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Wed23 Jul04:50pm(20 mins)
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Where:
Room 11
Presenter:
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An engagement with critical language research of the current media narratives in the British press in the paper is centred around an ever-changing and challenging context of the turbulent political situation of the two nations: Serbia and Albania. More specifically, it addresses the discourse of the most recent (illegal) immigration of the Albanian population to the UK; and the Serbian government policy towards Kosovo and Ukraine, thus towards Russia and China on the one hand and European Union on the other. Whilst the two contexts might appear unrelated, we aim to illustrate, examine, and challenge, the ever-persistent cultural narrative construction and representation of the two nations by the Western press: a frequent use of negative and stereotypical descriptions saturated by sensationalist claims and tropes, representing those nations as ‘the European other’ (Alpion & Roberge 2011; Longinovic 2011). We do this in order to challenge and disrupt conventional understanding and thinking of the two European nations, their histories, societies and complex politics. Methodologically, we draw on Critical Discourse Analysis (e.g. Fairclough 2012) and insights from the Cultural-Historical and Activity Theory (CHAT) to underpin the examination of different types of strategies employed in media discourse as powerful persuasive forces in shaping public opinion (Collins et.al 2006). These also contribute to re-examining historical contextualisation of the centuries-long biased interpretation of the Balkans, a contested space, which European powers have traditionally denigrated, yet, which from a geographical, historical, religious and political perspectives, are part of Europe. This is a discourse-historical comparative study of The Times and The Guardian texts, in the period of increased migration of Albanian population to the UK in 2023, and increased political tensions related to the status of Kosovo within the Republic of Serbia in 2024.
References:
Alpion, G. and Roberge, G. 2011. Western Media and the European ‘other’ – images of Albania in the British Press. In Alpion. G. (ed.) Encounters with Civilisations. 1st edn. New York: Routledge.
Collins, Chik, and Peter E. Jones. 2006. “Analysis of Discourse as “a Form of History Writing”: A Critique of Critical Discourse Analysis and an Illustration of a Cultural-Historical Alternative.” Atlantics Journal of Communication 14(1&2), 51-69.
Fairclough, Norman. 2012. “Critical Discourse Analysis.” In James P. Gee, and Michael. Handford (eds.), The Routledge Handbook of Discourse Analysis. Oxon: Routledge, 9-20.
Longinovic, T. 2011. Vampire Nation: Violence as Cultural Imaginary. Durham: Duke University Press.
