Messy Europe links theoretical insights to current discussions of crisis - economic and otherwise - showing how these shape the creation of subjectivities and identities. The chapters theorize "Europe" as a contested and fluid construction, and, by focusing on particular case studies, analyze how specific understandings of self and others occur in the crisis context.

Using the economic crisis as a starting point, Messy Europe offers a critical new look at the issues of race, gender, and national understandings of self and other in contemporary Europe. It highlights and challenges historical associations of Europe with whiteness and modern civilization, and asks how these associations are re-envisioned, re-inscribed, or contested in an era characterized by crises of different kinds. This important collection provides a nuanced exploration of how racialized identities in various European regions are played out in the crisis context, and asks what work "crisis talk" does, considering how it motivates public feelings and shapes bodies, boundaries and communities.