Chapter 3. Normalizing assimilation in antiracist (con)texts and (re)producing liquid racism
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Dimitris Serafis
Abstract
This chapter aims to show how liquid racism (Weaver 2016) emerges when assimilationist viewpoints are argumentatively normalized in mainstream (right- and left-wing) political-parliamentary discourses in Greece. I analyze two seminal speeches given by two Greek political leaders, namely PM Kyriakos Mitsotakis (New Democracy; European Peoples’ Party) and Opposition leader, Alexis Tsipras (SYRIZA; European Left), on October 31, 2019, in the Greek parliament; that is, the very day of the vote in favor of the bill proposed by the Ministry of Citizen’s Protection, which outlined the terms according to which international protection would be awarded by the Greek authorities to ‘foreign’ populations. I draw on the framework of Critical Discourse Studies (Wodak and Meyer 2016), employing tools from Social Semiotics (van Leeuwen 2008) and the Argumentum Model of Topics (Rigotti and Greco 2019) to critically examine standpoint-argument couplings inferred in the discursive representations of social actors and realized in the relevant speeches. I conclude that the two Greek politicians under study converge to claims in favor of the assimilation of migrant populations to the Greek context and therefore (re)produce liquid racism, despite their seemingly antiracist attitude and their different ideological and political stance.
Abstract
This chapter aims to show how liquid racism (Weaver 2016) emerges when assimilationist viewpoints are argumentatively normalized in mainstream (right- and left-wing) political-parliamentary discourses in Greece. I analyze two seminal speeches given by two Greek political leaders, namely PM Kyriakos Mitsotakis (New Democracy; European Peoples’ Party) and Opposition leader, Alexis Tsipras (SYRIZA; European Left), on October 31, 2019, in the Greek parliament; that is, the very day of the vote in favor of the bill proposed by the Ministry of Citizen’s Protection, which outlined the terms according to which international protection would be awarded by the Greek authorities to ‘foreign’ populations. I draw on the framework of Critical Discourse Studies (Wodak and Meyer 2016), employing tools from Social Semiotics (van Leeuwen 2008) and the Argumentum Model of Topics (Rigotti and Greco 2019) to critically examine standpoint-argument couplings inferred in the discursive representations of social actors and realized in the relevant speeches. I conclude that the two Greek politicians under study converge to claims in favor of the assimilation of migrant populations to the Greek context and therefore (re)produce liquid racism, despite their seemingly antiracist attitude and their different ideological and political stance.
Chapters in this book
- 日本言語政策学会 / Japan Association for Language Policy. 言語政策 / Language Policy 10. 2014 i
- Table of contents vii
- Chapter 1. Antiracist and racist discourse as antagonistic and overlapping 1
- Chapter 2. Racist discourses of discrimination and assimilation in an antiracist corpus 41
- Chapter 3. Normalizing assimilation in antiracist (con)texts and (re)producing liquid racism 71
- Chapter 4. What culture? 93
- Chapter 5. Liquid racism, metaphor and the visual modality 118
- Chapter 6. Migrant voices in ‘antiracist’ video clips in Greece 143
- Chapter 7. “The EU gave us a new beginning” 181
- Chapter 8. “Wouldn’t it be better for me to earn my own money and pay taxes?” 202
- Chapter 9. A migrant’s public apology as an instance of internalized racism 225
- Chapter 10. Racist and antiracist discourse in Greek migrant/refugee jokes 253
- Chapter 11. Epilogue 277
- Notes on contributors 283
- Name index 289
- Subject index 293
Chapters in this book
- 日本言語政策学会 / Japan Association for Language Policy. 言語政策 / Language Policy 10. 2014 i
- Table of contents vii
- Chapter 1. Antiracist and racist discourse as antagonistic and overlapping 1
- Chapter 2. Racist discourses of discrimination and assimilation in an antiracist corpus 41
- Chapter 3. Normalizing assimilation in antiracist (con)texts and (re)producing liquid racism 71
- Chapter 4. What culture? 93
- Chapter 5. Liquid racism, metaphor and the visual modality 118
- Chapter 6. Migrant voices in ‘antiracist’ video clips in Greece 143
- Chapter 7. “The EU gave us a new beginning” 181
- Chapter 8. “Wouldn’t it be better for me to earn my own money and pay taxes?” 202
- Chapter 9. A migrant’s public apology as an instance of internalized racism 225
- Chapter 10. Racist and antiracist discourse in Greek migrant/refugee jokes 253
- Chapter 11. Epilogue 277
- Notes on contributors 283
- Name index 289
- Subject index 293
