"We won't tolerate any violence against asylum seekers" : Refugees, Social Work and the Media

This presentation is part of the proposed symposium on “Media Representation of Social Work: Lessons from a Comparative Transnational Research, co-ordinated by Elena Allegri. My paper will analyse the recent cases of... [ view full abstract ]

This presentation is part of the proposed symposium on “Media Representation of Social Work: Lessons from a Comparative Transnational Research, co-ordinated by Elena Allegri.
My paper will analyse the recent cases of violence perpetuated by private security guards in asylum seekers centres in North-Rhine-Westphalia against refugees and engages with the media representation of both the refugees as well as social workers.
In the past years, protests by refugees in Germany (for instance in Berlin, Hamburg, Munich) have succeeded in bringing to the attention of the state and the media, discrimination and violence against asylum seekers and undocumented migrants. This has raised awareness regarding their plight, even as dominant discourses claim that refugees remain “unwelcomed” in Germany. Images depicting recent acts of violence against refugees in asylum seekers centres have initiated a fresh debate on the right to asylum and the role of social work in the context of the current global refugee crisis.
Employing Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), the paper will explore the paradoxes and contradictions in the media reports about refugees in Germany. Focusing on publications in both conservative as well as progressive German newspapers, my talk will analyse how spokespersons of reputed NGOs like Pro Asyl and Amnesty International positioned themselves within this public debate. Unfortunately local social work actors were mostly absent in these media reports. Drawing on postcolonial perspectives, I will historically situate the violence against migrants in general and refugees in particular, while highlighting the possible critical role social work could play in intervening in dominant media representations.