Lithuanians’ perception of terrorism: are Muslims “folk devils” for Lithuanians?

ABSTRACT

A considerable amount of research in Western countries during the past 30 years has found a strong tendency to associate Muslims with violent acts. This has resulted in an increase in Islamophobia. This article examines Lithuania’s media, politicians, and public perceptions on terrorism-Muslims in order to understand the correlation between Lithuanian media and political discourse on Muslims and their connection with public discourses. I propose that the weaker the linkage between media and political portrayals associating terrorism with Muslims is with public perceptions of terrorism and Muslims, the less likely the latter will see Muslims as folk devils. My analysis of the data supports this hypothesis and conclusively shows that media and political discourse do not have a hegemonic power to control the portrayal of Muslims and to create a sense of moral panic among Lithuanians.

KEYWORDS:

• moral panic
• Muslims in Lithuania
• intolerance to muslims
• Islam

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. A Padanian is a resident of Padania region in Italy.

2. See the video of Lithuanian politician Arvydas Juozaitis entitled ‘Refugees push Europe to destruction’ (Lietuva yra čia 2019).

3. Free-list tables were made using Flame version 1.2 in Excel.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Gintarė Sereikaitė Motiejūnė

Gintarė Sereikaitė Motiejūnė is a PhD student at Vilnius University in the joint Ethnology program of Vilnius University and The Institute of Lithuanian Literature and Folklore. She has a BA in Arabic studies and an MA in Modern Asia studies from Vilnius University. Her fields of research are moral panic concerning Muslims and cultures of fear.