‘No one puts their children in a boat unless the water is safer than the land’: Exploring the refugee identity through media and narrative discourses

Postgraduate Thesis uoadl:2874957 465 Read counter

Unit:
Κατεύθυνση Γλωσσολογία: θεωρία και εφαρμογές
Library of the School of Philosophy
Deposit date:
2019-05-23
Year:
2019
Author:
Xifara Agathi
Supervisors info:
Αγγελική Τζάννε, Αναπληρώτρια Καθηγήτρια, Τμήμα Αγγλικής Γλώσσας και Φιλολογίας, ΕΚΠΑ
Ουρανία Χατζηδάκη, Επίκουρη Καθηγήτρια, Τµήµα Αεροπορικών Επιστηµών, Σχολή Ικάρων
Μαρία Σηφιανού, Καθηγήτρια, Τμήμα Αγγλικής Γλώσσας και Φιλολογίας, ΕΚΠΑ
Original Title:
‘No one puts their children in a boat unless the water is safer than the land’: Exploring the refugee identity through media and narrative discourses
Languages:
English
Greek
Translated title:
‘No one puts their children in a boat unless the water is safer than the land’: Exploring the refugee identity through media and narrative discourses
Summary:
The present study was motivated by a personal interest in the global issue of the
current refugee crisis, as well as by Hatoss’s (2012: 66) study, which stressed the need
for further research in order to explore how ethnic groups (in our case, refugees)
position themselves and are positioned by others in their host countries. A
comparative study between Greek newspaper articles and refugees’ personal
narratives was conducted with the aid of CDA, in order to explore how the refugee
identity was represented in each medium. A selection of literature was collected,
regarding identity, previous research concerning refugees, media discourse and
narratives. The data were analysed in terms of semantic fields, and grammatical
categorisation, while figurative language, and transitivity, with particular reference to
agency were also examined. There were no crucial differences in dealing with the
refugee crisis between the two Greek politically opposed newspapers that were
chosen, as they employed a similar humanitarian and sympathetic attitude. However,
given the fact that two different genres were under scrutiny, i.e. newspaper discourse
and narratives, inevitably there were certain differences. For example, the passive
voice and refugees’ portrayal as objects of verbs were mainly used in newspaper data,
whereas they were positioned as active agents in narratives, by talking in first person
to describe their own views and personal experiences. The originality of this study lies
in its focus on examining texts in the Greek language which are aimed for the Greek
audience, as our aim is to see how ideologies are affected and shaped in society.
Finally, the present study provides a new perspective on the representation of refugees
in discourse, which could also function as motivation for further research concerning
the way certain discourses affect and shape ideologies in societies.
Main subject category:
Language – Literature
Keywords:
refugee identity, CDA, media discourse, narratives, refugee crisis
Index:
Yes
Number of index pages:
1
Contains images:
Yes
Number of references:
62
Number of pages:
61
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