Discourses of sameness: Expressions of nationalism in newspaper discourse on French urban violence in 2005

Abstract

November 2005 saw a significant flashpoint in the long-running history of tensions between minority groups and those in power in France: two teenagers, allegedly while hiding from the police, were electrocuted in a Parisian electrical sub-station, which was the catalyst for the unprecedented spread of violent riots across banlieues, or urban districts, in French cities lasting for a number of weeks. Mindful of the printed news media as important sites of ideology production, this study contributes to a growing body of work on newspaper representation of the banlieues, with a focus on the particularly traumatic events of November 2005. This article examines French newspaper representations of urban violence in 2005 using a critical discourse analytical approach, focusing on how the scenes of violent rioting prompted media discussions pertaining to French national identity. It argues that national identity and expressions of nationalism are defined in an exclusionary way, and that a discourse of sameness constructs symbolic boundaries between ‘us’ and ‘them’. The research suggests that in its reaction to the challenging events of November 2005, the printed news media adopts strategies which ‘other’ immigrant minorities and those living in the banlieues. Inhabitants of the banlieues are depicted as being outside the borders of the homogenously constructed French society in order to explain the violent scenes and ultimately uphold relations of discrimination and social dominance.