Bringing the Virus Back Home: Media Representations of Ukrainian Labour Migrants in a Time of Pandemic

Abstract

In a globalized world where mobility and movement is at its essence, the movement of viruses paradoxically causes a preoccupation with boundaries, containment, and control over borders, and thus keeping the “dangerous” outside separated from the “safe” inside. Through a qualitative thematic and frame analysis of news articles published on 12 Ukrainian news sites, I found that Ukrainian labour migrants conceptually constitute a challenge to such a clear-cut spatial organization in a time of a pandemic. Labour migrants are part of the national “we,” but their presence in the dangerous outside excludes them from the “imagined immunity.” This ambiguity is evident in the way labour migrants were portrayed during the first months of the outbreak in Ukraine. Initially, Ukrainian labour migrants were depicted as a potential danger, and then blamed for bringing the virus back home. However, the framing of the labour migrants as a danger is only part of the story, and the image of a scapegoat was eventually replaced with images of an economic resource and a victim. Thus, Ukrainian labour migrants have been the object of vilification, heroization, as well as empathy during the various phases of the outbreak. I would argue that these shifting frames are connected to the ambiguous conceptualization of Ukrainian labour migrants in general.

Representaciones de la migración durante la crisis sociosanitaria: Análisis lexicométrico de medios digitales chilenos

“…En este contexto, se representó a las personas migrantes como amenaza, relacionándolas con problemas económicos, de salud pública y de inseguridad (Méndez-Fierro y Reyes-Piñuelas, 2022). Además, junto con las representaciones de la migración como portadora de un peligro, convivió aquella de éstas como recurso económico y como víctima (Tymczuk, 2022). Así, como sucede en otros contextos de crisis (Chouliaraki y Stolic, 2017), se dejaba entrever la emergencia de significados disímiles y contrapuestos.…”

“…En relación con esto, y analizando la representación de migrantes laborales ucranianos en medios ucranianos, Tymczuk (2022) hace una interesante propuesta señalando que, durante la pandemia, migrantes laborales que retornaban a sus países no se les excluía de la comunidad imaginada. No obstante, se construiría otro tipo de otredad en relación con una supuesta "inmunidad imaginada" (Tymczuk, 2022). Estas construcciones evidencian que movilidad e inmovilidad, migrantes internacionales y connacionales, pueden situarse de diferentes maneras en discursos marcados por la otredad.…”

“…Este artículo presenta distintas líneas discursivas y representaciones de la migración, aparecidas durante la pandemia del COVID-19 en tres medios digitales chilenos. Estudios a nivel nacional e internacional han mostrado cómo durante la crisis sanitaria primó una asociación tendenciosa entre migración y pandemia (Póo, 2020), donde prevalecía una representación de la migración como amenaza (Méndez-Fierros y Reyes-Piñuelas, 2022; Vincze y Balaban, 2022), con giros hacia discursos que, por ejemplo, presentaban a las personas migrantes como recurso económico o víctimas (Gaete-Quezada, 2021;Vincze y Balaban, 2022;Tymczuk, 2022). En estas representaciones predominaron discursos de autoridades políticas y sanitarias, mientras que las perspectivas de las personas migrantes tendieron a silenciarse (Méndez-Fierro y Reyes-Piñuelas, 2022; Vincze y Balaban, 2022).…”

Excepcionalidad agrícola, trabajadores agrícolas migrantes y la pandemia - evidencia de Polonia como nuevo país de destino de inmigrantes

“…These difficulties were coupled with the practices deployed in the third countries, as in Ukraine, where the authorities restricted cross-border mobility for short periods in spring 2020. Ultimately, despite a declaration on the closure of all border crossings, the Ukrainian authorities did not opt for strict solutions in this regard (Tymczuk, 2021;Wolska, 2020). Despite all restrictions on border crossing, farmworkers from Ukraine could count on exceptional treatment based on the regulations implemented in Poland, but also in other countries welcoming farmworkers from Ukraine amidst pandemic times (e.g.…”

“…The employers with whom we were in contact did not perceive the migrant population as a threat, nor as agents spreading the virus. However, the press portrayed Ukrainian labour migrants differently, and framed them as a major epidemiological threat to the local communities in Ukraine (Tymczuk, 2021). Similarly, during an outbreak of COVID-19 on farm in north-east Poland, a one of the biggest regional daily papers reported that seasonal workers had circumvented the restrictions and entered Poland via Czechia and Slovakia, thus escaping the obligatory quarantine for arrivals from Ukraine, indirectly pointing to migrant workers as disease spreaders (Kurs, 2020).…”