From the illegal migrant-criminal to the illegal migrant-invader: Critical analysis of the semantic change of the Greek term λαθρομετανάστης 'illegal migrant'

Following a critical discourse analysis (CDA) approach, the present study reports on the analysis of 49 texts from the Hellenic Parliament Proceedings, where the term λαθρομετανάστης “illegal migrant” is used. The texts under scrutiny date back to 2015 (i. e., the year the migration crisis reached its peak) and reveal the recontextualized use of this term, which is identified with the hegemonic national-racist discourse of the 1990s perceiving migrants as criminals. Since the 1990s, the term has been stigmatized by political correctness as racist and inaccurate. We consider political correctness as a type of corrective practice, since it detects naturalized language uses reproducing stereotypes and power relationships. We will examine how the re-emergence of the older, racist use of the term in question as a reaction against the guidelines of political correctness is anew connected with national-xenophobic discourse and, in particular, with framing migrants as invaders and a national threat. Overall, tracing the semantic trajectory of the term λαθρομετανάστης “illegal migrant” allows us to explore how language use at the micro-level is dialectically connected with discourses at the macro-level

Script Oppositions and Humorous Tагgets: Promoting Values and Constructing Identities via Humor in Greek Conversational Data

Recent pragmatic research focuses on the issue of identity construction via humor. In this paper, we intend to investigate how could the General Theory of Verbal Humor (in Attardo 2001, henceforth GTVH) contribute to the analysis of humor as a means of iden[1]tity construction. Among the six knowledge resources proposed by the GTVH we focus on target and script opposition. The first one helps us identify whose behavior our young informants consider incongruous and, at the same time, worth laughing at. The second one reveals the specific (and often implicit) norms ard values shared by conversationalists. We illustrate our points u mg Greek conversational narratives coming from same-gen[1]der groups of young Greek males and females. We show that, in our data, conversationa[1]lists select targets either outside or inside their group. Special emphasis is given to sel[1]f-targeting humor (henceforth STH) and its function as a discourse strategy used for iden[1]tity construction. Previous research on this kind of humor has revealed that STH can be interpreted as an index of either lack or presence of self-confidence and self-esteem. Our data show that, by using STH, our interlocutors indirectly point to a positive self-image. In all cases, the target of humor reinforces the existing bonds among group members, while bringing the evaluative dimension of humor to the surface and revealing the group values. Finally, our analysis brings an interesting pragmatic difference to the surface. This difference is related to the effect of humor on the identities constructed: through humor directed at other people’s behavior (in the cases of out- and in-group targets), the speaker eventually de-legitimizes those others, while, through self-targeting humor, the speaker aims at legitimizing him/herself and his/her own actions

Constructing Local Identities via/for Humour: A Cretan-Greek Case Study

One of the most common functions of humour is the construction of identity, usually achieved by including certain individuals in a group sharing specific values and views, and by excluding others representing different values and views (Archakis and Tsakona, 2005). The aim of the present study is to investigate how online interactants create a local identity via the production of digital humorous texts, thus forming a group of people with common perceptions on a specific event reported by the media. In particular, Facebook participants formed communities supporting the right of a crocodile -non endemic to Greece- to live on the loose in a lake in Crete, Greece, and opposing local authorities wishing to capture the animal. Interlocutors draw on, and reframe, popular -and even stereotypical- aspects of the Cretan identity involving, among other things, a passionate love of freedom, resistance to official authorities, rebelliousness, and heroism (Herzfeld, 1985). Such cultural traits seem to be attributed to the crocodile so as not only to bolster the interlocutors’ own perspective, but also to create a humorous effect

The narrative construction of identities in critical education

viii, 211 p.; 22 c

Konstruowanie tożsamości hybrydowej „Obcego”. Przypadek greckich emigrantów w Kanadzie

The aim of our study is to examine the multiple ways Greek immigrants position themselves in terms of cultural identity. Recent approaches to immigrants’ cultural identities tend to employ the concept of transnationalism to account for their hybridity and fluidity. Here, we intend to show that Georg Simmel’s ([1908] 1971) notion of the stranger is also relevant to the analysis and interpretation of such transnational identities. In this context, and drawing on positioning theory (Davies and Harré 1990), we argue that our informants mainly construct hybrid ‘stranger’ identities as both Greeks and Canadians or as feeling Greek but not when in Greece. Our data consists of 15 semi-structured interviews exploring the immigrant experiences of Greeks who migrated to Canada from the mid-1940s until the late 1970s. The analysis focuses on (a) the discursive means the informants employ to construct the hybrid identity of the ‘stranger’, and (b) the specific purposes they fulfill. It appears that hybrid self-positionings are achieved via the use of (a) the discourses of ‘being’ and ‘feeling’, (b) the disclaimer I am/feel Greek but…, (c) metaphors, (d) small stories, (e) the evaluative phrase this is difficult to answer…, and (f) repair mechanisms. We also argue that, via constructing ‘stranger’ identities, the immigrants of our data claim Greekness, on the one hand, and legitimize themselves as Canadian citizens on the other, while also distancing themselves from the Greeks living in Greece and the respective negative stereotypes.W naszym artykule stawiamy sobie za cel zbadanie różnych sposobów, na jakie greccy imigranci budują swoją tożsamość kulturową. Najnowsze podejścia do tożsamości kulturowej imigrantów wykorzystują koncepcję transnacjonalizmu, w celu wyjaśnienia ich hybrydyczności i płynności. W pracy zamierzamy pokazać, że pojęcie "obcego" autorstwa Georga Simmela ([1908] 1971) można również odnieść do analizy i interpretacji tego typu transnarodowych tożsamości. W tym kontekście, bazując na teorii pozycjonowania Daviesa i Harré’go (1990), twierdzimy, iż nasi respondenci budują hybrydową tożsamość "obcego" głównie na dwa sposoby: i) jako jednocześnie Grecy i Kanadyjczycy, ii) jako Grecy, wtedy kiedy nie przebywają w Grecji. Nasze dane zostały zebrane w 15 częściowo ustrukturyzowanych wywiadach badających imigranckie doświadczenia Greków, którzy wyemigrowali do Kanady w okresie od połowy lat czterdziestych do późnych lat siedemdziesiątych. Analiza skupia się na: (a) środkach dyskursywnych stosowanych przez respondentów w celu skonstruowania swojej hybrydowej tożsamości "obcego" oraz (b) konkretnych celach, które te środki spełniają. Badania wydają się wskazywać, że hybrydowe samookreślenie osiąga się poprzez użycie: (a) zastrzeżenia: "Jestem / czuję się Grekiem, ale ...", (b) metafory, (c) krótkiego opowiadania i (d) mechanizmu naprawczego. Twierdzimy również, że poprzez budowanie tożsamości „obcego” uwzględnieni w badaniu imigranci uznają się za Greków a jednocześnie za obywateli kanadyjskich, a przy tym dystansują się od Greków żyjących w Grecji i odpowiadających im negatywnych stereotypów