Constructing cultural borders: depictions of Muslim refugees in British and German media

Abstract

The recent migration of refugees from Muslim majority countries to Central Europe has prompted an almost unprecedented dynamic in the British and German public sphere and political culture. However, there exists a lack of understanding how the “refugee crisis” and Islam are linked to each other in public discourse. This paper addresses this lacuna by seeking to answer the question how the current refugee situation has been interpreted with regards to Islam in British and German newspapers. A critical analysis allows to identify three major discursive patterns that contribute to the securitisation of the refugee situation. Moreover, the study reveals the construction of Muslim refugees as the culturally inferior “other” to an exclusive “European Christian Culture”.