Refugees, Asylum Seekers, and Emotions

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roland Bleiker ◽  
David Campbell ◽  
Emma Hutchison
Keyword(s):  
Asylum Seekers ◽  
Media Representations ◽  
Front Page ◽  
Political Issues ◽  
Political Consequences ◽  
Visual Framing ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Media ◽  
Refugees And Asylum Seekers ◽  
Asylum Seekers And Refugees

The issue of asylum seekers and refugees is one of the most contested political issues in Australia. This chapter examines ensuing debates, focusing closely on how refugees and asylum seekers are perceived and responded to in relation to the spatial and emotional dynamics that prevail in Australian society and politics. Specifically, the chapter examines how the issue of asylum is intimately connected to and influenced by highly emotional images circulating in the national media. To do this, the authors first discuss the history of refugees at Australia’s borders. In doing so, the authors underline the key role that political and media representations play in shaping refugee debates and policy. The chapter then undertakes an empirical investigation of two crucial recent periods when refugee debates proliferated in both the media and in politics: August to December 2001 and October 2009 to September 2011. By conducting a content analysis of front-page coverage in The Australian and the Sydney Morning Herald, the authors focus on the particular visual framing that has been used to depict asylum seekers and its emotional and political consequences, highlighting how recurring frames have been used to dehumanize and further displace asylum seekers and refugees in the Australian context. The authors then argue that these visual media depictions associate refugees not with humanitarian challenges and responsibilities, but instead with threats to sovereignty and security.

Refugee and asylum seekers’ experiences

2021 ◽  
pp. 281-290
Author(s):  
Rachel Tribe ◽  
Angelina Jalonen
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Coping Strategies ◽  
Lived Experience ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Asylum Seekers ◽  
Meaning Making ◽  
Service Users ◽  
And Coping ◽  
Refugees And Asylum Seekers ◽  
Asylum Seekers And Refugees

This chapter reviews the socio-political environment and legal factors that provide the context and influence the lived experience of many refugees and asylum seekers. These factors are considered in relation to flight, arrival, and settlement in a new country. How these contextual factors may impact upon refugees and asylum seekers, their sense of identity, and mental health will be reviewed. The chapter reflects upon the possible challenges faced by many refugees and asylum seekers, as well as arguing that the strengths, resilience, and coping strategies that many asylum seekers and refugees exhibit need to be adequately considered by clinicians, if a meaningful service is to be provided. The importance of clinicians being culturally curious and listening to service users’ meaning-making is vital. An overview of some other issues that clinicians may need to consider is provided. The chapter contains a number of case studies to illustrate the related issues.

Controlling compassion: the media, refugees, and asylum seekers

2019 ◽  
pp. 275-294
Author(s):  
Pascale Allotey ◽  
Peter Mares ◽  
Daniel D. Reidpath
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Access To Care ◽  
Asylum Seekers ◽  
Public Perceptions ◽  
Great Power ◽  
Policy Response ◽  
Media Reporting ◽  
The Media ◽  
Refugees And Asylum Seekers

This chapter explains the influence of the media in controlling the discourse about humanitarianism, refugees, migrants and asylum seekers. Changing responses to the arrival of several waves of refugees in Australia are used as an example. Media reporting has great power to shape public perceptions of these populations, and the result is often a populist policy response that also ultimately has an impact on access to care and services. In recent years the advent of social media such as Facebook and Twitter has also had a great impact, as exemplified by the almost instantaneous worldwide response to the image of a drowned Syrian child refugee in 2015.

scholarly journals UK media representations of Carbon Capture and Storage

2013 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 35-53 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brigitte Nerlich ◽  
Rusi Jaspal
Keyword(s):  
Carbon Capture ◽  
Public Perception ◽  
Carbon Capture And Storage ◽  
Media Representations ◽  
Public Attention ◽  
Political Issues ◽  
Making Sense ◽  
The Media ◽  
The Times ◽  
And Storage

Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) is a climate change mitigation technology which has had a rather chequered history in British policy making and in the British public sphere. This article deals with the neglected topic of representations of CCS in the British media and their possible impact on public perceptions and public policy. Public perception of CCS is shaped in part by the media which provide tools for making sense of complex technological and political issues such as CCS. This article compares articles on CCS in two UK newspapers, one national (“The Times”) and one regional (“The Aberdeen Press and Journal”) in 2011, a year during which some of the last battles over CCS demonstration projects were fought. It applies frame and metaphor analysis to a corpus of 150 articles. Findings reveal that during 2011 CCS coverage moved through a cycle of hype and disillusionment, with both newspapers reaching a trough of disappointment at the end of 2011. It will be difficult to reignite interest in CCS in this context, both in terms of media and public attention, and in terms of policy and investment. Regional confidence in national CCS policy in particular will be difficult to recover.

Making home in exile: Everyday practices and belongings in Palestinian refugee camps

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 119-136
Author(s):  
Erin Cory
Keyword(s):  
Asylum Seekers ◽  
Street Art ◽  
Refugee Camps ◽  
Palestinian Refugees ◽  
Everyday Practices ◽  
History Of ◽  
Palestinian Refugee ◽  
The Rich ◽  
Ethnographic Analysis ◽  
Refugees And Asylum Seekers

Palestinians share a history of exile oriented towards the loss and reclamation of a homeland, often expressed through a shared visual lexicon and mythos. In the context of refugee camps, however, local visual culture and everyday practices demonstrate how Palestinian lives are also grounded in local stories and experiences. How do Palestinian refugees deploy everyday practices to create their home spaces? What can these practices reveal about refugees’ myriad belongings? And, in thinking about these practices, what can be said about how a feeling of home can be articulated in exile, which is at its heart the forced removal/dislocation from home? This article uses a comparative ethnographic analysis of two Palestinian camps in Lebanon to challenge overarching narratives of ‘Palestinianness’ by calling attention to the rich multiplicity of Palestinian refugee identities. In focusing the analysis on everyday practices – specifically street art and walking – by which residents make and experience home in the camps, the article grapples with the seeming contradictions between ‘home’ and ‘exile’ that colour the experiences of not only Palestinians, but also refugees and asylum seekers in other circumstances of protracted uncertainty, as they attempt to migrate and make home in new countries.

Discursive Constructions of the Israel-Hezbollah War

2011 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-33
Author(s):  
Ursula Lau ◽  
Mohamed Seedat ◽  
Victoria McRitchie
Keyword(s):  
South African ◽  
Media Representations ◽  
South Africans ◽  
Cross Border ◽  
Extensive Coverage ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Media ◽  
Discursive Constructions ◽  
Negative Stereotyping ◽  
Israeli Soldiers

The media play a contributing influence in exacerbating hostilities between war protagonists. Through particular representations, specific groups are either hailed or vilified; thereby resulting in a “spill-over effect” of negative stereotyping, prejudice, and hostilities among people beyond the physically-designated zones of conflict. The 2006 Israeli-Hezbollah War, fueled by Israel’s history of military aggression in the region and ignited by Hezbollah’s cross-border raid into Israel and the associated capture and killing of Israeli soldiers, received extensive coverage in the South African press and had the effect of polarizing groups in support of a particular side. In this article, we examine a section of the local South African print media—capturing the conflict to reveal the main discourse themes, their hidden ideological positions and their legitimation through specific textual devices. The findings reveal a “discursive war” between news texts representing a favorable stance on Israel and Hezbollah respectively. Through characterizations and intertextual practices, (“right of existence” and “defense against terror” versus “religious resistance” and “Israel as the apartheid state” respectively) that provided legitimation for violence. The ideological effects of such media representations on the ordinary lives of South Africans physically removed from the conflict are considered. In light of the findings, considerations for discursive interventions are proposed in order to promote discourses of peace in the media.

scholarly journals The expected well-being of urban refugees and asylum-seekers in Johannesburg

2016 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 232-248 ◽  
Author(s):  
Talita Greyling
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Asylum Seekers ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Subjective Well Being ◽  
Refugee Status ◽  
Urban Refugees ◽  
Number Of Factors ◽  
Forced Migrants ◽  
Refugees And Asylum Seekers ◽  
Asylum Seekers And Refugees

The influx of asylum-seekers and refugees from across Africa into democratic South Africa has increased significantly. The aim of this paper is to determine the factors that influences the expect well-being of this unique group. Expected well-being is an important determinant of both the decision to migrate and the choice of a country of destination. Knowledge about this determinant therefore informs refugee policies. The results show that only a few of the factors found in the literature explaining the expected well-being of voluntary migrants also explain the expected well-being of forced migrants. However, a number of factors found in the literature that explain the subjective well-being and well-being in general of refugees and asylum-seekers also went towards explaining the expected well-being of this group. These factors include: government assistance, culture, the time spent in South Africa, economic factors, crime, refugee status, reasons for leaving the home countries and the number of people staying in a house in the receiving country. The findings of this study emphasise the differences between forced and voluntary migrants and highlight the factors that influence the expected well-being of forced migrants. These in turn shed light on migration decisions and the choice of destination countries.

scholarly journals Media Representations of Separated Child Migrants

2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 66-81 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rachel Rosen ◽  
Sarah Crafter
Keyword(s):  
Media Representations ◽  
The Political ◽  
Unaccompanied Minors ◽  
Political Consequences ◽  
Unaccompanied Children ◽  
Time Period ◽  
The Media ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Migration Crisis ◽  
The Uk

This article analyzes coverage of separated child migrants in three British tabloids between the introduction of the Dubs Amendment, which committed to relocating unaccompanied minors to the UK, and the demolition of the unofficial refugee camp in Calais. This camp has been a key symbol of Europe’s “migration crisis” and the subject of significant media attention in which unaccompanied children feature prominently. By considering the changes in tabloid coverage over this time period, this article highlights the increasing contestation of the authenticity of separated children as they began arriving in the UK under Dubs, concurrent with representations of “genuine” child migrants as innocent and vulnerable. We argue that attention to proximity can help account for changing discourses and that the media can simultaneously sustain contradictory views by preserving an essentialized view of “the child,” grounded in racialized, Eurocentric, and advanced capitalist norms. Together, these points raise questions about the political consequences of framing hospitality in the name of “the child.”

scholarly journals Head injury in asylum seekers and refugees referred with psychological trauma

2016 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. M. Doherty ◽  
R. Craig ◽  
M. Gardani ◽  
T. M. McMillan
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Head Injury ◽  
Asylum Seekers ◽  
Mental Health Problems ◽  
Psychological Trauma ◽  
Mental Health Clinicians ◽  
Trauma Service ◽  
History Of ◽  
Preliminary Study ◽  
Asylum Seekers And Refugees

Objective.Individuals who seek asylum are frequently fleeing violent persecution and may experience head injury (HI). However, little is known about the prevalence of HI in asylum seekers and refugees (ASR) despite the potential for HI to significantly affect cognitive and emotional functioning and to compromise asylum outcomes. This preliminary study investigates the prevalence of HI in ASR referred to a complex psychological trauma service.Method.Participants were 115 adult ASR referred to a community psychological trauma service with moderate to severe mental health problems associated with psychological trauma. They were screened for a history of HI using a questionnaire developed for the study. Interpreters were used when required.Results.The overall prevalence of HI was 51%. At least 38% of those with HI had a moderate–severe HI that could cause persisting disability. In 53% of those with HI, the cause was torture, human trafficking or domestic violence. Repeat HI can have cumulative effects on function; it was common, and was reported in 68% of those with HI. An injury to the head was not known to mental health clinicians prior to screening in 64% of cases.Conclusion.The emotional and cognitive consequences of HI in ASR may increase the vulnerability of this disadvantaged group, and can be associated with neurobehavioural problems affecting daily life and may compromise asylum outcomes. Routine screening for HI in ASR is needed, as are links to neuropsychology and brain injury services for advice, assessment and intervention.

scholarly journals When the lens is too wide: the political consequences of the visual dehumanization of refugees

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Manos Tsakiris ◽  
Ruben Azevedo ◽  
Sophie De Beukelaer ◽  
Isla Jones ◽  
Lou Safra
Keyword(s):  
Small Groups ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Leaders ◽  
Political Consequences ◽  
Visual Framing ◽  
The Media ◽  
Refugee Policies ◽  
Visual Depiction ◽  
Large Groups

Photojournalistic images shape our understanding of sociopolitical events. How humans are depicted in images may have far-reaching consequences for our attitudes towards them. Here, we focus on the visual depiction of refugees to understand how exposure to the dominant visual framing used in the media, depicting them in large groups of faceless individuals, affects their dehumanization and sets off political consequences. Seeing images of large groups resulted in greater implicit dehumanization compared with images depicting small groups. Moreover, after viewing images of large groups, participants showed increased preference for more dominant, less trustworthy political leaders and supported less pro-refugee policies and more anti-refugee policies. Lastly, the extent to which participants felt reduced pity for images depicting large groups mediated the effect of visual framing on the choice of more authoritarian leaders. What we see in the media and how it is shown has attitudinal, behavioural as well as political consequences.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document