Criminal, victim, resource, burden: Discourses of “papperslösa” (undocumented refugees) in Swedish newspapers

This qualitative study is focused on the way “papperslösa” (undocumented/illegal/irregular immigrants) are portrayed in Swedish daily newspapers, what images are presented in the articles, what discourses permeate the text, what identities are being constructed, etc. The empirical data consists of thirteen articles published in Dagens Nyheter and Svenska Dagbladet (two of the biggest daily news papers in Sweden) during the period 2010-10-01 – 2011-04-01, and I’ve used a type of discourse analysis called “diskursanalys med inriktning på identitetskonstruktion” (“discourse analysis with focus on identity construction”), as the method to analyze the articles. The results of the analysis showed that four discourses and identities were constructed, re-produced and upheld in these articles. The first one was that of “papperslösa” as criminals, the second portrayed “papperslösa” as victims, the third presented them as a resource and the fourth as a burden. During this study it became apparent how important the media is in the construction and reproduction of discourses, stereotypes and identities. It also showed the importance of vocabulary and language use in constructing these discourses