Speaking in new ways: Media representations of the Asylum Relay

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 the Asylum Relay, Asylstafetten in Swedish, was initiated by refugees themselves and it was undertaken a second and third time in the summer 2014 and 2015. The initiative attained much media attention and in this masters thesis by Ida Granath, associated to our project, the media representations of the participants in the Relay is analysed using Critical Discourse Analysis, postcolonial aspects and citizenship studies. Ida also conducted participant observation by walking with the Relay in 2014. Her 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. Furthermore she finds that the media build on and reconstruct the idea of the nation-state and relations of power of authorities over refugees. However, it is also shown in the study that through acts of citizenship refugees are presented as active rather than passive, and they get a prominent voice in the media representation. The thesis can be read here: https://gupea.ub.gu.se/handle/2077/40519