The poetics of adaptation: a critical discourse analysis of intercultural interactions in the novel Montecore

Myers, Barbara

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/97618 Copy

Description

Title

The poetics of adaptation: a critical discourse analysis of intercultural interactions in the novel Montecore

Author(s)

Myers, Barbara

Issue Date

2017-04-24

Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)

Safstrom, Mark D

Committee Member(s)

Vander Most, Neil

Department of Study

Liberal Arts & Sciences

Discipline

European Union Studies

Degree Granting Institution

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Degree Name

M.A.

Degree Level

Thesis

Keyword(s)

• Integration policy
• Assimilation

Abstract

Integration has been a long-standing issue in the ongoing peacekeeping experiment that is the European Union. The EU began as a six-state economic community with the goal of a level supranational interstate integration that would render war too costly and bring peace to a continent beset by centuries of conflict. Sixty years after the Treaty of Rome, few could argue that the EU has failed as a peace-keeping project, and the union has expanded into a political and monetary union that facilitates the free movement of goods, services, money, and people. Membership enlargements and several crises have challenged the supranational entity in ways that surpass its economic foundation and political and monetary growth. In particular, the exponential growth of Mediterranean migrants and asylum-seekers entering the EU has highlighted the need to evaluate the efficacy of the European Commission’s integration policy. Despite the entity’s motto of “United in diversity”, the issue of integration of non-EU migrants has caused a rift among the member states and played a role in Brexit, the British withdrawal from the EU, and the discourse on Swexit, Sweden’s possible withdrawal from the union. If the EU seeks to secure its status as a continent-wide community that is more than just an economic union, it will need an effective integration policy that accounts for its limited role in this state-level competence. To connect the dots between state competence and supranational involvement, I conducted a critical discourse analysis of intercultural interactions in Swedish author Jonas Hassen Khemiri’s novel Montecore, a micro-scale study of cultural representation and critique from an author who is a product of the larger social processes at issue in EU integration politics. This methodology allowed a concise look at many components of acculturation in non-dominant (migrant and ethnic minority) and dominant cultures in Sweden, and amplified the voice of the non-dominant group regarding who is changing to accommodate whom. Through this analysis, I make projections about the future of the European Commission's integration policy and the disparity between the acculturation practices of the Commission and Sweden. In turn, these projections lay a foundation for future research on the progress and success of the Commission’s stated integration policy.

Graduation Semester

2017-05

Type of Resource

text

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http://hdl.handle.net/2142/97618

Copyright and License Information

Copyright 2017 Barbara Myers

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