An (Un)Marked Foreigner

This essay negotiates the critical tension between race as an analytic and social construct by examining how becomes socialized in through production presentation of Arab culture two ethnographic case studies: Syrian musicians negotiate musical multiculturalism they integrate into German society independent Egypt navigate racialized entanglements national international security logics that privilege Western foreigners. Both these studies center “foreigner” subject one who embodies proximity to white power delimits boundaries such power. We argue category foreigner is thus a not only complicates Black–white binary relations but strategically evades explicit discourses practices racecraft are violent, discriminatory, exclusionary. By provincializing theory particularities lived experience, we illustrate local categories entangled with historic legacies empire contemporary global difference while remaining sensitive conceptions exceed Euro-American race. Our work therefore directs attention towards alternative enactments racialization within Global South.