Abstract
This article explores how Europe’s border crises in the post refugee ‘crisis’ years were discussed in the micro-blog Twitter, through an in-depth analysis of boundary making. Our focus is on the tweets of the top influencers of the hashtag #IStandWithGreece who strategically promoted ideologies ranging from white supremacism to Greek nationalism, glued together by an antimigrant stance during a border ‘crisis’ at Europe’s periphery. This network of intolerance promoted a representation of migrants as ‘pawns’; seen like a chess piece, with no value in their own right, literally pushed towards Europe by Turkey, who elevated them into a sizable threat. Within this, Europe was represented as a paradoxical other, the fallen Self, for not rising up to the opportunity to protect its sovereignty and identity through more securitization. Despite being diffused by extreme antimigrant Twitterers, we argue that these tweets offer a more overtly racist expression of otherwise mainstream European (Union) discourses and politics on migration. Effectively, #IStandWithGreece’s influencers functioned as Europe’s alter-ego mouthpiece, saying the unsayable using social media, and their affordances contributing to the normalization of an oppressive and restrictive European border management.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 722-743 |
Number of pages | 22 |
Journal | European Journal of Cultural Studies |
Volume | 26 |
Issue number | 5 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Oct 2023 |
Externally published | Yes |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This work was co-funded by the European Regional Development Fund and the Republic of Cyprus through the Research and Innovation Foundation (Project POST-DOC/0916/0115).
Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2022.
Research programs
- ESHCC M&C
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Post-doctoral Research Grant ‘DIDAKTOR’
Avraamidou, M. (Recipient), 2018
Prize: Fellowship awarded competitively