Abstract:The global outbreak of COVID-19 has exposed varied ways that systemic inequality shapes people’s lives. This article pays particular attention to migrant populations. While mainstream media and political discourse tend to construct migration as a problem to be addressed or even the cause of social problems, the article contends that migration should be understood as an immanent part of capitalist uneven development, entwined with patriarchy and colonialism. The post-modern approach within media and communicati… Show more
“…To boost the economic gains and their divine profits, capital owners demanded what is called liberal immigration policies to promote labour migration, as Rey indicated that capitalism is the root cause of migration (Gerold-Scheepers & Van Binsbergen, 1978, p. 28). The uneven development, which was initiated by the First World countries as a consequence of colonial rule (Yin, 2021;Gidwani & Sivaramakrishnan, 2003, p. 188;Hollifield, 1992, p. 571), has resulted in today's migratory flows.…”
Section: Discussion: Diversity or Exploitation?mentioning
The current paper engages with the topic and patterns of migration flows to Europe from a historically driven critical perspective. The research is focused primarily on examining the intentions of European States and their immigration policies, either liberal or restrictive, throughout the ages across the pan-European area. The scope of the research is limited to historical migration in Europe, and we employ a retrospective approach to analyse it critically. It is done through the lens of the postcolonial school of thought, as it proves to be the most efficient when explaining fluctuations and
“…To boost the economic gains and their divine profits, capital owners demanded what is called liberal immigration policies to promote labour migration, as Rey indicated that capitalism is the root cause of migration (Gerold-Scheepers & Van Binsbergen, 1978, p. 28). The uneven development, which was initiated by the First World countries as a consequence of colonial rule (Yin, 2021;Gidwani & Sivaramakrishnan, 2003, p. 188;Hollifield, 1992, p. 571), has resulted in today's migratory flows.…”
Section: Discussion: Diversity or Exploitation?mentioning
The current paper engages with the topic and patterns of migration flows to Europe from a historically driven critical perspective. The research is focused primarily on examining the intentions of European States and their immigration policies, either liberal or restrictive, throughout the ages across the pan-European area. The scope of the research is limited to historical migration in Europe, and we employ a retrospective approach to analyse it critically. It is done through the lens of the postcolonial school of thought, as it proves to be the most efficient when explaining fluctuations and
This paper explores the ‘border spectacle’, namely the production and diffusion of images of immigration, in contemporary digital journalism to understand how the COVID-19 pandemic public health crisis overlapped with the dual semantics of illegalisation/victimisation of migrants. This article addresses a gap in the field of political economy of the border spectacle, conducting a bottom-up analysis of the socio-economic and material conditions under which visual narratives of migration and borders are produced and diffused in the case of Mexico. The methodology combines virtual ethnography and in-depth biographical/life stories interviews with three female reporter/photojournalists covering migration issues in Mexico and the Americas and producing accounts that differs significantly from the hegemonic iconography of migration. By analyzing the data collected between 2020 and 2021, we explore the extreme violence, precariousness and health risks, as well as strategies of self-support characterising these media professionals’ experiences. The analysis helps understand the rationale behind the political economy of the media during the COVID-19 pandemic and the lockdown in Mexico, as well as how the media’s structural frame exposes, amplifies and mediates migration in terms of ‘infectious’ and, therefore, a threat to national communities already vulnerable to the virus. Finally, we highlight the conflict between the purpose of the reporters, who want to provide empathetic, first-hand accounts of migration, on the one hand, and the commercial interests of mainstream media, which tends to seek to follow a hegemonic framing, make some of these images viral to create moral panic against migrants, on the other.
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