European Identity and the Representation of Islam in the Mainstream Press: Argumentation and Media Discourse [Paperback]

This book combines media studies and linguistics with theories of national and supranational identity to offer an interdisciplinary approach to the study of European identity/ies and news discourses. Taking representations of Islamist terrorism and Turkeys accession to the European Union as case studies, it analyses the discursive construction of supranational European identity through the discursive distinction of Us and Them. Moreover, it compares the medias representations of the Other in different socio-political moments in Europe- from times of European integration (2004-5) to the European dystopia (2015-16) through the discourse analysis of specific Greek, British and French newspapers. This timely work synthesizes classic argumentative approaches and Gramscian thought in the study of media discourses by focusing on the Aristotelian concept of topos and introducing the concept of hegemonic knowledge. This pioneering work will appeal to scholars across the fields of linguistics, social anthropology, European politics, and media studies.

Chapter 1. Introduction: Kafka in Fortress Europe: The Other within the walls.- Chapter 2. The construction of European identity: from nation state to the European Union.- Chapter 3. Mass Media and hegemonic knowledge: Gramsci and the representation of the Other.- Chapter 4. (Re)introducing the Aristotelian topos/topoi in the Discourse Historical Approach: Key methodological concepts.- 5 Greek media discourse about the Islamist threat: From Islamist Terrorism to ISIS Terror.- 6 British media discourse about the Islamist threat.- Chapter 7. French media discourse about the Islamist threat.- 8 Greek media discourse about Turkeys accession to the European Union.- Chapter 9. British and French media discourse about Turkeys accession to the Europeanlc7