Representing the “European refugee crisis” in Germany and Beyond: Deservingness and Difference, Life and Death
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2016
Keywords
refugee, media, immigration, crisis, Germany, Europe
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
https://doi.org/10.1111/amet.12259
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.
Was this content written or created while at USF?
Yes
Citation / Publisher Attribution
American Ethnologist, v. 43, issue 1, p. 1-205
Scholar Commons Citation
Holmes, Seth M. and Castaneda, Heide, "Representing the “European refugee crisis” in Germany and Beyond: Deservingness and Difference, Life and Death" (2016). Anthropology Faculty Publications. 133.
https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/ant_facpub/133
