Politics of the Rubble and ‘A Life to Be Built’: A Critical Discourse Analysis on Dutch Media Representations of the Earthquake

Abstract

This thesis aims to investigate how Dutch media representations of the earthquakes in Syria and Turkey become an extension of white innocence and constructs a politics of pity rather than transnational solidarities (Wekker 2016; Boltanski 1999). I am conducting a critical discourse analysis using Dutch online newspaper articles and the Giro555 campaign for this investigation. Given the limited space of this thesis, I focus on the specific context of Turkey and start my discussion with what I call ‘politics of the rubble’. By providing the background information on how Turkish politics and policies shape the consequences of the ‘natural’ disaster, I aim to make what Dutch media representations leave out visible. I am building my analysis in two main pillars: a critical discourse analysis of online newspaper articles (NRC, Trouw, Volkskrant and Telegraaf) and of the Giro555 campaign. When discussing the chosen newspaper articles and how these represent distant suffering, I argue that the discourse of depoliticization supports the notion of Dutch self-representation which, as a result, fuels white innocence (Wekker 2016). Claiming that the Giro555 live broadcast situates Karsu as the ‘native informant’, I discuss how this humanitarian aid campaign is built around evoking ‘pity’ rather than calling for solidarity (Spivak 1999). I conclude my thesis with a discussion on transnational solidarities where I search for cosmopolitan imaginings. I am finally sharing a call for solidarity with the reader, with the hope to start “making a difference in our vulnerable global village” (Chouliaraki 2008, 17).