ABSENCES AND FRAMES IN THE NEW YORK TIMES' REPORTAGE OF ENVIRONMENTAL REFUGEES: AN ECOLINGUISTICS APPROACH

Abstract

Environmental refugees are people who are escaping the effects of climate change and cross international borders seeking asylum from threatening climate change. The usage of this term in the media is controversial as these persons do not qualify for the status of refugee under international law and conventions. By studying the reportage in The New York Times, this research recommends that frame-packages be studied alongside patterns of absences for a comprehensive methodology of newspaper discourse. This way, not only will we understand what gains salience in the coverage, but also understand how news-stories change the terms of the debate by not referring to some aspects of the issue in the newspaper. Thus, the recommendation is that the study of patterns of absences be included in any discourse analysis as it contributes to a valuable means by which we understand how hegemonic power is encoded in newspaper discourse while it subjugates other knowledge through the universe of absence. The study’s larger aim is to create space for humans as both victims and humans as perpetrators in the often-preferred trajectory of ecolinguistic studies that promote positive sustaining interactions of humans and non-humans.