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Abstract
This article analyses the affective-discursive work that the image of an anti-asylum seeker demonstrator dressed like a member of the Ku Klux Klan and waving a Finnish flag generated on online platforms in Finland. Specifically, the article focuses on how the vocabulary of disgust served to draw boundaries between “us” and “others”, thus reconstructing hierarchies of human worth and deservingness. The aim of the article is to discuss the role of disgust and related emotions in relation to what has become known as the European refugee crisis and whether the language of disgust allows for solidarity with the plight of asylum seekers.
Notes
1. Subsequently, a 19-year-old man dressed up in the KKK outfit was suspected of public agitation, desecrating the Finnish flag and illegally disguising himself—other demonstrators were suspected of incitement against an ethnic group. In May 2016 the Yle journalist who took the images was also suspected of desecrating the flag because it was claimed he handed the flag over to the demonstrator for the photograph. In September 2016 the prosecutor decided not to charge the protestor or the journalist.
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Notes on contributors
Mervi Pantti
Dr Mervi Pantti (corresponding author) is Professor and Head of Media and Communication Studies and Director of the International MA Programme Media and Global Communication in the Department of Social Research, Media and Communication Studies, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.