More Labels, Fewer Refugees: Remaking the Refugee Label in an Era of Globalization

This paper revisits the concept of refugee labelling I elaboratednearly two decades ago. In radically different conditions, thecontemporary relevance and utility of the concept are re-examinedand re-established. Formulated at a time of regionally contained,mass refugee migration in the south during the late 1970s andearly 1980s, the paper argues that the concept still offersvital insights into the impacts of institutional and bureaucraticpower on the lives of refugees in a globalized era of transnationalsocial transformations, mixed migration flows, and the continuingpresence of large scale refugee migration. The core of the paperargues that the ‘convenient images’ of refugees,labelled within a co-opting humanitarian discourse in the past,have been displaced by a fractioning of the label which is drivenby the need to manage globalized processes and patterns of migrationand forced migration in particular. The paper re-evaluates theconcept using the three original axioms—forming, transformingand politicizing the label ‘refugee’. The core argumentis that in the contemporary era: a) the formation of the refugeelabel reflects causes and patterns of forced migration whichare much more complex than in the past, contrasting with anessentially homogeneous connotation in the past; b) respondingto this complexity, the refugee label is transformed by an institutional‘fractioning’ in order to manage the new migration;c) governments, rather than NGOs as in the past, are the pre-eminentagency in the contemporary processes of transforming the refugeelabel, a process driven by northern interests; d) the refugeelabel has become politicized by the reproduction of institutionalfractioning and by embedding the wider political discourse ofresistance to migrants and refugees.     

文化差异对外语写作中语篇构建和思维模式的影响

本文以国外学者对语篇构建以及思维模式的论述为对照,对四川外语学院三个班的本科一年级学生和一个研究生班的学生进行分组调查。统计结果分析表明,文化差异对学生的思维模式以及他们在写作过程中的语篇组织都有很大的影响。要以此来使学生注意到这种差异,从而对西方的思维模式和语篇构建方式进行有效的模仿,才能写出更地道的英语作文。     

The Croatian Diaspora in North America: Identity, Ethnic Solidarity, and the Formation of a “Transnational National Community”

As I attempt to reveal in this article, Croatian Diaspora's press in North America plays a crucial role in ethnic mobilization and formation of attitudes among members of Croatian Diaspora community toward their home society—Croatia and construction of transnational national community. Discourse analysis employed when examining writings published between 1980–1995 in the most influential Croatian Diaspora's journal—the Fraternalist—builds on the idea that not only news from both the host and home countries are provided, but they are also used to constantly reproduce elements of group identity among Diaspora's community. This study explores the main trends in different stages of ethnic homogenization and mobilization of Croatian Diaspora in North America, which progressed in response to political changes in the home country, reaching its peak with the commencement of the war in Croatia in 1991.     

Discourse Categories in Encounters Between Palestinians and Israelis

The discourse in encounter groups between Jewish and Palestinian Israeli citizens was analyzed to investigate factors that promoted or hindered understanding between conflict groups. A typology of seven categories, ordered on a scale from monologues that do not meet to affective and cognitive understanding, was used. A histogram presented percents of speech categories per encounter. Qualitative and quantitative methods exposed factors influencing group processes. Changes in speech categories were chaotic, as opposed to linear. Analysis showed an interaction between the pressure of the conflict reality outside and the internal group process. This article addresses the theoretical question of the goal of intergroup encounters.     

The Yasukuni question: histories,logics, and Japan–South Korea relations

This article argues that the problem of the Yasukuni Shrine between Japan and South Korea stems from the differential growth of Yasukuni discourses in both countries after the Pacific War. While the Japanese post-war discourse split into three schools of thought – Nationalists, Moderates, and Progressives – South Korean discourse has been consolidated into one dominant anti-Yasukuni perspective, largely shaped by Japan's political discourse and actions from the 1980s. This divergence created the perception gap between the two, resulting in a diplomatic obstacle that hinders Japan--South Korea strategic cooperation.     

Reading aloud as performance and its representation on television programmes for children

ABSTRACT

The social practice of reading aloud picture books to children, or shared reading, has been represented on many televisions programmes broadcast across English-speaking countries. This article views shared reading as a performance, and explores its transformation on two television shows for children and the potential of such shows to promote reading engagement and literacy development. Taking a critical multimodal perspective, we analyse shared reading in real life and on television as a social practice, focusing on the ways the participants talk about the picture book, relate it to exterior texts or activities, and legitimise shared reading through the employment of multimodal and interactive strategies. The analysis reveals significant differences between actual adult–child shared reading and its representation on television. The comparison illustrates the potential benefits and limitations of television shows in which picture books are read to the viewer, in terms of promoting shared reading among families and supporting young children’s emergent literacy development.     

Secondary victimization and the collective identity of crime victims: a qualitative analysis of Swedish crime news discourse

This article presents an analysis of how secondary victims of murder—in this context, the parents or close family members of a primary murder victim—are represented in Swedish crime news discourse. The study is based on a discourse analysis of media coverage of secondary victims, and statements made by them, in relation to four highly publicized murder cases during the last two decades. The analysis shows that portrayals of secondary victimization reinforce the conflictual character of victim–offender relationships in the news, but also limit the conditions for talking about the significance of social support, mediation and reconciliation for crime victims. News representations of crime victims become less clearly marked by the characteristics of the ‘ideal’ victim as secondary victims, and persons who are explicitly critical toward the legal system, claim victimhood. Furthermore, the identity of the crime victims’ movement as a collective becomes destabilized when the category of the victim is widened to include individuals whose interests are framed as subjective, rather than related to the needs of other crime victims or the general public. In sum, increased media focus on secondary victims may thus undermine the legitimacy of victim claims in public discourse.     

Official Russian identity discourse in light of the annexation of Crimea: national or imperial?

Close examination and analysis of the Kremlin’s framing of Russia’s annexation of Crimea reveals that domestically it was presented in unprecedented national irredentist terminology, aiming at reunifying the Russian nation in one state. The Russian nation was largely described in ethno-lingual or ethno-cultural terms, while the Russian state was all but explicitly declared as a nation–state of ethnic Russians. The official identity discourse was marked by the recasting and unprecedentedly strong reassertion of boundaries between the Russian and Ukrainian nations, legitimizing Russian claims to Crimea. However, the changing references to the crisis in Eastern Ukraine illustrate how the Kremlin’s identity rhetoric is still mainly guided by considerations of political necessity, rather than dictated by some national or ideological vision. Significantly, the focus of the Russian official identity discourse shifted from the state to the nation. This marks a decisive departure from Putin’s earlier largely statist rhetoric in the 2000s, and a new stage of maturation and official acclamation of national ethnicization trends launched during his third presidential term. After years of sitting on the fence, the Kremlin reinvented itself as an active and initiating player in the nationalism field.     

Different Types of Right-Wing Populist Discourse in Government and Opposition: The Case of Italy

Does right-wing populist discourse change when parties move from opposition to government? How do different ideological types of right-wing populist parties express this discourse? Through an analysis of the Lega Nord and Forza Italia/Popolo della Libertà between 2006 and 2013, we find that while the switch to office does bring some changes, the main elements of their populist discourse remain largely the same. We also show how their respective emphases on ‘elites’ and ‘others’ distinguish the parties: FI/PDL focuses overwhelmingly on ‘elites’ while the LN places similar emphasis on both ‘elites’ and ‘others’.     

Japan's ikumen discourse: macro and micro perspectives on modern fatherhood

Ikumen is a buzzword that describes fathers who are actively involved in childrearing. This article focuses on the process in which the term ikumen and its meaning are diffused and investigates how soon-to-be fathers, themselves potential ikumen, view the ikumen discourse. Our endeavor is to grasp the transformation of father roles and the wider family in contemporary Japan through the public and individual engagement with the term ikumen. In this article, we combine macro and micro approaches to analyze ikumen as a discourse circulating in Japanese society and study the way in which the subjects of the discourse – soon-to-be fathers – view the ikumen discourse and interact with it. Utilizing an analysis of newspaper articles, we inquire into the process in which the concept ikumen became popular in Japan and the images that are affiliated with it. Through interviews, we then investigate how soon-to-be fathers as potential ikumen themselves perceive the term. Our results show the way in which an ikumen discourse emerged in Japan in opposition to the term kazoku sabisu, which since the 1970s describes the activities fathers engage in for the satisfaction of their families and fulfillment of social expectations. However, while the term is very popular in the media, the young families we interviewed see ikumen more skeptically. They both resist the popular discourse and adapt it into their construction of paternal identities through a differentiation between a strong versus a weak ikumen image.