A UK Discourse Analysis of Belonging in Romanian Identity and Immigratory Accounts LENNON, Henry Available from the Sheffield Hallam University Research Archive (SHURA) at: http://shura.shu.ac.uk/24017/ A Sheffield Hallam University thesis This thesis is protected by copyright which belongs to the author. The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the author. When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given. Please visit http://shura.shu.ac.uk/24017/ and http://shura.shu.ac.uk/information.html for further details about copyright and re-use permissions. SHEFFIELD HALLAM UNIVERSITY A UK Discourse Analysis of Belonging in Romanian Identity and Immigratory Accounts. By Henry William Lennon (BSc, PgDip) A thesis submitted to the Faculty in partial fulfilment of the requirements for Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology Faculty of Development & Society Department of Psychology, Sociology, & Politics January 2018 Contents List of Tables ................................................................................................................ vi Acknowledgements ..................................................................................................... vii Objective and disclaimer .............................................................................................. x Abstract ......................................................................................................................... 1 Chapter I: the thesis in cultural and ideological context ............................................. 2 Locating the thesis within the contemporary rise of anti-immigration and anti-immigrant sentiment in Europe ................................................................. 3 UK and Romania in context: contemporary nationhood discourse .................. 5 UK discourse on the 2007 Romanian EU accession ........................................... 5 A review of UK nationhood .............................................................................. 8 A review of Romanian nationhood .................................................................. 11 Balkanism studies: a frame to historicise Romanian identity and migration discourse in the UK context ........................................................................... 16 Balkanism: imposed and resisted accounts ...................................................... 18 In summary: distinguishing Romanian identity and migration discourse .......... 21 Research context: situating an identity-driven approach ................................ 22 Social identity in social psychology: its relevance and drawbacks ................... 23 Acculturation theory in cultural psychology: its relevance and drawbacks ....... 28 Citizenship studies: its relevance and utility .................................................... 31 Rationale for a discursive citizenship studies approach .................................... 37 Applying Balkanism studies to UK discourse of Romanian identity and migration ....................................................................................................... 41 Chapter review .................................................................................................. 43 Chapter II: analytic and methodological approach ................................................... 45 Analytic approach: constructionist discourse analysis .................................... 46 Epistemic constructionism ............................................................................... 46 Discourse: occasioned rhetorical construction of meaning ............................... 48 Ideology: common patterns of powered action................................................. 51 ‘Context’ as a situational-cultural frame .......................................................... 53 Methodological approach: discursive study of receiving society and mover discourse ........................................................................................................... 55 Data choice rationale ....................................................................................... 56 Receiving society data: acquisition and appropriation ...................................... 59 Receiving society voice: approaching the media discourse .............................. 61 ii Mover data: acquisition and appropriation ....................................................... 64 Mover voice: approaching the narrative interview discourse ............................ 68 Chapter review .................................................................................................. 72 Chapter III: Receiving society use of ‘vulnerable nation’ and ‘civic imperative’ repertoires ................................................................................................................... 73 Main findings and analytic structure ............................................................... 73 The ‘vulnerable nation’ repertoire ................................................................... 75 Subtheme one: corroborating finite space and infinite migration ...................... 78 Subtheme two: rallying ethno-national consensus against migration threat ...... 81 Subtheme three: justifying threat as rational .................................................... 86 Resisting the ‘vulnerable nation’ repertoire .................................................... 90 Recasting metaphors ....................................................................................... 90 Exposing stake and interest ............................................................................. 95 The ‘civic imperative’ repertoire ...................................................................... 99 Subtheme one: justifying an unequal ‘us’ and ‘them’ .................................... 101 Subtheme two: identity conflation and vagueness .......................................... 113 Resisting the ‘civic imperative’ repertoire ..................................................... 120 ‘Us’ and ‘we’ identity claims ........................................................................ 120 Immigrant identity claims .............................................................................. 123 Discussion of the receiving society interpretative repertoire analysis ........... 126 A review of Chapter IIIs main findings.......................................................... 126 Possibilities of resistance ............................................................................... 128 Repertoire nuance: migrants versus migration ............................................... 129 Implications for Balkanism studies ................................................................ 131 Chapter review: contributions to knowledge and activism ........................... 132 Chapter IV: Romanian movers’ constructions of citizenship and belonging ..........134 Main findings and analytic structure ............................................................. 134 Theme one: ‘civic becoming’ .......................................................................... 136 Subtheme one: showing acculturative preparedness ....................................... 136 Subtheme two: overcoming otherness............................................................ 146 Theme two: ‘civic belonging’ .......................................................................... 156 Subtheme one: recognition of integration ...................................................... 156 Subtheme two: shared values and common humanity .................................... 164 Subtheme three: pathological integration ....................................................... 172 Discussion of the mover voice DA ................................................................... 185 iii The limitations of resistance .......................................................................... 187 Promoting belonging over balkanism ............................................................ 189 Chapter review: contributions to knowledge and civic solidarity ................. 190 Chapter V: critical psychological reflections on Romanian identity and migration discourse .....................................................................................................................192 Main findings: recap ....................................................................................... 192 A critical psychological review of Chapters’ III and IV ................................ 193 Comparing the emergent discourse in Chapters’ III and IV ............................ 194 On earned citizenship: a new possibility for belonging? ................................ 196 Reinforcing and disrupting balkanism ........................................................... 198 Links between empirical findings and Brexit ................................................. 199 Situating the study’s implications in the literature ........................................ 200 Thesis contributions to knowledge ................................................................. 201 Limitations ...................................................................................................... 202 Future directions ............................................................................................. 203 Reflexive positionality ....................................................................................