Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-xtgtn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-19T08:48:01.794Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

(Supra)National Identity and Language: Rethinking National and European Migration Policies and the Linguistic Integration of Migrants

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 March 2015

Ruth Wodak  and
Salomi Boukala
Ruth Wodak
Affiliation:
Lancaster Universitywodak@exchange.lancs.ac.uk; bsalomi@gmail.com
Salomi Boukala
Affiliation:
Lancaster Universitywodak@exchange.lancs.ac.uk; bsalomi@gmail.com
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

In this paper we juxtapose the European Union's (EU's) supranational policies on language and migration with their recontextualisation into national policies of the linguistic integration of migrants in two EU member states, Austria and Greece. The EU member states adapt the European legislation according to their national laws (National Acton Plans) which have to also account for national traditions and national citizenship legislation. Moreover, we explore the national regulations on language testing and the linguistic integration of migrants in Austria and Greece which are part and parcel of the National Action Plans and which establish obstacles for migrants: Indeed, they function as gate-keepers. Hence, a context-dependent micro-level discourse analytic approach suggests itself.

The data for the analysis stem from legal and policy texts of the EU, Austria and Greece (regulations on citizenship, language education, testing and the linguistic integration of migrants). By employing the Discourse Historical Approach (DHA) of Critical Discourse Studies we analyze how specific EU regulations are implemented in national legislation; how migrants, who live in Austria and Greece are represented by the legislators, and finally how the respective national identities in the context of migration legislation are constructed.

Type
Research Article
Information
Annual Review of Applied Linguistics , Volume 35 , March 2015 , pp. 253 - 273
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2015 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY

Extramiana, C., Pulinnx, R., & Van Avermaet, P. (2014). Linguistic integration of adult migrants: Policy and practice draft report on the 3rd Council of Europe Survey. Strasbourg, France: Council of Europe.

This report provides the most recent statistics of language distribution in Europe Union (including migrant languages) and about the requirements of each European country for language and citizenship tests for people wanting to enter the country (in order to stay and work). This report is funded by the Council of Europe and was compiled by sociolinguists.

Krzyżanowski, M., & Wodak, R. (2011). Political strategies and language policies: The “rise and fall” of the EU Lisbon strategy and its implications for the union's multilingualism policy. Language Policy, 10 (2), 115–136.

This paper provides an excellent overview of the European Union's language policies for multilingualism, related to various dimensions of European and national identities. The paper traces the history of the EU's multilingualism policies and analyzes the various policy papers with the help of conceptual history and the Discourse-historical approach.

Musolff, A. (2010). Political metaphor and bodies politics. In Okulska, U. & Cap, P. (eds.), Perspectives in politics and discourse (pp. 23–42). Amsterdam, The Netherlands: John Benjamins.

This paper provides an excellent example of the metaphors which construct and represent national and nationalistic body politics; i.e. how conceptual metaphors serve to construe (and are subsequently internalized) the relationship between an imagined homogenous people, national identity and the nation state.

Wodak, R., de Cillia, R., Reisigl, M., & Liebhart, K. (2009). The discursive construction of national identity. Edinburgh, Scotland: EUP.

This co-authored monograph (in its revised and extended second edition) describes and explains the many discursive strategies employed for the discursive construction of imagined national identities. More specifically, the book focusses on and triangulates a range of data (media, speeches, focus groups, and interviews) in order to trace the discursive constructions of an imagined past, present and future of Austria's hegemonic identity. The theoretical framework and methodology, both developed for this study and subsequently applied to multiple other contexts, are presented in much detail, with many examples.

Wodak, R. (2015). The politics of fear: Understanding the Meanings of Right-wing Populism. London, UK: Sage.

This monograph is the first comprehensive study of right-wing populist rhetoric in Europe and the US. The book illustrates the renationalizing tendencies emerging in the wake of the rise of right-wing populist parties and the related body politics and identity politics. These politics and policies have a huge impact on national language policies and the adopted new legislation on migration.

REFERENCES

Amnesty International. (2014). Greece: Frontier of hope and fear: Migrants and refugees pushed back at Europe's border. Retrieved from http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/EUR25/004/2014/en/705659ab-637b-4940-b8d9-b448052f2764/eur250042014en.pdfGoogle Scholar
Anderson, B. (1991). Imagined communities. London, UK: Verso.Google Scholar
Baker, P., Gabrielatos, C., KhosraviNik, M., Krzyżanowski, M., McEnery, T., & Wodak, R. (2008). A useful methodological synergy? Combining critical discourse analysis and corpus linguistics to examine discourses of refugees and asylum seekers in the UK press. Discourse & Society, 19 (3), 273–305.Google Scholar
Bauböck, R., & Joppke, C. (2010). How liberal are citizenship tests? EUI Working Papers, 41.Google Scholar
Bauböck, R., & Wallace, C. (2012). EUDO Citizenship Policy Brief 2. Florence, Italy: European University Institute.Google Scholar
Bauman, Z. (1995). Life in fragments: Essays in postmodern morality. Cambridge, MA: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Blackledge, A. (2005). Discourse and power in a multilingual world. Amsterdam, The Netherlands: John Benjamins.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blommaert, J. (1999). The debate is open. In Blommaert, J. (ed.), Language ideological debates (pp. 1–39). Berlin, Germany: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Boukala, S. (2013). Greek media discourse and the construction of European identity: Supranational identity, fortress Europe and Islam as radical otherness (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). Lancaster, UK: Lancaster University.Google Scholar
Buci-Glucksmann, C. (1980). Gramsci and the state. London, UK: Lawrence & Wishart.Google Scholar
Castoriadis, C. (1981). The imaginary institution of society. London, UK: Polity.Google Scholar
Checkel, J., & Katzenstein, P. (2009). European identity. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cinpoes, R. (2008) From national identity to European identity. Journal of Identity and Migration Studies, 2 (1).Google Scholar
de Cillia, R., & Dorustkar, N. (2013). Integration und/durch Sprache. In Dahlvik, J., Reinprecht, C., & Wiebke, S. (eds.), Migration und integration—wissenschaftliche Perspektiven aus Österreich (pp. 143–162). Vienna, Austria: Vienna University Press.Google Scholar
de Cillia, R., & Wodak, R. (2006). Ist Österreich ein deutsches Land? Anmerkungen zur Sprachenpolitik in der Zweiten Republik. Innsbruck, Austria: Studienverlag.Google Scholar
Delanty, G. (2000). Citizenship in a global age: Society, culture, politics. Philadelphia, PA: Open University Press.Google Scholar
Delanty, G., Jones, P., & Wodak, R. (eds.) (2011). Identity, belonging and migration. Manchester, UK: UMP.Google Scholar
Ersbøll, E., Kostakopoulou, D., & Van Oers, R. (eds.) (2010). A redefinition of belonging? Language and integration tests for newcomers and future citizens. Leiden, The Netherlands: Martinus Nijhoff.Google Scholar
Extramiana, C., Pulinnx, R., & Van Avermaet, P. (2014). Linguistic integration of adult migrants: Policy and practice draft report on the 3rd Council of Europe Survey. Strasbourg, France: Council of Europe.Google Scholar
Falkner, G., Treib, O., Hartlapp, M., Leiber, S. (2005). Complying with Europe. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gal, S. (2006). Migration, minorities and multilingualism. In Mar-Molinero, C. & Stevenson, P. (eds.), Language ideologies, policies and practices: Language and the future of Europe (pp. 13–28). Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
Gal, S. (2010). Linguistic regimes and European diversity (unpublished manuscript). Keynote Lecture, Conference New Challenges for Multilingualism in Europe, Dubrovnik, Croatia, April 2010.Google Scholar
Gramsci, A. (1971). Selections from the prison notebooks. London, UK: Lawrence & Wishart.Google Scholar
Hart, C. (2010).Critical discourse analysis and cognitive science: New perspectives on immigration discourse. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave.Google Scholar
Jessop, B. (2008). State power: A strategic relational approach. London, UK: Polity.Google Scholar
Kallis, A. (2013). Breaking the taboos and mainstreaming the extreme: The debates on restricting Islamic symbols in Europe. In Wodak, R., Khosravinik, M., & Mral, B. (eds.), Right-wing populism in Europe: Politics and discourse (pp. 55–70). London, UK: Bloomsbury Academic.Google Scholar
KhosraviNik, M. (2010). The representation of refugees, asylum seekers and immigrants in British newspapers: A critical discourse analysis. Journal of Language and Politics, 9 (1), 1–28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kienpointner, M. (2011). Rhetoric. In Ostman, J. & Verschueren, J. (eds.), Pragmatics in practice (pp. 264–277). Amsterdam, The Netherlands: John Benjamins.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Krzyżanowski, M. (2010). The discursive construction of European identities: A multilevel approach to discourse and identity in the transforming European Union. Oxford, UK: Peter Lang.Google Scholar
Krzyżanowski, M., & Oberhuber, F. (2007). (Un)Doing Europe: Discourses and practices of negotiating the EU constitution. Oxford, UK: Peter Lang.Google Scholar
Krzyżanowski, M., & Wodak, R. (2007). Multiple identities, migration, and belonging: Voices of migrants. In Caldas-Coulthard, C. & Iedema, R. (eds.), Identity troubles (pp. 95–119). Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave.Google Scholar
Krzyżanowski, M., & Wodak, R. (2009). Politics of exclusion: Debating migration in Austria. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Press.Google Scholar
Krzyżanowski, M., & Wodak, R. (2011). Political strategies and language policies: The “rise and fall” of the EU Lisbon strategy and its implications for the union's multilingualism policy. Language Policy, 10 (2), 115–136.Google Scholar
Krzyżanowski, M., & Wodak, R. (2013). Dynamics of multilingualism in post-Enlargement EU institutions: Perceptions, conceptions and practices. In Berthoud, A.-C., Grin, F., & Lüdi, G. (eds.), Exploring the dynamics of multilingualism (pp. 205–231). Amsterdam, The Netherlands: John Benjamins.Google Scholar
Lamont, M., & Molnar, V. (2002). The study of boundaries in the social sciences. Annual Review of Sociology, 28, 167–195.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Matouschek, B., Wodak, R., & Januschek, F. (1995). Notwendige Maßnahmen gegen Fremde? Vienna, Austria: Passagen.Google Scholar
Michalowski, I. (2011). Required to assimilate? The content of citizenship tests in five countries. Citizenship Studies, 15 (6–7), 749–768.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Milani, T. (2009). At the intersection between power and knowledge: An analysis of a Swedish policy document on language testing for citizenship. Journal of Language and Politics, 8 (2), 287–304.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Modood, T., Triandafyllidou, A., & Zapata-Barrero, R. (2006). Multiculturalism, Muslims and citizenship: A European approach London, UK: Routledge.Google Scholar
Musolff, A. (2010). Political metaphor and bodies politics. In Okulska, U. & Cap, P. (eds.), Perspectives in politics and discourse (pp. 23–42). Amsterdam, The Netherlands: John Benjamins.Google Scholar
Norocel, O. C. (2013). Our people—A tight-knit family under the same protective roof. Helsinki, Finland: Unigrafia.Google Scholar
Orgad, L. (2010). Illiberal liberalism: cultural restrictions on migration and access to citizenship in Europe. American Journal of Comparative Law, 58, 53–105.Google Scholar
Piller, I. (2001). Naturalization language testing and its basis in ideologies of national identity and citizenship. International Journal of Bilingualism, 5 (3), 259–277.Google Scholar
Reisigl, M., & Wodak, R. (2001). Discourse and discrimination: Rhetorics of racism and antisemitism. London, UK: Routledge.Google Scholar
Reisigl, M., & Wodak, R. (2009). The discourse historical approach. In Wodak, R. & Meyer, M. (eds.), Methods of critical discourse analysis (pp. 87–121). London, UK: Sage.Google Scholar
Ricoeur, P. (1992).Oneself as another. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Robertson, S. L. (2008). Embracing the global crisis and the creation of a new semiotic order to secure Europe's knowledge-based economy. In Jessop, B., Fairclough, N., & Wodak, R. (eds.), Education and the knowledge based economy in Europe (pp. 89–108). Rotterdam, The Netherlands: Sense.Google Scholar
Simmel, G. (1950). The sociology of Georg Simmel. New York, NY: Free Press.Google Scholar
Thomas, P. (2009). The Gramscian moment: Philosophy, hegemony and Marxism. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Toulmin, S. (2003). The uses of argument. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Triandafyllidou, A. (2014). Greek migration policy in the 2010s: Europeanization tenses at a time of crisis. Journal of European Integration, 36 (4), 409–425.Google Scholar
Triandafyllidou, A., & Dimitriadi, G. (2013). Migration management at the outpost of the European Union. Griffith Law Review, 22 (3), 598–618.Google Scholar
Triandafyllidou, A., & Kouki, H. (2013). Muslim migrants and the Greek nation: The emergence of nationalist tolerance. Ethnicities, 13 (6), 709–728.Google Scholar
Triandafyllidou, A., & Wodak, R. (2003). Conceptual and methodological questions in the study of collective identities. Journal of Language and Politics, 2 (2), 205–223.Google Scholar
Tsoukalas, K. (2013). Forms of Continuity and Discontinuity. Athens, Greece: Themelio.Google Scholar
Voulgaris, Y., & Nikolakopoulos, I. (2014). Diplos Eklogikos Seismos 2012. Athina, Greece: Themelio.Google Scholar
Walton, D. (1996). Argumentation schemes for presumptive reasoning. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Wodak, R. (2007). Discourses in European Union organizations: Aspects of access, participation, and exclusion. TEXT and TALK, 27 (5/6), 655–680.Google Scholar
Wodak, R. (2011a). The discourse of politics in action: Politics as usual. London, UK: Palgrave.Google Scholar
Wodak, R. (2011b). “Us” and “them”: Inclusion and exclusion—discrimination via discourse. In Delanty, G., Jones, P., & Wodak, R., R. (eds.), Identity, belonging and migration (pp. 54–77). Manchester, UK: UMP.Google Scholar
Wodak, R. (2012). Language, power and identity. Language Teaching, 44 (3), 215–233Google Scholar
Wodak, R. (2013). Dis-citizenship and migration: A critical discourse-analytical perspective. Journal of Language, Identity, and Education, 12, 173–178.Google Scholar
Wodak, R. (2014). Political discourse analysis—Distinguishing frontstage and backstage contexts. A discourse-historical approach. In Flowerdew, J. (ed.), Discourse in context (pp. 522–549). London, UK: Bloomsbury.Google Scholar
Wodak, R. (2015). The politics of fear:Understanding the Meanings of Right-wing Populism. London, UK: Sage.Google Scholar
Wodak, R., & Boukala, S. (2014). Talking about solidarity and security in the age of crisis: The revival of nationalism and protectionism in the European Union—a discourse-historical approach. In Carta, C. & Morin, J.-F. (eds.), Applying discourse analysis to the EU: Theoretical and methodological challenges (pp. 171–190). Aldershot, UK: Ashgate.Google Scholar
Wodak, R., & Boukala, S. (2015). European Identities and the Revival of Nationalism in the European Union—a Discourse-Historical Approach. Journal of Language and Politics, 14 (1), 87–129.Google Scholar
Wodak, R., de Cillia, R., Reisigl, M., & Liebhart, K. (2009). The discursive construction of national identity. Edinburgh, Scotland: EUP.Google Scholar
Wodak, R., & Fairclough, N. (2010). Recontextualizing European higher education policies: The cases of Austria and Romania. Critical Discourse Studies, 7 (1), 19–40.Google Scholar