Abstract
The term ‘environmental refugees’ referring to people fleeing home and hearth due to climate change is a controversial construct. Academic and legal discourses ignore the existence of ‘environmental refugees’ and politicians from island nations that are at a risk of disappearing, resist the term ‘refugees’. Yet ‘environmental refugees’ is the name commonly used to refer to these people fleeing home ground due to the consequences of climate change. By examining how environmental refugees are framed in two British newspapers, The Guardian and The Times, over a 30-year period, it is possible to understand how the media’s representational practices project repeated absences that critically erase certain contemporary consequences of climate change; and, yet remain deliberately selective about the social construction of knowledge about climatic events and ensuing actions. This chapter proposes that one more way in which valid claims can be made about environmental refugees is to recognise patterns of absence(s) in the form of traces, masks and voids, following (Stibbe, Ecolinguistics: Language ecology and the stories we live by. London: Routledge, 2015). Media studies of framing have thus far suggested absence as only a by-product of the framing strategy itself. In this chapter, frames are examined alongside patterns of absence(s), to show how an issue is framed in a certain manner that is (dis)advantageous to certain groups. Without application of this approach, we are unwittingly participating in selectively making absent the evidence for the projection of the frame.
Notes
- 1.
Refer to Sect. 9.2.2 for a detailed discussion on distinguishing the terms traces, masks and voids.
- 2.
Not all ‘natural disasters’ can be blamed on climate change , e.g. the aftermath of volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, and tsunamis, which result from massive geological shifts within the earth are not from human activity at the surface. Exceptions exist like that of fracking that cause earthquakes. That said, it is possible to argue that high numbers of casualties in earthquakes in Nepal or Haiti are due to inferior construction, which may be related to poverty, clearly a dimension of human activity, though still unrelated to climate change since poverty and shoddy construction in these places have a long history in these places.
- 3.
The terms ‘environmental refugee’ and ‘climate refugee’ are often used interchangeably. In this research, the term ‘climate refugee’ refers to a specific subset of refugees who are victims of human-induced climate change whereas ‘environmental refugee’ describes populations that move due to dramatic and violent climatic events that may or may not be humanly induced.
- 4.
Relevant examples follow in Sect. 9.3.1.
- 5.
The choice of using the search term ‘migrant’ is a conscious one, as there is academic literature that suggests that the use of the term migrant is better suited as it is a choice people make to move across international borders.
- 6.
The subtopics are listed in Appendix.
- 7.
Please refer to Appendix for a list of subtopics.
- 8.
Not detailed in this chapter but an equally important phenomenon contributing to masking climate change and its consequences on species is presenting the issue in the form of episodic frames. The issues are presented in the form of concrete instances or specific events instead of thematic frames that focus broader social trends at a more abstract level and discuss general outcomes (Iyengar, 1990).
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Appendix: List of Subtopics
Appendix: List of Subtopics
The following list of subtopics were listed with the following information:
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1.
Writer(s) and complete Reference:
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Word count:
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Unique observational angle if any:
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Unique phrasing (e.g. adjectives, metaphors , descriptions, etc.) if any:
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Comments on findings about framing:
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Comments on pattern of absences:
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Weighted Total:
Extrinsic | Pro-migration | Pro-adaptive Measure(s) |
Effects of climate change on species | Negative effects of climate change on species, thus reason to move. The effects were listed in terms of: Health Species Ecosystems Humans | Negative description of effects of climate change on species locally, thus reason to adapt locally. The effects were listed in terms of: Health Species Ecosystems Humans |
Destruction and thus movement away from epicentre (irreversible) | Destruction (which may be slow and gradual) thus change in a way of life | |
Migration as a solution | Recommends action for movement | Resistance against moving |
Climate change as a security risk | Violent conflict and wars between states | Positive advantages of staying back |
Competition for scarce resources in host countries | Competition for scarce resources in native country, thus adaptation recommended | |
Empathy for host countries | Empathy for people moving | |
Protecting national: shores | Negative portrayal of costs | Positive attributes of saving (international) funds |
Influx, a strain on the system in terms of competition for jobs | Benefits of helping from a distance (inclusive of funds) | |
Intrinsic | Pro-migration | Pro-adaptive Measure |
Risk (Generalities) | Negative description of accepting refugees/ migrants | Positive outcomes of non-risk behaviour locally |
Uncertain future of these people (migrants/refugees) | Better future adapting to home ground changes | |
Spread of diseases, impact on socio-economic fabric of the nation | Glocal-adaptive strategies to improve the socio-economic fabric of the nation | |
National interest | Climate action in favour of individual nations | Climate action not recommended |
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Venkataraman, N. (2018). What’s Not in a Frame? Analysis of Media Representations of the Environmental Refugee. In: Schröter, M., Taylor, C. (eds) Exploring Silence and Absence in Discourse. Postdisciplinary Studies in Discourse. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-64580-3_9
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