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Racism is not just hate speech: Ethnonationalist victimhood in YouTube comments about the Roma during Covid-19

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 March 2022

Petre Breazu Open the ORCID record for Petre Breazu [Opens in a new window]  and
David Machin
Petre Breazu
Affiliation:
Loughborough University, United Kingdom
David Machin*
Affiliation:
Shanghai International Studies University, China
*
Address for correspondence: David Machin School of International Studies Zhejiang University 866 Yuhangtang Rd. Hangzhou, 310058, China portvale100@googlemail.com
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Abstract

Research shows that racism and xenophobia soared during the Covid-19 pandemic and this was certainly the case with the Roma in Romania. In this article, using critical discourse analysis, we analyse comments left below a television news clip posted on YouTube early in the crisis. This gives us valuable access to the way racism and xenophobia are linguistically expressed in social media, particularly in this Romanian context. It yields insights into how more overt forms of racism can sit alongside others which are less so, all united by a sense of shared embittered victimhood on behalf of Romanian citizens. We show how this takes place as the affordances of social media allow for a collective expression of frustration and mobilisation, reflecting on how social media may increase exposure to more extreme forms of racism. (Critical discourse analysis, Covid-19, online racism, Roma, social media, white victimhood)

Type
Article
Information
Language in Society , Volume 52 , Issue 3 , June 2023 , pp. 511 - 531
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Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press

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