'Boat People' and Discursive Bordering: Australian Parliamentary Discourses on Asylum Seekers, 1977-2013
This article draws upon content analysis of Australian parliamentary transcripts to examine debates about asylum seekers who arrived by boat in three historical periods: 1977–1979, 1999–2001, and 2011–2013. We analyze term frequency and co-occurrence to identify patterns in specific usage of th...
| Principais autores: | , , |
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| Formato: | Artigo |
| Idioma: | English |
| Publicado em: |
York University Libraries
2021-04-01
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| coleção: | Refuge |
| Assuntos: | |
| Acesso em linha: | https://refuge.journals.yorku.ca/index.php/refuge/article/view/40661 |
| _version_ | 1827786511784869888 |
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| author | John van Kooy Liam Magee Shanti Robertson |
| author_facet | John van Kooy Liam Magee Shanti Robertson |
| author_sort | John van Kooy |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description |
This article draws upon content analysis of Australian parliamentary transcripts to examine debates about asylum seekers who arrived by boat in three historical periods: 1977–1979, 1999–2001, and 2011–2013. We analyze term frequency and co-occurrence to identify patterns in specific usage of the phrase “boat people.” We then identify how the term is variously deployed in Parliament and discuss the relationship between these uses and government policy and practice. We conclude that forms of “discursive bordering” have amplified representations of asylum seekers as security threats to be controlled within and outside Australia’s sovereign territory. The scope of policy or legislative responses to boat arrivals is limited by a poverty of political language, thus corroborating recent conceptual arguments about the securitization and extra-territorialization of the contemporary border.
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| first_indexed | 2024-03-11T16:36:29Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-c791454ca48e4d81ada70b859da6931d |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 0229-5113 1920-7336 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-11T16:36:29Z |
| publishDate | 2021-04-01 |
| publisher | York University Libraries |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Refuge |
| spelling | doaj.art-c791454ca48e4d81ada70b859da6931d2023-10-23T15:39:36ZengYork University LibrariesRefuge0229-51131920-73362021-04-0137110.25071/1920-7336.40661'Boat People' and Discursive Bordering: Australian Parliamentary Discourses on Asylum Seekers, 1977-2013John van Kooy0Liam Magee1https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2696-1064Shanti Robertson2Monash UniversityWestern Sydney UniversityWestern Sydney University This article draws upon content analysis of Australian parliamentary transcripts to examine debates about asylum seekers who arrived by boat in three historical periods: 1977–1979, 1999–2001, and 2011–2013. We analyze term frequency and co-occurrence to identify patterns in specific usage of the phrase “boat people.” We then identify how the term is variously deployed in Parliament and discuss the relationship between these uses and government policy and practice. We conclude that forms of “discursive bordering” have amplified representations of asylum seekers as security threats to be controlled within and outside Australia’s sovereign territory. The scope of policy or legislative responses to boat arrivals is limited by a poverty of political language, thus corroborating recent conceptual arguments about the securitization and extra-territorialization of the contemporary border. https://refuge.journals.yorku.ca/index.php/refuge/article/view/40661Australian parliamentasylum seekers‘boat people’discourse analysisborders |
| spellingShingle | John van Kooy Liam Magee Shanti Robertson 'Boat People' and Discursive Bordering: Australian Parliamentary Discourses on Asylum Seekers, 1977-2013 Refuge Australian parliament asylum seekers ‘boat people’ discourse analysis borders |
| title | 'Boat People' and Discursive Bordering: Australian Parliamentary Discourses on Asylum Seekers, 1977-2013 |
| title_full | 'Boat People' and Discursive Bordering: Australian Parliamentary Discourses on Asylum Seekers, 1977-2013 |
| title_fullStr | 'Boat People' and Discursive Bordering: Australian Parliamentary Discourses on Asylum Seekers, 1977-2013 |
| title_full_unstemmed | 'Boat People' and Discursive Bordering: Australian Parliamentary Discourses on Asylum Seekers, 1977-2013 |
| title_short | 'Boat People' and Discursive Bordering: Australian Parliamentary Discourses on Asylum Seekers, 1977-2013 |
| title_sort | boat people and discursive bordering australian parliamentary discourses on asylum seekers 1977 2013 |
| topic | Australian parliament asylum seekers ‘boat people’ discourse analysis borders |
| url | https://refuge.journals.yorku.ca/index.php/refuge/article/view/40661 |
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