Naslov
“Hunting migrants” – the discursive construction of migrants in the Croatian media

Autori
Popović, Helena ; Kardov, Kruno ; Župarić-Iljić, Drago

Vrsta, podvrsta i kategorija rada
Sažeci sa skupova, sažetak, znanstveni

Izvornik
ESA RN18 Mid-Term Conference: Book of Abstracts / - , 2022, 51-51

Skup
ESA RN18 Mid-Term Conference "COMMUNICATION, CAPITALISM AND CRITIQUE: CRITICAL MEDIA SOCIOLOGY IN THE 21ST CENTURY"

Mjesto i datum
Torino, Italija, 01.09.2022. - 03.09.2023

Vrsta sudjelovanja
Predavanje

Vrsta recenzije
Međunarodna recenzija

Ključne riječi
migrants ; refugees ; asylum ; media ; Croatia

Sažetak
The paper focuses on discourses and representations of migrants in the media. It is extended upon a theme analysis of dominant news portals in Croatia, conducted by using a data base of 3044 articles in a two-year period (2018-2019). The media articles included in the data base were identified according to key concepts: migrants/refugees/asylum seekers. They mainly referred to migrations that occurred as a result of the war in Syria but also included migrations from other Middle Eastern countries. The theme analysis showed that migrants were primarily linked to the theme security: security of borders, territory and people. In addition, the representation of “migrants” considerably differed from the ways “refuges” were discursively constructed: while “refugees” were depicted as victims in need, “migrants” were demonized and continuously depicted as perpetrators, invading the state territory, creating “problems” for the repressive institutions but also the local people. In this paper we use discourse analysis and focus on the representation of migrants as a specific category. We situate these representations within the broader frame of racist ideologies “curved out” in the media as a place where ideas and ideologies about race are articulated, transformed and elaborated (Hall, 2003) We aim to identify the language used in the discursive constructions of migrants as a threat, directing our attention to ways in which language was used to create distinctions between “us” and “them”. In the analysis, we particularly focus on Stuart Halls (2003) concepts of “overt racism” in which open coverage is given to positions that are openly racist, and “inferential racism” by which representations are naturalised and appears as a set of unquestioned assumptions. The results of the analysis are situated in a broader theoretical perspective following Etienne Balibar (1991) and the ways in which neo-racism as an ideological formation is expressed. Ways of mapping neo-racism includes the use of cultural differences as substituted to biological ones, in which groups are not viewed as superior/inferior but as incompatible in terms of traditions and ways of life. The preliminary findings suggest that both cultural and biological racism are identifiable in the media representations, and we will outline the discursive practices involved. While cultural racism is identified through the claim that they are “just culturally different”, biological racism is identified in the way in which, in order to discursively create hierarchies of superiority and inferiority, migrants are dehumanized, by using analogies to the animal world and transforming them to “hunting material”.

Izvorni jezik
Engleski

Znanstvena područja
Politologija, Sociologija, Interdisciplinarne društvene znanosti

POVEZANOST RADA