DISCOURSE ANALYSIS OF REFUGEE REPRESENTATION ON SOCIAL MEDIA: THE CASE OF EKSI SOZLUK

Yıl 2025, Sayı: 67, 83 - 99

Çiğdem Manap

Öz

This study critically examines the discourses surrounding Syrian refugees expressed by users of Eksi Sozluk, a prominent social media platform in Türkiye. The research aims to understand the social representations of Syrian refugees within this online community and to explore how these representations contribute to forming refugee and immigrant identities in the host society. To accomplish this, entries categorized under "Syrian Refugees" were analyzed using critical discourse analysis. A stratified sampling method was employed, selecting every tenth entry (e.g., 1, 11, 21, 31, 41…) related to the topic. Entries that contained profanity or excessively racist language were excluded from the analysis. The research data were gathered and examined through document analysis, a qualitative research method. The analytical framework is grounded in three core discourse categories: “differentiating the other,” “differentiating the self,” and “the enemy in our minds.” These categories emerge from narratives that position Syrian refugees as the "other." The study concludes that emphasizing ethnic origins and other distinctions heightens awareness of the self and the other, thereby deepening the "us and them" dichotomy. This research underscores the influence of social media discourses on societal perceptions and prejudices, highlighting the importance of critical discourse analysis as a methodological tool in such investigations.

Anahtar Kelimeler

refugee representation, social media, qualitative media analysis, eksi sozluk, construction of the Other

SOSYAL MEDYADA MÜLTECİ TEMSİLİNİN SÖYLEM ANALİZİ: EKŞİ SÖZLÜK ÖRNEĞİ

Öz

Bu çalışmada, Türkiye’deki sosyal medya platformlarından biri olan Ekşi Sözlükte kullanıcıların Suriyeli mültecilere yönelik söylemleri eleştirel bir çerçevede incelenmiştir. Araştırma, sosyal medya kullanıcılarının Suriyeli mültecilere ilişkin sosyal temsillerini anlamayı ve bu temsillerin ev sahibi topluluğun mülteci/göçmen kimliğini nasıl inşa ettiğini ortaya koymayı amaçlamaktadır. Bu kapsamda, sözlükte "Suriyeli Mülteciler" başlığı altında yer alan girdiler eleştirel söylem analizi yöntemiyle değerlendirilmiştir. Araştırma tabakalı örnekleme yöntemiyle seçilen girdiler üzerinden gerçekleştirilmiştir. Çalışmaya konu başlığın girdileri onar atlanarak (1, 11, 21, 31, 41…) çalışmaya dahil edilmiş ve küfür ya da aşırı ırkçı ifadeler içeren paylaşımlar dışarıda bırakılmıştır. Araştırma verileri, nitel bir yöntem olan doküman analizi aracılığıyla toplanmış ve analiz edilmiştir. Çalışmanın analiz çerçevesi, “ötekini farklılaştırma,” “kendini farklılaştırma” ve “içimizdeki düşman” başlıkları altında üç temel söylem kategorisine dayanmaktadır. Bu kategoriler, Suriyeli mültecileri "öteki" olarak konumlandıran anlatılardan türetilmiştir. Çalışmada, etnik köken ve diğer farklılıklara odaklanmanın, öz ve öteki farkındalığını artırarak “biz ve onlar” ayrımını daha da derinleştirdiği sonucuna ulaşılmıştır. Bu araştırma, sosyal medya söylemlerinin toplumsal algılar ve önyargılar üzerindeki etkisini ortaya koyarken, eleştirel söylem analizi yönteminin bu tür çalışmalardaki önemine dikkat çekmektedir.

Anahtar Kelimeler

mülteci temsili, sosyal medya, nitel medya analizi, ekşi sözlük, ötekinin inşası

Kaynakça

• Altheide, D. L. (2000). Tracking discourse and qualitative document analysis. Poetics, 27, 287-299. www.elsevier.nl~ocate/poetic
• Balibar, É., & Wallerstein, I. (1991). Race, Nation, Class: Ambiguous Identities. Verso: London, New York.
• Benard, C. (1986). Politics and the Refugee Experience. Political Science Quarterly, 101/4, 617–636.
• Binark, M., and Çomu, T. (2013). Yeni Medya Ortamlarında Nefret Söylemi. (Ed: M. Çınar) Medya ve Nefret Soylemi. Kavramlar, Mecralar, Tartışmalar, İstanbul: Hrant Dink Vakfı Yayınları, 199-216.
• Castles, S. (1990). Global Workforce, New Racism, and the Declining Nation-state. Centre for Multicultural Studies. University of Wollongong, Occasional Paper 23. http://ro.uow.edu.au/cmsocpapers/21
• Connell, R. (2005). Masculinities. University of California Press: Berkeley.
• Connell, R., & Messerschmidt, J. W. (2005). Hegemonic Masculinity: Rethinking the Concept. Gender and Society, 19/6, 829–859.
• Demirci, K. (2017). Dışlayıcı Söylemin Yaygınlaştırılmasında Sosyal Medyanın Rolü: Suriyeli Mülteciler Örneği. Kültür ve İletişim, 20 /2, 109-141.
• Deniz T., Aksu Kargın İ. (2023) Twitter’da Göçmen-Karşıtı Söylemlerin Yükselişi: Zafer Partisi Örneği. Göç Dergisi, 10 /2,215–231.
• Duszak, A. (2002). Us and Others: An Introduction. Us and Others: Social Identities Across Languages, Discourses and Cultures (Ed: A. Duszak), John Benjamins Publishing Co.: Amsterdam, 1–28.
• Ekman, M. (2019). Anti-immigration and Racist Discourse in Social Media. European Journal of Communication, 34/6, 606–618.
• Fürsich, E. (2010). Media and the Representation of Others. International Social Science Journal, 61/199, 113–130.
• Goffman, E. (1963). Stigma: Notes on the Management of Spoiled Identity. Penguin Books: London.
• Göngen, M. A. (2022). Nefret Söyleminin Medyada İnşası: Suriyeli Göçmenler Üzerinden Sözcü Gazetesi Örneği. Intermedia International E-Journal, 9/17, 341-356. https://doi.org/10.56133/intermedia.1170746
• Hein, J. (1993). Refugees, Immigrants, and the State. Annual Review of Sociology, 19, 43–59.
• Jacobsen, K. (1996). Factors Influencing the Policy Responses of Host Governments to Mass Refugee Influxes. The International Migration Review, 30/3, 655–678.
• Joly, D. (1992). Refugees, Asylum in Europe. Minority Rights Publications.
• Kalu, K. N. (2009). Postmodern Citizenship: Logic and Praxis in State and Identity. Citizenship, a Reality Far From Ideal (Ed: A. Kakabadse, N. Kakabadse, & K. N. Kalu), Palgrave Macmillan: London, 10–23.
• Claire Kelling C. & Monroe B. L. (2023) Analysing Community Reaction to Refugees Through Text Analysis of Social Media Data. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 49/2, 492–534 https://doi.org/10.1080/1369183X.2022.2100551
• Kozisek, D. (2016). Us and Them: Constructing South Korean National Identity Through the Liancourt Rocks Dispute. The Bulletin of the Centre for East-West Cultural and Economic Studies, 12/1, 1–18. http://epublications.bond.edu.au/cm/vol12/iss1/1
• Kreis, R. (2017). #refugeesnotwelcome: Anti-refugee discourse on Twitter. Discourse & Communication, 11/5, 498-514. https://doi.org/10.1177/1750481317714121
• Kurt G. (2019) Yeni Medyada Nefret Söylemi: YouTube’da Suriyeli Mültecilere Karşı Üretilen Nefret Söylemi Üzerine Bir Araştırma. The Journal of International Lingual, Social and Educational Sciences, 5/1, 1-20.
• Lacroix, M. (2004). Canadian Refugee Policy and the Social Construction of the Refugee Claimant Subjectivity: Understanding Refugeeness. Journal of Refugee Studies, 17/2, 147-166.
• Livingstone, S. (2004). Media Literacy and the Challenge of New Information and Communication Technologies. The Communication Review, 7/1, 3–14.
• Lynn, N., & Lea, S. J. (2003). A Phantom Menace and the New Apartheid: The Social Construction of Asylum-seekers in the United Kingdom. Discourse&Society, 14/4, 425–452.
• Martin, a. (2005). Environmental Conflict Between Refugee and Host Communities. Journal of Peace Research, 42/3, 329–346. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022343305052015
• Montes, V. (2013). The Role of Emotions in the Construction of Masculinity: Guatemalan Migrant Men, Transnational Migration, and Family Relations. Gender&Society, 27/4, 469–490.
• Özerim M.G. and Tolay J. (2020) Discussing the Populist Features of Anti-refugee Discourses on Social Media: An Anti-Syrian Hashtag in Turkish Twitter. Journal of Refugee Studies, 34/1, 204-218. doi:10.1093/jrs/feaa022
• Parekh, B. (2006). Hate speech: Is there a case for banning? Public Policy Research, 12/4, 213-223. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1070-3535.2005.00405.x
• Rubio-Carbonero, G., & Zapata-Barrero, R. (2017). Monitoring discriminatory political discourse on immigration: A pilot study in Catalonia. Discourse & Society, 28/2, 204–225. https://www.jstor.org/stable/26377349
• Sayımer İ. And Rabenda Derman M. (2017). Syrian Refugees as Victims of Fear and Danger Discourse in Social Media: A Youtube Analysis. Global Media Journal TR Edition, 8/15, 384-403.
• Stein, B. N. (1981). The Refugee Experience: Defining the Parameters of a Field of Study. International Migration Review, 15/112, 320–330.
• Sutkutė, R. (2019). Shaping of The Public Discourse on Refugees in Social Media: "Refugees Welcome Lithuania”. EUREKA: Social and Humanities, 1, 35-52. https://doi.org/10.21303/2504-5571.2019.00824
• Wimmer, A., & Schiller, N. G. (2003). Methodological Nationalism, the Social Sciences, and the Study of Migration: An Essay in Historical Epistemology. International Migration Review, 37/3, 576–610. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1747-7379.2003.tb00151.x
• Van Dijk, T. A. (1990). Social Cognition and Discourse. In Jiles H. Robinson W. P. (Eds.), Handbook of Language and Social Psychology. John Wiley&Sons: New Jersey, 163-183.
• Van Dijk, T. A. (1995). Discourse, Power and Access., Texts and Practices (Ed: M. Couldhard & C.R. Caldas- Couldhard), Routledge: London, 84-104
• Van Dijk T. A. (2003). The Discourse-knowledge Interface. Critical Discourse Analysis: Theory and Interdisciplinarity (Ed: G. Weiss, R. Wodak). London: Palgrave Macmillan, 85–109.
• Van Dijk, T. A. (2017). Discourse and Migration. Qualitative Research in European Migration Studies (Ed: R. Zapata-Barrero and E. Yalaz), Springer: Berlin, 227-245.