THE RHETORIC OF OTHERING IN A TIME OF PANDEMIC: LABELING COVID-19 AS A “FOREIGN VIRUS” IN PUBLIC DISCOURSE
Keywords:
COVID-19, xenophobia, discrimination, othering, discourse, analysisAbstract
This paper explores how the COVID-19 pandemic affects social relations and social interactions. It will rely on critical discourse analysis in order to identify the patterns of power relations related to various political and media narratives about the COVID-19 pandemic. It will be shown that the pandemic crisis has contributed to the rise of xenophobia and discrimination, which is the result of fear of the Other being perceived as a carrier of the disease. Discourses and narratives about the COVID-19 outbreak portray COVID-19 as a foreign virus, emphasizing binary oppositions: we/they, self/other, civilized/barbaric, citizen/foreigner, West/East and so forth.
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