Eleventh Global Studies Conference

Abstract

My investigation examines the discursive creation of the Spanish “migration imaginary” (Fortier). Specifically, I conduct a critical discourse analysis of the metaphors used to designate Spanish emigrants in selected newspapers from four crucial migratory periods in Spanish history: late 19c. migration to northern Africa and Latin America, exile in the aftermath of the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939), economic migration towards Europe in the 1960s, and the recent migratory movements following the 2008 economic crisis. Results show that early emigrants were designated by metaphors that characterize them as a low-skill, uneducated, and poor labor-force, while recent emigrants are described as taking place in a brain-drain of a highly educated and young population. Newspapers also show metaphors that depict Spain as a suffering mother losing her children in the first two periods, in contrast with the proud mother whose offspring work for the well-being of all during the third period. Finally, a third group of metaphors build on the country-as-a-container image, especially during the fourth period, where the limits of that container are being contested in the name of globalization and in the context the European Union. These metaphors help create a “social imaginary” (Taylor) that shapes how Spanish society views national and personal identities and borders, and relationships with “the Others.”