Victimhood as a space for ambivalence

black migrants in the Brazilian press

Authors

  • Gilberto Alves Araújo University of the Witwatersrand (WITS) & Universidade Federal do Pará (UFPA), Johannesburg/Altamira, Gauteng/Pará, África do Sul/Brasil
  • Eliene Rodrigues Sousa Universidade Estadual do Tocantins (UNITINS), Araguatins, Tocantins, Brasil.

Keywords:

Black immigrants, Representation, Media, Corpus Linguistics, Critical Discourse Analysis

Abstract

This article investigates how black migrants are represented in Brazilian newspapers between 2008 and 2019 concerning race, nationality, and victimhood degrees. Critical Discourse Analysis and Corpus Linguistics are employed. Results indicate that representations of Afro-migrants are formulated through different tropes. Some portray black migrants as explicitly oppressed and passivized subjects. Others emphasize slightly more these migrants’ agency and resistance. Additionally, Brazilian media resorts to a cultural sense of charity, interpreting such charity through a particular type of post-humanitarianism, according to which pity and justice would be equipotent.

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Author Biographies

Gilberto Alves Araújo, University of the Witwatersrand (WITS) & Universidade Federal do Pará (UFPA), Johannesburg/Altamira, Gauteng/Pará, África do Sul/Brasil

PhD/Doutor em Estudos do Discurso Midiático (WITS & University of Mannheim); Mestre em Ensino de Língua e Literatura (UFT); Licenciado em Língua Inglesa e Língua Portuguesa e suas respectivas literaturas (UFT).

Eliene Rodrigues Sousa, Universidade Estadual do Tocantins (UNITINS), Araguatins, Tocantins, Brasil.

Doutora em Ensino de Língua e Literatura (UFT); Mestre em Estudos Literários (UFT); e Licenciada em Língua Portuguesa e Suas Literaturas (UFT).

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Published

2025-03-18

How to Cite

Alves Araújo, G., & Rodrigues Sousa, E. (2025). Victimhood as a space for ambivalence: black migrants in the Brazilian press. Todas As Letras - Revista De Língua E Literatura, 26(3). Retrieved from http://editorarevistas.mackenzie.br/index.php/tl/article/view/16625

Issue

Vol. 26 No. 3 (2024): Todas as Letras

Section

Language and Linguistics

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Copyright (c) 2025 Gilberto Alves Araújo, Eliene Rodrigues Sousa

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