European Journal of Cultural Studies 1–17 © The Author(s) 2015 Reprints and permissions: sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav DOI: 10.1177/1367549415592896 ecs.sagepub.com EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF The unstated politics of stranger making in Europe: A brutal kindness Michelle Nicolson University of Oulu, Finland Vanessa de Oliveira Andreotti University of British Columbia, Canada; University of Oulu, Finland Boby Fortune Mafi University of Oulu, Finland Abstract Drawing on the works of Ahmed, Balibar and Appadurai, this article explores the complex dynamics of stranger making in Europe, with particular focus on the status of immigrants who are marked by systemic racialization. The article offers brief analyses of a series of ‘critical incidents’ to illustrate contemporary enactments of stranger making politics in order to examine how theorizations of race and racialization may be shifting in European contexts. It argues that specific notions of nationalism and national identity are being re-configured in the current neoliberal climate of European Union austerity and civil unrest to reify a national ‘us’ against those who must be made ‘stranger’. Keywords Cultural superiority, exceptionalism, nationalism, race, stranger making Corresponding author: Michelle Nicolson, Faculty of Education, University of Oulu, P.O. Box 2000, Yliopistokatu 9, Oulu, FI-90014, Finland. Email: michelle.nicolson@oulu.fi 592896ECS 0 0 10.1177/1367549415592896European Journal of Cultural StudiesNicolson et al. research-article 2015 Article at UNICAMP /BIBLIOTECA CENTRAL on September 30, 2015 ecs.sagepub.com Downloaded from