Vi måste hjälpa dom stackars flyktingarna: En kritisk diskursanalys av hjälpande, medlidande och andrafiering i Facebook-gruppen "Grannar i Torslanda"

Abstract

This single case study conducted with critical discourse analysis on qualitative interviews and comment fields, aims to critically reflect on the significance of the postcolonial concept of othering. Therefore, the first issue of the essay is about seeking to identify the dominant discourses associated with well-meaning helping expressions in the Facebook-group "Grannar i Torslanda" regarding the "in between- accommodation for refugees" of Lilleby Camping. By incorporating previous research on pity, postcolonial theory and critical whiteness studies, well-meaning and helpful statements towards refugees is analyzed through power relations. The second issue concerns how the discourses can be deconstructed to gain a better understanding of the underlying causes of pity, which is investigated through in-depth interviews and a psychologically theory along with the postcolonial perspective. This study indicates how helpful expressions towards refugees could contribute to the strengthening and maintenance of othering, but also how the colonial discourse about "the other" could be deconstructed and criticized through those expressions. There was also found a connection between power and pity.