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CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS OF THE CONTEMPORARY SANCTUARY MOVEMENT
Cobb, LEE TAE E
Cobb, LEE TAE E
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2021
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Media & Communication
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http://dx.doi.org/10.34944/dspace/7176
Abstract
This research observes how discourses of belonging and citizenship manifest in media coverage. I combine both the theoretical framework of postcolonial and coloniality, and a close critical discourse analysis of various media coverage about sanctuary. I observe how nonprofits who work with the immigrant community, municipal government media, and local and national mainstream news media in Philadelphia, Minneapolis, and San Francisco cover the concept of sanctuary. The inauguration of President Donald Trump in 2017 marked a new iteration of executive orders, that barred much of the immigration population that sanctuary policies are attempting to keep safe. Therefore, observing the sanctuary during the Trump administration generates new data to analyze.
Through a critical discourse analysis of media in Philadelphia, Minneapolis, and San Francisco, I found that the conceptualization of sanctuary is convoluted. I argue that without a precise definition, it offers the Trump administration space to deem the practice of sanctuary as dangerous. The mainstream news media relies heavily on placing immigrant groups in deservingness frames, translating that some immigrants belong while others do not. In my analysis, I also found that nonprofits and municipal media use media to create welcoming atmospheres through multiculturalism, assimilation, and religious rhetoric, so the immigrant population feels like they belong. While these welcoming practices are helpful to building an immigrant community, these practices were reliant on these strategies, which I argue could overshadow the complex relationship between those supporting the immigrant and the immigrant.
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