Strategies of othering through discursive practices: Examples from the UK and Poland

Abstract

This article discusses findings of a qualitative study on strategies of othering observed in anti-immigrant discourse, by analysing selected examples from the UK and Polish media, together with data collected from interviews with migrants. The purpose is to identify discursive strategies of othering, which aim to categorise, denigrate, oppress and ultimately reject the stigmatised or racialised ‘other’. We do not offer a systematic comparison of the data from the UK and Poland; instead, we are interested in what is common in the discursive practices of these two countries/contexts. In using newspaper together with interview data, we are combining representation and experience in identifying not only strategies of othering, but also how these are perceived by and affect the othered individuals. The paper uses the following data: 40 newspaper articles – 20 from the UK and 20 from Poland, and 19 interviews – 12 from Poland and 7 from the UK. The analysis that follows identifies five shared strategies of othering: a) Stereotyping; b) Whiteness as the norm; c) Racialisation; d) Objectification; e) Wrongly Ascribed Ethnicity. We conclude with the research limitations and outlining possible next stages, such as working with a larger corpus, investigating frequency, or including other media genres.

Where Difference Begins

“…(Nowicka 2018: 831) As Shimada (2007: 114) notices, "the gaze at the other culture is fixed long before the encounter". So are the Polish migrants' narrations about people they encounter in England's cities moulded by understandings of racialised others that function in Poland (Strani and Szczepaniak-Kozak 2018;Adamczak-Krysztofowicz and Szczepaniak-Kozak 2017). Yet studying Polish migrants in England over time allows us also to observe how their racial vocabularies and attitudes transform within the British social context.…”

Low-traffic neighbourhoods in Ealing: Contested policy making in a polycentric governance environment

“…Literature documents the negative effects of othering, a process which establishes 'in' and 'out' groups, thus creating hierarchical relationships to the detriment of 'out' groups (Strani and Szczepaniak-Kozak, 2018). Such othering alienates 'out' groups and is related to political polarisation (Creutz-Kämppi, 2008; Dougherty and Schraedley, 2021), while inclusive processes have been shown to increase the likelihood a policy is seen as generating 'widely valued social outcomes' (Compton et al;, 2019: 123,132).…”

Minoritized youth language in Norwegian media discourse

“…The media has been an excellent site for investigating circumfluent ideologies due to its documented role in (re)producing stereotypes (Mastro 2015;Ross 2019). In media discourse, scholars have identified strategies for Othering such as stereotyping, in-group hegemony, racialization, objectification, or wrongly ascribed ethnicity (Bucholtz and Lopez 2011;Reisigl and Wodak 2009;Strani and Szczepaniak-Kozak 2018). Essentialised mappings of language onto a particular body or the "ethnic Other" tend to be reinscribed rather than subverted in media discourse (Bucholtz et al 2018).…”