The normalization of liquid racism in migrant narratives

Abstract

Abstract This study critically examines how racist representations of migrants are subtly normalized in Greek parliamentary, media, and NGO narrative texts, often under the guise of empathy and solidarity. Drawing on Krzyżanowski’s (2020) model of discursive shift and De Fina’s (2020) narrative-as-practice approach, the analysis reveals how migrants are recurrently portrayed as vulnerable victims and ideal objects of assimilation. These narrative representations serve to enact, perpetuate, and normalize a subtle form of racism, i.e. liquid racism ( Archakis and Tsakona 2024 ), which emerges in ostensibly anti-racist texts. By unpacking the discursive processes that sustain this normalization, the study seeks to contribute to debates on language and politics, highlighting how discourse can implicitly legitimize racist norms about who is (not) “deserving” support and acceptance.

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