Disinformation and calculated care beyond the Global North: comparing refugee discourses in Australia and India

This article explores what “care” looks like in the specific context of Muslim refugees and asylum seekers within the dominant discourse of humanitarianism. India and Australia are chosen for this comparative analysis because our aim is to emphasise multidimensional anti-Muslim alliances that are no...

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Main Authors: Sukhmani Khorana, Nisha Thapliyal
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2024-12-01
Series:Frontiers in Sociology
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fsoc.2024.1358556/full
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author Sukhmani Khorana
Nisha Thapliyal
author_facet Sukhmani Khorana
Nisha Thapliyal
author_sort Sukhmani Khorana
collection DOAJ
description This article explores what “care” looks like in the specific context of Muslim refugees and asylum seekers within the dominant discourse of humanitarianism. India and Australia are chosen for this comparative analysis because our aim is to emphasise multidimensional anti-Muslim alliances that are now in place in both contexts between the governments and official and unofficial media that influence humanitarian policies and practice. We argue that the “information disorder” that dominates current media ecologies about Muslim refugees in both countries is produced at this nexus of official agents—both state and media institutions—as well as social media content produced by local and global actors that perpetuate anti-Muslim bias. More specifically, this article examines how India has responded to emergencies involving the Rohingya refugees, and Australia’s treatment of post-9/11 Muslim refugees and asylum seekers. We demonstrate that these states and the media they sponsor are linked to the use of disinformation, or deliberately inaccurate information to seed and perpetuate Islamophobic sentiments and thereby practice a form of “calculated care”. The examples in this article highlight the need to build on our understanding of what constitutes humanitarian care towards vulnerable and stateless populations. Furthermore, they call for response strategies that take into cognizance the fact that Islamophobia has been institutionalized in the public sphere in order to promote culturally supremacist discourses of traditional values as well as national security.
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spelling doaj-art-d90e9801b14a4a8297a63a98a6a2e9f82024-12-11T06:44:50ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Sociology2297-77752024-12-01910.3389/fsoc.2024.13585561358556Disinformation and calculated care beyond the Global North: comparing refugee discourses in Australia and IndiaSukhmani Khorana0Nisha Thapliyal1School of the Arts and Media, University of New South Wales Sydney, Kensington, NSW, AustraliaSchool of Education, The University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW, AustraliaThis article explores what “care” looks like in the specific context of Muslim refugees and asylum seekers within the dominant discourse of humanitarianism. India and Australia are chosen for this comparative analysis because our aim is to emphasise multidimensional anti-Muslim alliances that are now in place in both contexts between the governments and official and unofficial media that influence humanitarian policies and practice. We argue that the “information disorder” that dominates current media ecologies about Muslim refugees in both countries is produced at this nexus of official agents—both state and media institutions—as well as social media content produced by local and global actors that perpetuate anti-Muslim bias. More specifically, this article examines how India has responded to emergencies involving the Rohingya refugees, and Australia’s treatment of post-9/11 Muslim refugees and asylum seekers. We demonstrate that these states and the media they sponsor are linked to the use of disinformation, or deliberately inaccurate information to seed and perpetuate Islamophobic sentiments and thereby practice a form of “calculated care”. The examples in this article highlight the need to build on our understanding of what constitutes humanitarian care towards vulnerable and stateless populations. Furthermore, they call for response strategies that take into cognizance the fact that Islamophobia has been institutionalized in the public sphere in order to promote culturally supremacist discourses of traditional values as well as national security.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fsoc.2024.1358556/fulldisinformationcarerefugeesMuslimRohingyaBiloela
spellingShingle Sukhmani Khorana
Nisha Thapliyal
Disinformation and calculated care beyond the Global North: comparing refugee discourses in Australia and India
Frontiers in Sociology
disinformation
care
refugees
Muslim
Rohingya
Biloela
title Disinformation and calculated care beyond the Global North: comparing refugee discourses in Australia and India
title_full Disinformation and calculated care beyond the Global North: comparing refugee discourses in Australia and India
title_fullStr Disinformation and calculated care beyond the Global North: comparing refugee discourses in Australia and India
title_full_unstemmed Disinformation and calculated care beyond the Global North: comparing refugee discourses in Australia and India
title_short Disinformation and calculated care beyond the Global North: comparing refugee discourses in Australia and India
title_sort disinformation and calculated care beyond the global north comparing refugee discourses in australia and india
topic disinformation
care
refugees
Muslim
Rohingya
Biloela
url https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fsoc.2024.1358556/full
work_keys_str_mv AT sukhmanikhorana disinformationandcalculatedcarebeyondtheglobalnorthcomparingrefugeediscoursesinaustraliaandindia
AT nishathapliyal disinformationandcalculatedcarebeyondtheglobalnorthcomparingrefugeediscoursesinaustraliaandindia