“Who is replacing us in our homes?” Nation, race and class in anti-migrant narratives in Serbia
Апстракт
The study analyses two sets of narratives in social and mainstream media accusing migrants for the
housing crisis and colonization.
Right before and during Covid pandemic, Asian and African migrants, usually having administratively
unregulated status while transiting through Serbia on their way to the EU, became targets of right-wing
narratives against alleged state-project to secretly replace the population in Serbia. The Facebook group
“Stop-settlement-of-migrants” reached 300,000 members in a matter of days and became the most
frequented platform for constructing migrants as an existential threat for Serbia(ns). In parallel, attacks
on local people renting rooms and houses to migrants became more prominent on social media. This
was accompanied with advertisements with explicit racist content on the short-term rental platforms.
With the invasion of Ukraine, Serbia became one of the places of refuge for both Russian and to a
smaller extent Ukrainian citizens. This immigratio...n activated narratives depicting greedy Serbian
landlords evicting Serbian tenants from rented apartments in order to accommodate wealthy foreigners,
able to pay more, establishing the figure of the amoral renters that chose profit over Serbian-
tenants/Serbians. Unlike the clear anti-migrant stance toward people from Asia and Africa, ambivalent
attitudes toward Russian and Ukrainian citizens led the discussion towards the problem of the
unregulated rental sector and impoverishment of people in Serbia unable to afford homes on the
modified rental market.
The study aims at scrutinizing the structure and constituents of these sets of narratives and their wider
contextualization, while focusing on the underlying nationalist, racial and class aspects.
Извор:
International conference "Migration in the Western Balkans – rethinking crisis narratives", University of Belgrade – Faculty of Political Science, Belgrade, Serbia, February 2-3, 2023., 2023Издавач:
- Belgrade : University, Faculty of Political Science
Финансирање / пројекти:
- Министарство науке, технолошког развоја и иновација Републике Србије, институционално финансирање - 200173 (Етнографски институт САНУ, Београд) (RS-MESTD-inst-2020-200173)
Институција/група
Етнографски институт САНУ / Institute of Ethnography SASATY - CONF AU - Stojić Mitrović, Marta AU - Vilenica, Ana PY - 2023 UR - https://migrec.fpn.bg.ac.rs/international-conference/ UR - https://dais.sanu.ac.rs/123456789/15654 AB - The study analyses two sets of narratives in social and mainstream media accusing migrants for the housing crisis and colonization. Right before and during Covid pandemic, Asian and African migrants, usually having administratively unregulated status while transiting through Serbia on their way to the EU, became targets of right-wing narratives against alleged state-project to secretly replace the population in Serbia. The Facebook group “Stop-settlement-of-migrants” reached 300,000 members in a matter of days and became the most frequented platform for constructing migrants as an existential threat for Serbia(ns). In parallel, attacks on local people renting rooms and houses to migrants became more prominent on social media. This was accompanied with advertisements with explicit racist content on the short-term rental platforms. With the invasion of Ukraine, Serbia became one of the places of refuge for both Russian and to a smaller extent Ukrainian citizens. This immigration activated narratives depicting greedy Serbian landlords evicting Serbian tenants from rented apartments in order to accommodate wealthy foreigners, able to pay more, establishing the figure of the amoral renters that chose profit over Serbian- tenants/Serbians. Unlike the clear anti-migrant stance toward people from Asia and Africa, ambivalent attitudes toward Russian and Ukrainian citizens led the discussion towards the problem of the unregulated rental sector and impoverishment of people in Serbia unable to afford homes on the modified rental market. The study aims at scrutinizing the structure and constituents of these sets of narratives and their wider contextualization, while focusing on the underlying nationalist, racial and class aspects. PB - Belgrade : University, Faculty of Political Science C3 - International conference "Migration in the Western Balkans – rethinking crisis narratives", University of Belgrade – Faculty of Political Science, Belgrade, Serbia, February 2-3, 2023. T1 - “Who is replacing us in our homes?” Nation, race and class in anti-migrant narratives in Serbia UR - https://hdl.handle.net/21.15107/rcub_dais_15654 ER -
@conference{ author = "Stojić Mitrović, Marta and Vilenica, Ana", year = "2023", abstract = "The study analyses two sets of narratives in social and mainstream media accusing migrants for the housing crisis and colonization. Right before and during Covid pandemic, Asian and African migrants, usually having administratively unregulated status while transiting through Serbia on their way to the EU, became targets of right-wing narratives against alleged state-project to secretly replace the population in Serbia. The Facebook group “Stop-settlement-of-migrants” reached 300,000 members in a matter of days and became the most frequented platform for constructing migrants as an existential threat for Serbia(ns). In parallel, attacks on local people renting rooms and houses to migrants became more prominent on social media. This was accompanied with advertisements with explicit racist content on the short-term rental platforms. With the invasion of Ukraine, Serbia became one of the places of refuge for both Russian and to a smaller extent Ukrainian citizens. This immigration activated narratives depicting greedy Serbian landlords evicting Serbian tenants from rented apartments in order to accommodate wealthy foreigners, able to pay more, establishing the figure of the amoral renters that chose profit over Serbian- tenants/Serbians. Unlike the clear anti-migrant stance toward people from Asia and Africa, ambivalent attitudes toward Russian and Ukrainian citizens led the discussion towards the problem of the unregulated rental sector and impoverishment of people in Serbia unable to afford homes on the modified rental market. The study aims at scrutinizing the structure and constituents of these sets of narratives and their wider contextualization, while focusing on the underlying nationalist, racial and class aspects.", publisher = "Belgrade : University, Faculty of Political Science", journal = "International conference "Migration in the Western Balkans – rethinking crisis narratives", University of Belgrade – Faculty of Political Science, Belgrade, Serbia, February 2-3, 2023.", title = "“Who is replacing us in our homes?” Nation, race and class in anti-migrant narratives in Serbia", url = "https://hdl.handle.net/21.15107/rcub_dais_15654" }
Stojić Mitrović, M.,& Vilenica, A.. (2023). “Who is replacing us in our homes?” Nation, race and class in anti-migrant narratives in Serbia. in International conference "Migration in the Western Balkans – rethinking crisis narratives", University of Belgrade – Faculty of Political Science, Belgrade, Serbia, February 2-3, 2023. Belgrade : University, Faculty of Political Science.. https://hdl.handle.net/21.15107/rcub_dais_15654
Stojić Mitrović M, Vilenica A. “Who is replacing us in our homes?” Nation, race and class in anti-migrant narratives in Serbia. in International conference "Migration in the Western Balkans – rethinking crisis narratives", University of Belgrade – Faculty of Political Science, Belgrade, Serbia, February 2-3, 2023.. 2023;. https://hdl.handle.net/21.15107/rcub_dais_15654 .
Stojić Mitrović, Marta, Vilenica, Ana, "“Who is replacing us in our homes?” Nation, race and class in anti-migrant narratives in Serbia" in International conference "Migration in the Western Balkans – rethinking crisis narratives", University of Belgrade – Faculty of Political Science, Belgrade, Serbia, February 2-3, 2023. (2023), https://hdl.handle.net/21.15107/rcub_dais_15654 .