American Ethnologist
Volume 43, Issue 1, 2016, Pages 12-24

Representing the "European refugee crisis" in Germany and beyond: Deservingness and difference, life and death (Article)

Holmes S.M. , Castañeda H.
  • a IGK Work and Human Life Cycle in Global History, University of California, Berkeley, and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Georgenstrasse 23, Berlin, 10117, Germany
  • b Department of Anthropology, University of South Florida and Freie Universität Berlin, 4202 East Fowler Avenue, SOC 107, Tampa, FL, United States

Abstract

The European refugee crisis has gained worldwide attention with daily media coverage both in and outside Germany. Representations of refugees in media and political discourse in relation to Germany participate in a Gramscian "war of position" over symbols, policies, and, ultimately, social and material resources, with potentially fatal consequences. These representations shift blame from historical, political-economic structures to the displaced people themselves. They demarcate the "deserving" refugee from the "undeserving" migrant and play into fear of cultural, religious, and ethnic difference in the midst of increasing anxiety and precarity for many in Europe. Comparative perspectives suggest that anthropology can play an important role in analyzing these phenomena, highlighting sites of contestation, imagining alternatives, and working toward them. © 2016 by the American Anthropological Association.

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Link
https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-84958114793&doi=10.1111%2famet.12259&partnerID=40&md5=a96a2c27b9d5e9dc1c2946217623ab34
DOI: 10.1111/amet.12259
ISSN: 00940496
Cited by: 171
Original Language: English