A Multicultural Nation and its (Muslim) Other? Political Leadership and Media Reporting in the Wake of the 'Sydney Siege

Dados Bibliográficos

ID3661832
AutoresVal Colic-Peisker (0000-0002-3471-0938, RMIT University, autor correspondente), Maša Mikola (RMIT University), Karien Dekker (0000-0001-7361-591X, RMIT University)
Ano2016
Volume37
Fascículo4
Páginas373-389
Data de publicação2016-07-03
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessNão
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoJournal of Intercultural Studies (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0725-6868 • E-ISSN: 1469-9540
EditoraInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/07256868.2016.1190693
OpenAlexW2467287084
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas9
Referências citadas20

This article explores public reactions to an event dubbed the ‘Sydney siege’, through an analysis of its media coverage. The event, where a Muslim man held 18 hostages in a Sydney café, was closely followed during its 22 hour duration and triggered an avalanche of public commentary. We analyse media articles, political leaders’ media statements and transcripts of press conferences published within the week of the siege. Using NVivo software, we code the key themes arising from the data and employ in-depth textual and discourse analyses of the most prominent themes: multiculturalism, Islam/Muslims and ‘community/solidarity’. Using the theoretical framework of the nation as an imagined community which needs its ‘Others’, we find that the ‘Sydney siege’ lead to emphasising hegemonic ideas of the Australian national identity and values that mark the boundaries of nationhood, community belonging and solidarity. Such ideas placed Muslims precariously at the national margin, applying a simplistic binary of the ‘good ones’ worthy of inclusion into the ‘good nation’ and the ‘bad ones’ to be excluded. We conclude that the public discourse following the Sydney siege affirmed Australian multiculturalism in a broad sense but also strongly implied the Otherness of Muslims

Hegemony · Media studies · Multiculturalism · National identity · Political science · Politics · Public sphere · Siege · Sociology · Solidarity · Gender Studies · History · Law · Migration, Refugees, and Integration · Social Media and Politics · Terrorism, Counterterrorism, and Political Violence