The Presence of Othering, Colour-blind Racism, and Whiteness in Public Discourse Surrounding Asylum Seekers. A Critical Discourse Analysis

Asylum seekers have been part of the Dutch migration debate for decades. In 2015, newspapers spoke of a ‘refugee crisis’. In 2022, in addition to non-European asylum seekers, many Ukrainian refugees came to the Netherlands. The Dutch asylum system could not cope with the influx of all these refugees, and the newspapers soon spoke of an ‘asylum crisis’. The migration debate in the Netherlands is mostly criticised in the literature in terms of intolerance, human rights violations and national self-interest. An underexposed theme in the migration debate is racism. This is because the Netherlands is a colour-blind nation, where whiteness predominates. This makes racism a non-existent phenomenon in the eyes of white Dutch people, while the ‘other’, who does not conform to the Dutch self-image, is disadvantaged based on racial characteristics. This study examines whether othering, colour-blind racism and whiteness are present in the public discourse surrounding asylum seekers. In doing so, this research builds on Gloria Wekker’s previously published work ‘White Innocence’. Through critical discourse analysis, 22 newspaper articles are analysed, and an attempt is made to make the invisible systems of othering, colour-blind racism and whiteness visible.