CRITICS: PhD student

[Jessika Terwal - SPS 1991]

Jessika ter Wal, European University Institute, Florence (Italy) &
University of Amsterdam (The Netherlands)

This statement aims to present my current research and further
research goals.

In 1991 I started preparing a doctoral dissertation on the relationship
between the discourse of the political elite and that of the press, and
their role in the reproduction of racism. This project deals with the way
in which government elites and the national press in Italy speak and write
about immigrants, refugees and racism in their country. It is focused on
the press representation of housing problems, entry of illegal immigrants
and refugees and racist violence in the 1990s. An article analysing the
first massive production of policy and press discourse on immigration in
Italy, which examines especially the use of metaphors and stereotypes,
has been published in Italian in 1991. Please write an e-mail if you would
like to receive a copy.

The main research areas I would like to explore further in the future are:
- - Political discourse *analysis*
- - Discourse and political ideologies
- - Discourses and ideologies of the New Right and how they relate to the past
of Fascism (Italy) and Nazism (Germany, Austria)
- - The role of political elite discourse in the reproduction of racism,
comparison between different countries

I would be pleased to cooperate - exchange with other PhD students or
scholars interested in these areas, and reflect also on related theoretical
issues.



Jessika ter Wal
European University Institute
Department of Social and Political Sciences
C.P. 2330
50100 Firenze (Ferrovia)
I T A L Y
e-mail: terwal at datacomm.iue.it
fax: +39-55-4685201
tel: +39-55-601175 (home)
     +39-55-4685550 (inst)