Consumption, everyday racism and everyday resistance
2020-2022
In January 2019, the company Gucci had to withdraw a shirt from the market after accusations that it resembled a blackface In 2018, H&M withdrew a hoodie picturing a black child with the text “Coolest monkey in the jungle,” after massive international and national anti-racist critique. These are only a few of many events in the juncture between consumption and antiracism that in the last years have been at the core of public debate and political mobilization in Sweden. Research shows that consumption is an everyday practice, fundamentally shaping individual and collective identities. Consumers are also becoming central political actors. In Sweden, however, there is limited scientific research on experiences of everyday racism while consuming both at the level of the individual experience and at the level of the diverse forms of collective and individual consumer mobilization.
The aim of this project is to explore experiences of everyday racism as a consumer and while consuming. The aim is also to explore the forms of individual strategies and collective mobilizations that are emerging in the juncture between racism and consumption. The project is operated through a qualitative study, working with diverse methods that grasp both individual and collective experiences. The research project is one of the first studies on this topic and will provide both relevant empirical knowledge and theoretical development in the field of racial injustice in Sweden.
Financing body: The Swedish Research Council (Vetenskapsrådet)
Project leader: Paula Mulinari, Department of Social Work, Malmö University. Participant: Johanna Sixtensson, Department of Social Work, Malmö University.
