Discourses on migration: an analysis of media representations

Public attitudes towards migration are influenced by discourses that circulate in the wider public sphere. Newspapers are an important medium through which discourses are circulated and geographers have recognised the importance of using newspapers as a source in research. This project sets out to explore the manner in which a number of migrant groups have been discursively produced in the national print media and the manner in which their acceptance or rejection as legitimate migrants have been shaped by these representations.

Looking specifically at migration to the UK post 2004 EU enlargement, the project seeks to explore how some groups are regarded as more legitimate migrants, as more beneficial to UK society, and less problematic or out-of-place in the UK than others. The research also seeks to examine the explanations that underpin these arguments.

In doing so the project explores our relationship with a range of geographical others, and seeks to understand how and why these relationships vary.

Research questions:

How are groups represented in terms of: their reasons for coming to the UK, their place in the labour market, their social and cultural attributes, their levels of integration, their contribution to British society, their settlement patterns, and their religious values.

What meanings are attributed to the quantity and rate of migration of different groups? What language and/or metaphors are used to describe their geographical distribution, their extent and their likely impact on the different parts of the UK?

To what extent do migrant entitlements feature as points of discussion, how do these vary across migrant groups and do these issues matter in terms of their representation as legitimate migrants or otherwise.

To what extent are our relationships with migrant communities today framed within broader historical relationships? These might include colonial relationships, pre-existing histories of migration in the UK, geopolitical relationships, or economic relationships.