Σεμινάρια της Τρίτης του ΕΕΠΓ – ΑΝΟΙΞΗ 2024

Disentangling gentrification and immigration in media representations of Chinatowns (1988 ~ 2018): A corpus-assisted critical discourse analysis

Dimitris Kitis

Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University

Περίληψη/ Abstract

This paper examines the diachronic change in the representation of Chinatowns in the world's leading English-language newspapers from 1988 to 2018. Chinatowns, especially outside Asia, were traditionally viewed through an Orientalist lens as enclaves of foreign ‘others’ (Tchen, 2001). However, demographic and socio-economic changes over the past three decades have placed these ethnic neighbourhoods squarely at the centre of debates around gentrification, a term coined by Glass (1964) to refer to the shift from working class to middle class demography in urban communities. The focus of our analysis is to examine how this discourse of gentrification and the discourse of immigration intersect in news reports about recent changes in Chinatowns around the world.