Variegated privileges of whiteness: lived experiences of Polish nurses in Norway

The recent eastward enlargement of the European Union in 2004 and in 2007 has increased the cultural diversity within the borders of the union, and these expansions have spurred a rethinking about who belongs in Europe and how this belonging is defined. This study examines the ambivalent and partial incorporation of Polish nurses into the Norwegian nation. The analysis is based on in-depth, semi-structured interviews and participant observation during twelve months of fieldwork research in Oslo and Bærum and three months in Warsaw, as well as an analysis of Norwegian migration policies, statistics, and nurse recruitment documents. This article argues that whiteness studies, whose history is based in the USA and Britain, needs to take more thorough and specific account of the national and ethnic specificities on which its general claims have been based. The findings suggest that notions of variegated whiteness can be a valuable tool to investigate differential inclusion into the nation, and that Europeanness and Norwegianness are constructed in complex, shifting forms in relation to changing notions of whiteness. In addition, the partial inclusion of certain migrants more fully excludes migrants of color who are not able to benefit from white privilege.