| Popis: |
peer-reviewed November 2005 saw a significant flashpoint in the long-running history of tensions between minority groups and those in power in France. Two teenagers, allegedly while hiding from the police, were accidently electrocuted in a Parisian sub-station. This incident was the catalyst for the spread of violent riots in communities across banlieues or urban French districts lasting for a number of weeks. Mindful of the printed news media as important sites of ideology production, this study contributes to a growing body of work on newspaper representations of the banlieues, with focus on the particularly traumatic events of November 2005. Recognising the active role of the media in constituting and shaping reality, my interest lies not merely in identifying instances of prejudicial discourse in French newspaper texts, but also in highlighting how largely covert ideological structures of power and dominance can be disguised in ostensibly neutral discourse. This study examines French newspaper representations of urban violence in 2005, combining a qualitative Critical Discourse Analytical methodology with a quantitative Corpus-Assisted Discourse Studies examination of a corpus of texts specifically created for the study. The project questions the discursive construction of the events of November 2005 and the associated individuals and groups. It shows how the scenes of violent rioting prompted media discussions pertaining to French national identity, and thus examines interpretations of French national identity that are implicit in news reporting on the riots. This research suggests that in its reaction to the challenging events of November 2005, the printed news media adopt strategies which ‘other’ immigrant minorities and those living in the banlieues. Residents of the banlieues are depicted as being outside the borders of the homogenously constructed French society. It is thus argued that newspaper discourse on incidents of urban violence in France in 2005 provides further evidence of how language can be used as a means of enacting and upholding social relations of dominance and discrimination. |
