The linguistic production of the ‘Figure of the Refugee’ in Swiss Media and Public Discourse in 2021-2022

• In Event: Roundtable Session 4
  In Refereed Roundtable Session: Youth and civics education as a discourse on democratic thinking

Proposal

Two waves of "refugee crisis", first among refugees fleeing from conflicts in the Middle East (e.g., Syrian nationals) who experienced dramatic forced migration as a consequence of the Arab Spring 2011, arriving in Europe in the years 2015-2016, and more recently Afghan, Ukrainian and Russian nationals in 2021-2023, have been experienced in Swiss society and documented and described in Swiss Media. Reporting on Refugees in Switzerland has not received much attention in research to date. Therefore, this study makes an important contribution to how inequalities are (re)-produced in the media through the figure of the "good" refugee. In an attempt to understand how forms of "otherness" of refugees are discursively constructed, and to highlight discrepancies, the discourse in selected print media about Afghan, Ukrainian, and Russian refugees, in particular the linguistic production of the “figure refugee" is analysed from 1, August 2021 to 30, October 2022. The different portrayal of refugees has social consequences and can have ideological effects and influence social attitudes and actions towards refugees. Critical discourse analysis, as the practical application of intercultural competence and of media literacy (Naeg, Bozdağ, and Leurs, 2021; Zhukova and Perizat, 2015), promotes critical thinking skills, challenges power dynamics, and can foster cultural sensitivity and inclusivity in addressing broader societal issues, in this case, related to migration and displacement. The study demonstrates that Eurocentric media content can socially construct certain Eurocentric realities that contribute to the discrimination of particular refugee groups.

Author

• Marion Imboden, University of Fribourg