GEOG121: ASYLUM SEEKERS AND REFUGEES - Geography Assignment

Internal Code: MAS3578

Geography Assignment:

Media representations of asylum seekers and political and public discourses of asylum seeking have come under scrutiny in Australia, particularly since the early 2000s. Detailed content analyses reported in Klocker (2004); Klocker and Dunn (2003); Kenny (2013)1 ; show that asylum seekers (particularly Muslim and Middle Eastern asylum seekers who arrive by boat) have been portrayed in a disproportionately negative manner in Ministerial and Prime Ministerial statements and press releases, and in the media more generally. At various times, they have been constructed as illegal, illegitimate, as ‘queue-jumpers’, as being of bad character, as threatening to Australian security and sovereignty, as economic migrants, as a burden, and as uncontrollable in their numbers (a ‘flood’). Questions: 1. What do you notice about the ways in which asylum seekers (and/or asylum-seeking) are portrayed in this transcript? 2. What do you notice about the overall tenor of the transcript – does it reflect on asylum seekers (and asylum-seeking) in a positive or negative light? Is it sympathetic towards, or critical of, asylum seekers? 3. What specific words/terms used in the transcript caught your attention? Why? Which words are used frequently in the transcript in relation to asylum seekers? 4. What do you notice about the ways in which Australia and Australians are portrayed in this transcript? 5. What effects does the language used in these transcripts have on you? What effect do you think the speaker was hoping to have?