Off White

Reviews / Votes

'With Off white no one can any longer doubt that race and racism are central features of Central and East European societies and their histories. Researchers and teachers of the modern state across the region now have an authoritative and compelling resource to address these questions. This is a significant contribution both to racial and East European studies.'
David Theo Goldberg, Distinguished Professor, University of California, Irvine

'Struggling to break free from the tenets of outdated area studies, Off White is an ambitious and timely collective endeavour showcasing a wide spectrum of historical and current perspectives on race and whiteness in Central and Eastern Europe. Using rich and detailed case studies, the authors zoom in on the complex and contradictory regional racial dynamics. This collection is an important milestone in critical race studies, as well as in the historiography of Central and Eastern Europe. A volume to be celebrated.'
Madina Tlostanova, Professor of Postcolonial Feminisms, Linkoeping University, Sweden, author of What Does It Mean to Be Post-Soviet?

'This exciting and sophisticated collection fundamentally challenges the tendency of the study of whiteness in the United States to regard racial identity and hatred as being learned by immigrants after their arrival. It describes a varied and troubling history of whiteness prior to and then parallel to racial learning in the United States. The chapters show how deeply claims to whiteness mattered in the past of central and eastern Europe, underwriting anti-Jewish and anti-Roma policies, mixing race and class, and giving elites a way to envision belonging in Europe. Off white is a revelation and a delight on many different levels.'
David Roediger teaches American studies at University of Kansas. His books include Working Toward Whiteness: How America's Immigrants Became White

'Contributing to this recent interdisciplinary debate, "Off White" can be rightly regarded a milestone on the way to locating Central and Eastern Europe in a global history of 'race'. The volume is based on the conference "Historicizing 'Whiteness' in Eastern Europe and Russia", which took place in Bucharest in 2019, and brings together an impressive number of authors who have all been working for years on the relevance of racial logics and practices in Eastern Europe. With a weighty introduction by the editors and a total of 16 case studies, the volume is so extensive that the contributions cannot all be mentioned separately in this review. Nevertheless, they are all warmly recommended reading.'
H/Soz/Kult

'Blending history, sociology, visual culture studies and media analysis, the book offers multidimensional analysis by bringing together different methodological approaches to the study of whiteness, race and racialisation in Central and Eastern Europe, showing how the region is intertwined with both historical and contemporary global racial orders. The book provides a great theoretical depth and empirical richness to the intersection of European studies, race theory and international relations. Analysing Central and Eastern Europe's relationship with whiteness and racialisation in both historical and contemporary contexts, this study is a valuable source of reference not only for academics, but also for policy makers and activists.'
Ramiz Abbaszada, Journal of Contemporary European Studies

'The volume demonstrates how deeply whiteness and race have been and continue to be present in the region, and how - just like in other parts of the world - they have influenced scholarship on East-Central Europe. Even though the region is often granted a narrative of complete innocence, it has not remained untouched by globally racialized thinking. This anthology is of interest not only to researchers in Eastern and East-Central European studies but also embeds the region within the broader discourse of critical race theory. It is therefore recommended to anyone engaged with questions of racism and global power structures.'
Anastasiia Marsheva, Journal of East Central European Studies -- .