Humanitarianism, victimisation, and bordering processes: debating the refugee experience in the classroom
-
Xanthia Aristidou
and
Constadina Charalambous
Abstract
Set in the peak of the so-called “European Migrant Crisis” and situated in the conflict-affected Cypriot context, this article examines Greek-Cypriot High School students’ representations of Syrian refugees as they were debated in classroom discussion. Drawing on ethnographic research that took place in 2016 in a Lower Secondary School in Cyprus, we analyse the interactional dynamics through which ‘bordering’ processes took place, showing how different types of borders were (re)-negotiated and re-instated in the classroom. Considering the sociohistorical context of Cyprus, we also investigate how teachers’ and students’ understandings of borders and ethnic identity-making were reshaped by local discourses. Our analysis shows that teachers, despite prompting students to take an active stance towards Syrian refugees as part of a peacebuilding stance, mobilised ethnocentric discourses that victimised refugees, portraying them as someone whose agency is taken away from, and for whom we can speak and act. Approaching borders as social constructs, we show how the national border separating “us” and “them” was construed and reaffirmed in such discussions, and how the representation of refugees as ‘the victim’ functioned as a way of narrating the ‘cultural fantasies’ of the national self.
Transcription conventions
| (( )) | Researcher’s explanations and interpretations |
| (.) | Slight pause of less than a second |
| ( ) | Unintelligible word |
| student (s) | Unidentified student (s) |
| (1.0) | A pause of a second |
| = | No gap between the two turns |
| person: | [Yes |
| person: [Yes | simultaneous, overlapping talk by two speakers |
| ? | Rising intonation, not necessarily a question |
| ! | Strong emphasis, falling intonation |
| yes, | Comma: low rising intonation suggesting communication |
| ↑ | Marked rising shift in intonation |
| ↓ | Marked falling shift in intonation |
| :: | Lengthening of the preceding sound |
| < > | Slowed down delivery relative to the surrounding talk |
| > < | Speed up delivery relative to the surrounding talk |
| ◦why◦ | Decreased volume |
| WHY | Loud volume |
| WHY | Intermediate volume |
| why | Marked stress |
| (why) | Unclear or probable item |
| no- | Hyphen: abrupt cut-off, self-correction |
| hhh | Aspiration (out-breath); proportionally as for colons |
| he he | Voiced laughter |
| ((0.15s)) | Time stamps |
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Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Mobile borders
- Using language in boundary-making: nation-state building in the early years of the Turkish Republic (1927–1965)
- Hong Kongers and their languages: bordering, scale and identity
- Mobile borders and chronotope of homeland
- Humanitarianism, victimisation, and bordering processes: debating the refugee experience in the classroom
- Varia
- Attitudes towards Sardinian and Italian finally compared via the Matched-Guise Technique
- The effect of language attitudes on proficiency in two heritage languages of Mountain Jews in Israel and the US
- Sociolinguistic challenges and new perspectives on determining French speakers in Creole communities: the case of Haiti
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Mobile borders
- Using language in boundary-making: nation-state building in the early years of the Turkish Republic (1927–1965)
- Hong Kongers and their languages: bordering, scale and identity
- Mobile borders and chronotope of homeland
- Humanitarianism, victimisation, and bordering processes: debating the refugee experience in the classroom
- Varia
- Attitudes towards Sardinian and Italian finally compared via the Matched-Guise Technique
- The effect of language attitudes on proficiency in two heritage languages of Mountain Jews in Israel and the US
- Sociolinguistic challenges and new perspectives on determining French speakers in Creole communities: the case of Haiti
