Abstract
This chapter analyses the attitudes of informants (the rejectors) who oppose Poland’s acceptance of refugees. It demonstrates that the rejectors identify refugees with Muslims, treating them as a threat to the Polish nation. The chapter examines several interrelated and mutually reinforcing forms of Muslim threat. It argues that the rejectors reproduce hegemonic Islamophobic discourse and draw on anti-Muslim ideas circulating in transnational space. It also shows connections between Islamophobia and anti-Tsiganism. It argues that rejectors’ opposition to Muslims assumes the form of cultural racism, yet they also tend to naturalise cultural differences and evoke biological signifiers to mark cultural boundaries. In addition, the chapter examines arguments against the reception of refugees that do not correspond with cultural or biological racism.
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Jaskułowski, K. (2019). The Nation Under Threat. In: The Everyday Politics of Migration Crisis in Poland. Palgrave Pivot, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-10457-3_5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-10457-3_5
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