A CALL FOR PAPERS
a special issue of
Patterns of Prejudice
on asylum and xenophobia
In the last decade the number of people seeking asylum has increased
dramatically in the wake of conflicts around the globe. There has also been,
in many European countries, a growth in support for anti-immigrant political
parties and an increase in racist violence. According to the prevailing
logic, racism and its violent manifestations are an understandable reaction
to the influx of refugees. European leaders have argued that, unless their
number is strictly controlled, xenophobic violence will increase and spread.
'Good race relations', the new dogma has it, are dependent on a strictly
controlled asylum policy.
Is this 'new dogma' justified? Is the solution to racist violence a
controlled reduction of the numbers of asylum-seekers who enter? Or is the
increase in racism a response to the 'new dogma' itself? Is it the
xenophobic construction of asylum-seekers as dangerous and exploitative that
is responsible for the fear and loathing to which they are subjected? What
lies behind this shift in the perception of asylum-seekers from 'deserving
victims' to 'undeserving scroungers'? And to what extent can political
leaders and the media be held responsible for these developments?
This special issue of Patterns of Prejudice, guest edited by Liza Schuster,
will explore the link between xenophobia and attitudes towards asylum.
Contributions
are invited from a variety of social science disciplines, ideally leading to
an issue that offers a discussion of how this link operates at both
policymaking and local
levels. Among the questions that might be explored are:
- does xenophobia have an impact on the formulation and implementation of
asylum policy?
- to what extent can the popular rhetoric of the defence of 'our' security
and nation, or of burdensome asylum-seekers, be construed as racist or
xenophobic?
- does the media play a role in relation to attitudes to asylum-seekers?
- what have been the effects of the increase in hostility towards
asylum-seekers?
Papers addressing these and related questions should be submitted in two (2)
copies by 1 February 2003. They should be no longer than 7,000 words with
documentation. Please see the journal for style sheet. Submissions and
queries should be sent to: Liza Schuster, Department of Sociology, London
School of Economics, Houghton Street, London WC2A 2AE, England,
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