in-depth understanding of the geopolitical location on which this article is based. White migration and privilege are at the core of this inquiry. The critical lens is directed toward white migrants and the relation between racial privilege and the migratory experience. Provoking a discussion about white racialised identities and their movements and locations in complex racially structured societies, this article problematises our normative understandings of migration as a phenomenon which is typically reserved for bodies of colour. A disruption of normative conceptions and imaginings of migrants focuses on the white gaze, which sees oppression more readily than privilege. Amalgamating a combination of qualitative research methods including participant observation, photovoice and narrative interviews, this article draws from visual and aural data.

KEY WOrDS

whiteness; white privilege; racialised hierarchies; Sao Paulo; segregation; photovoice

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