Construction of New Americans in 'The Forum': A critical discourse analysis

The present study is a critical discourse analysis that aimed to investigate whether the discourse of The Forum contributed to the creation of an ideological context that promoted stereotypes of New Americans (i.e., refugees/immigrants) in a relatively homogeneous mid-Western community. Newspaper articles about refugees and immigrants published in The Forum during a period of 10 years (1992-2002) were the database for the study. The attention was focused on the specific linguistic forms that constituted the ideological function of the discourse. The study used an interdisciplinary approach to critical discourse analysis and followed Fairclough's three-dimensional method of analysis. Extensive topical, lexical, and semantic analyses were conducted to answer the main research question: How does the discourse of the dominant group reflect the social change associated with the recent immigration and resettlement in a community? The analyses showed that the discourse regarding New Americans was generally negative and focused on problems. New Americans were portrayed as a faceless, destabilizing out-group with different norms, values, and culture who brought challenges into a stable, rural community. The nature of the evaluations of New Americans relative to their character, norms, and goals remained unchanged; however, certain changes in the form and function of these evaluations were observed.