Some Human’s Rights: Neocolonial Discourses of Otherness in the Mediterranean Refugee Crisis
Taking as my starting point Hannah Arendt’s (1994/1943) observations on the public response to the mass exile of Jews during World War Two, I argue that the UK’s mediatised reaction to those escaping conflict during the Mediterranean refugee crisis followed similar ideological patterns: fear, suspic...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Open Library of Humanities
2019-04-01
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| Series: | Open Library of Humanities |
| Online Access: | https://olh.openlibhums.org/article/id/4564/ |
| _version_ | 1798019026400575488 |
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| author | Siobhan Holohan |
| author_facet | Siobhan Holohan |
| author_sort | Siobhan Holohan |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Taking as my starting point Hannah Arendt’s (1994/1943) observations on the public response to the mass exile of Jews during World War Two, I argue that the UK’s mediatised reaction to those escaping conflict during the Mediterranean refugee crisis followed similar ideological patterns: fear, suspicion, antipathy and reserved compassion. I then move on to examine the role that human rights organisations had in the sympathetic re-construction of migrants/refugees. Here, I argue that at the same time as media platforms have become progressively more intertwined, ideologically complex, and perhaps as a result more responsive to shifting narratives and the changing public mood about the other, non-governmental organisations continue to operate within an established system of representation that render the migrant abject in terms of western dominance. In response to this reading of the refugee crisis, I offer the conclusion that while discourses produced by the various actors with a stake in the construction and counter-construction of the crisis were multifaceted and dynamic in their response to the evolving situation, the competing narratives surrounding the event remained resolutely embedded within a neocolonial discourse of otherness. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-11T16:34:01Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-a0ed7c5d2a0546f9b22499ef3ec25645 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2056-6700 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-11T16:34:01Z |
| publishDate | 2019-04-01 |
| publisher | Open Library of Humanities |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Open Library of Humanities |
| spelling | doaj.art-a0ed7c5d2a0546f9b22499ef3ec256452022-12-22T04:13:54ZengOpen Library of HumanitiesOpen Library of Humanities2056-67002019-04-015110.16995/olh.423Some Human’s Rights: Neocolonial Discourses of Otherness in the Mediterranean Refugee CrisisSiobhan Holohan0 Taking as my starting point Hannah Arendt’s (1994/1943) observations on the public response to the mass exile of Jews during World War Two, I argue that the UK’s mediatised reaction to those escaping conflict during the Mediterranean refugee crisis followed similar ideological patterns: fear, suspicion, antipathy and reserved compassion. I then move on to examine the role that human rights organisations had in the sympathetic re-construction of migrants/refugees. Here, I argue that at the same time as media platforms have become progressively more intertwined, ideologically complex, and perhaps as a result more responsive to shifting narratives and the changing public mood about the other, non-governmental organisations continue to operate within an established system of representation that render the migrant abject in terms of western dominance. In response to this reading of the refugee crisis, I offer the conclusion that while discourses produced by the various actors with a stake in the construction and counter-construction of the crisis were multifaceted and dynamic in their response to the evolving situation, the competing narratives surrounding the event remained resolutely embedded within a neocolonial discourse of otherness.https://olh.openlibhums.org/article/id/4564/ |
| spellingShingle | Siobhan Holohan Some Human’s Rights: Neocolonial Discourses of Otherness in the Mediterranean Refugee Crisis Open Library of Humanities |
| title | Some Human’s Rights: Neocolonial Discourses of Otherness in the Mediterranean Refugee Crisis |
| title_full | Some Human’s Rights: Neocolonial Discourses of Otherness in the Mediterranean Refugee Crisis |
| title_fullStr | Some Human’s Rights: Neocolonial Discourses of Otherness in the Mediterranean Refugee Crisis |
| title_full_unstemmed | Some Human’s Rights: Neocolonial Discourses of Otherness in the Mediterranean Refugee Crisis |
| title_short | Some Human’s Rights: Neocolonial Discourses of Otherness in the Mediterranean Refugee Crisis |
| title_sort | some human s rights neocolonial discourses of otherness in the mediterranean refugee crisis |
| url | https://olh.openlibhums.org/article/id/4564/ |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT siobhanholohan somehumansrightsneocolonialdiscoursesofothernessinthemediterraneanrefugeecrisis |