Covert Prejudice and Discourses of Otherness During the Refugee Crisis: Α Case Study of the Greek Islands’ Press

Authors

  • Vasiliki-Ioanna Konstantopoulou
    Department of Political Science and Public Administration, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece
  • Orestis Didymiotis
    Department of Political Science and Public Administration, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece
  • Gerasimos Kouzelis
    Department of Political Science and Public Administration, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece

Abstract

This study identifies the recurrent repertoires of covert prejudice in the regional press of three Greek islands (Lesvos, Chios, Samos) during the refugee crisis. Between 2015 and 2016, these islands were the first-line receiving communities for the many refugees and migrants who arrived in Europe through the Eastern Mediterranean route. This article applies a synthetic qualitative approach to discourse analysis, emphasizing the argumentation and narrative complexity of prejudiced discourse as articulated through the idiosyncratic prism of locality. By focusing our analysis on expressions of neo-racism, symbolic and aversive racism, our study identified five interpretative repertoires of prejudicial discourse: “superfluous bodies,” “threats of multiculturalism,” “agents of misery,” “bogus refugees,” and “capitalizing on the refugee crisis.”