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Article published In:
Journal of Language and Politics
Vol. 13:3 (2014) ► pp.490–511

Discursive geographies

Politics and public narratives of immigration in a Midwestern US city

| Ohio State University |

Immigration has become an object of political contention far from national borders. As migrants and immigrants move into interior cities, border discourses follow them, often propagated by conservative political factions seeking to extend their influence. This article examines one episode of contention around these processes – a struggle among officials, media organizations, and activists to shape the public narrative of a Midwestern U.S by discursively positioning in relation to border processes thousands of kilometers away. Using elements of critical discourse analysis, critical geography, and border studies, the article develops the concept of ‘discursive bordering’ to analyze how policy discourses and political imagery move across national territories, and how “local” actors redefine their own borders, and those of their cities, to resist or support these discursive incursions.

Keywords: Policy discourse, political rhetoric, bordering, anti-migrant politics
Article outline
  • 1.Topology as strategy
  • 2.Discourse, frame, and geography
  • 3.Setting and data sources
  • 4.Mobilizing discourses across national landscapes
  • 5.Legal templates: SB 1070 as simple law
  • 6.Distributed repertoires: Immigrants as criminals and animals
  • 7.Marketing discourses: Diversity in inter-urban competition
  • 8.Discursive bordering of the actor
  • 9.Constructing actors: Aliens and apologies
  • 10.Conclusion: Managing discourse and the politics of displacement
  • References
Published online: 22 December 2014
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/jlp.13.3.06nes
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