Speaking in new ways: Media representations of the Asylum Relay

Abstract

In the summer 2013 a group of people walked from Malmö to Stockholm with the purpose to raise awareness about the refugee policies in Sweden. The initiative is called the Asylum Relay, Asylstafetten in Swedish, and was initiated by refugees themselves and was undertaken a second time in the summer 2014. The Relay attained a far-reaching extent of media attention. This thesis aims at analysing the media representations of the participants in the Relay by applying Critical Discourse Analysis, postcolonial aspects and citizenship studies. As a part of the study I have as well conducted participant observation by walking with the Relay in 2014. The study finds that the media reproduce as well as challenge dominant discourses in the way they report on the Relay. The media build on existing discourses in the way “the refugee” is presented. Further the study finds that the media build on and reconstruct the idea of the nation-state and relations of power of authorities over refugees. However, the study also finds that through an act of citizenship refugees are presented as active rather than passive, and they get a prominent voice in the media representation.