How to monitor xenophobic political discourses? An interpretative framework

April 18, 2013

Speaker Prof. Ricard Zapata Barrero is Senior Professor of applied political theory and qualitative methodology at the Department of Political and Social Sciences at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra (Barcelona-Spain). He is also the Director of GRITIM-UPF (Interdisciplinary Research Group on Immigration). His main lines of research deal with contemporary issues of liberal democracy in contexts of diversity, especially the relationship between democracy, citizenship and immigration. More information about his research: http://dcpis.upf.edu/~ricard-zapata/

After overviewing the current discursive context in Europe, the main purpose of this lecture is to propose a theoretical framework (discourse as politics) and a heuristic model to monitor xenophobic discourses. With the construction of this tool and its application the objective is to identify and counter whatever tendency of political parties of radicalizing their position towards xenophobia and racism. This is an especially urgent democratic task to do in times of crisis, which is a favorable context for such re-active discourses. This is a first dissemination project financed by Open Society Foundation to counter xenephobia.