Selling displaced people? A multi-method study of the public communication strategies of international refugee organisations

David Ongenaert; Stijn Joye

doi:10.1111/disa.12353

Selling displaced people? A multi-method study of the public communication strategies of international refugee organisations

David Ongenaert^*
, Stijn Joye

^*Corresponding author for this work

Ghent University

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Academic › peer-review

17 Citations (Scopus)

25 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

The world has seen a major increase in forced displacement since 2011. As a growing number of states implement restrictive refugee policies, public communication has become essential for refugee organisations. This study analysed, therefore, three international refugee organisations’ discursive strategies towards the recent Syrian crisis, as well as their production and the social context. A critical discourse analysis of international press releases (N=122) and six semi-structured interviews with press and regional officers revealed that the observed actors largely dehumanise displaced people and subordinate them to the ‘Western self’ and state interests; displaced people hardly ever acquire their own voice. The study found that the medium characteristics of press releases and the importance of media attention result in a depersonalising humanitarian discourse. In addition, there were indications of a post-humanitarian discourse that reproduced the humanitarian sector's ‘marketisation’. Finally, the examined organisations use the political realist cross-issue persuasion strategy, displaying displaced people as resettlement objects.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	478-508
Number of pages	31
Journal	Disasters
Volume	43
Issue number	3
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1111/disa.12353
Publication status	Published - Jul 2019
Externally published	Yes

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
The authors wish to thank all of the peer reviewers for their relevant and useful feedback on earlier versions of this paper, as well as Professor Bruno De Cordier at Ghent University for his helpful and constructive comments. The authors also thank Rick Jones for copy-editing the draft version of the manuscript, and the Research Foundation – Flanders (FWO) for funding the first author’s Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) research project.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 The Author(s). Disasters © Overseas Development Institute, 2019

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SDG 16 Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions

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Selling displaced people A multi-method study of the public communication strategies of international refugee organisationsFinal published version, 278 KBLicence: Article 25fa Dutch Copyright Act

Cite this

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title = "Selling displaced people? A multi-method study of the public communication strategies of international refugee organisations",

abstract = "The world has seen a major increase in forced displacement since 2011. As a growing number of states implement restrictive refugee policies, public communication has become essential for refugee organisations. This study analysed, therefore, three international refugee organisations{\textquoteright} discursive strategies towards the recent Syrian crisis, as well as their production and the social context. A critical discourse analysis of international press releases (N=122) and six semi-structured interviews with press and regional officers revealed that the observed actors largely dehumanise displaced people and subordinate them to the {\textquoteleft}Western self{\textquoteright} and state interests; displaced people hardly ever acquire their own voice. The study found that the medium characteristics of press releases and the importance of media attention result in a depersonalising humanitarian discourse. In addition, there were indications of a post-humanitarian discourse that reproduced the humanitarian sector's {\textquoteleft}marketisation{\textquoteright}. Finally, the examined organisations use the political realist cross-issue persuasion strategy, displaying displaced people as resettlement objects.",

author = "David Ongenaert and Stijn Joye",

note = "Funding Information: The authors wish to thank all of the peer reviewers for their relevant and useful feedback on earlier versions of this paper, as well as Professor Bruno De Cordier at Ghent University for his helpful and constructive comments. The authors also thank Rick Jones for copy-editing the draft version of the manuscript, and the Research Foundation – Flanders (FWO) for funding the first author{\textquoteright}s Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) research project. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2019 The Author(s). Disasters {\textcopyright} Overseas Development Institute, 2019",

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Selling displaced people? A multi-method study of the public communication strategies of international refugee organisations

Abstract

Bibliographical note

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