“CIRCASSIAN BEAUTY:” AT THE INTERSECTION OF THE SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION OF WHITENESS, SEXISM, AND ORIENTALISM

White people are referred to as “Caucasian” in the U.S., even though the classification dates back to an arbitrary and white supremacist categorization of humans into five distinct races, which posits Caucasian as the most “superior.” Circassians are one of the native peoples of the Caucasus region. Their women are renowned for constituting the highest standard of ideal beauty, perpetuating the white supremacist idea that whiteness is a prerequisite for beauty. In this talk, SRJC sociology instructor Dr. Solen Sanli Vasquez will draw on her personal history as a Circassian woman to show how the Circassian case lies at the intersections of the social construction of whiteness, the assumption of white supremacy, sexism, and Orientalism.