Representing the “European refugee crisis” in Germany and beyond: Deservingness and difference, life and death

Abstract

The European refugee crisis has gained worldwide attention with daily media coverage both in and outside Germany. Representations of refugees in media and political discourse in relation to Germany participate in a Gramscian “war of position” over symbols, policies, and, ultimately, social and material resources, with potentially fatal consequences. These representations shift blame from historical, political‐economic structures to the displaced people themselves. They demarcate the “deserving” refugee from the “undeserving” migrant and play into fear of cultural, religious, and ethnic difference in the midst of increasing anxiety and precarity for many in Europe. Comparative perspectives suggest that anthropology can play an important role in analyzing these phenomena, highlighting sites of contestation, imagining alternatives, and working toward them. [refugee, media, immigration, crisis, Germany, Europe]

Watchdogs, Advocates and Adversaries: Journalists’ Relational Role Conceptions in Asylum Reporting

“…Given the fact that approximately 40,000 asylum seekers in total had arrived in Finland in the previous four decades, the new situation became an intense political and societal issue, prompting both citizen activism in solidarity with asylum seekers and anti-immigrant demonstrations and violence. Indeed, dubbed a "refugee crisis" by the news media and political commentators, the Finnish debate in many ways echoed discourses elsewhere in Europe that focused on the perceived risks of migration (e.g., Greussing & Boomgaarden, 2017;Harrison, 2016; see also Vertovec & Wessendorf, 2010), but also featured powerful expressions of solidarity and condemnations of xenophobia (Holmes & Castañeda, 2016). Significantly for our purposes, the refugee debate involved critical questions about the role of the news media in these developments.…”

Editorial: Connecting (Forced) Migration and Media Studies

“…In the end a large part of humanity are "refugees of capitalism". Too much focus on a differentiation between migrant and refugees also further contributes to a discussion of who has rights, instead of holding state actors -especially those who have ratified the 1951 refugee convention -responsible for recognizing (and violating) these rights (Holmes & Castaneda, 2016).…”

Krise og kontinuitet i mottak av flyktninger i Norden

“…Vevstad, Møkkelgjerd, Einarsen, Bailletog Andenaes 2016; UNHCR 2016). Kriseinnrammingen legitimerte imidlertid ikke bare innstrammingstiltak, men bidro også til en mobilisering av høyreradikale partier og bevegelser, samt mobilisering til støtte for flyktningene (Simonovits and Bernát 2016;Holmes og Castañeda 2016). Da asylsøkere begynte å komme til Europa i større antall enn tidligere, førte det først til en humanitaer mobilisering både fra sivilsamfunn og myndigheters side.…”