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Who is Welcome into the EU? - A discourse analysis of identity constructions in the EU’s immigration policies

Kindal, Anna LU (2012) STVK01 20121
Department of Political Science
Abstract
In examining the complex identities of legal and illegal immigrants, as constructed by the EU, I have used discourse analysis to identify the meanings assigned to them. By using the theories of identity construction made by Torben Bech Dyrberg and discourse analysis from Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe I have analyzed seven official EU statements. I found that legal and illegal immigrants are created through differentiation. The meanings that are assigned to each identity are created in a chain of equivalence, in which the EU connects different elements to each identity. The most central elements connected to the legal immigrant are declared work, resource giving, documented, controlled mobility and integration. In contrast, the most... (More)
In examining the complex identities of legal and illegal immigrants, as constructed by the EU, I have used discourse analysis to identify the meanings assigned to them. By using the theories of identity construction made by Torben Bech Dyrberg and discourse analysis from Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe I have analyzed seven official EU statements. I found that legal and illegal immigrants are created through differentiation. The meanings that are assigned to each identity are created in a chain of equivalence, in which the EU connects different elements to each identity. The most central elements connected to the legal immigrant are declared work, resource giving, documented, controlled mobility and integration. In contrast, the most central elements connected to illegal immigrants are irregular mobility, undocumented, organized networks, criminality, undeclared work and resource demanding. The legal identity consists of what the EU perceives as being allowed to enter and changes in accordance with the needs and resources of the EU. Meanwhile, the illegal identity consists of what have been excluded from the legal identity. These identities will therefore change in line with the EU’s perception of what is being allowed to enter. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Kindal, Anna LU
supervisor
organization
course
STVK01 20121
year
type
M2 - Bachelor Degree
subject
keywords
European Union, discourse, legal immigrant, illegal immigrant, identity construction
language
English
id
2542991
date added to LUP
2012-06-27 10:47:13
date last changed
2012-06-27 10:47:13
@misc{2542991,
  abstract     = {{In examining the complex identities of legal and illegal immigrants, as constructed by the EU, I have used discourse analysis to identify the meanings assigned to them. By using the theories of identity construction made by Torben Bech Dyrberg and discourse analysis from Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe I have analyzed seven official EU statements. I found that legal and illegal immigrants are created through differentiation. The meanings that are assigned to each identity are created in a chain of equivalence, in which the EU connects different elements to each identity. The most central elements connected to the legal immigrant are declared work, resource giving, documented, controlled mobility and integration. In contrast, the most central elements connected to illegal immigrants are irregular mobility, undocumented, organized networks, criminality, undeclared work and resource demanding. The legal identity consists of what the EU perceives as being allowed to enter and changes in accordance with the needs and resources of the EU. Meanwhile, the illegal identity consists of what have been excluded from the legal identity. These identities will therefore change in line with the EU’s perception of what is being allowed to enter.}},
  author       = {{Kindal, Anna}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Who is Welcome into the EU? - A discourse analysis of identity constructions in the EU’s immigration policies}},
  year         = {{2012}},
}