ABSTRACT

This paper examines the use of metaphors to construct Italian migration within the 1920s Australian press. Using a critical discourse analysis approach, the paper investigates the range of metaphors used to frame Italian migration, which were also applied to Asian migration in earlier decades. It finds that such metaphors were a racially coded means for constructing immigrant deviance and threat. It further finds that this threat construction was the means by which immigration restrictions were legitimised and the need to preserve White Australia reiterated. While there was some ambivalence as to the extent of danger posed by Italian immigration, the use of such metaphors to frame discussion illustrates the extent to which debates around Italian immigration were, at heart, anchored in ideas of race.

摘要

本文考察了在 1920 年代澳大利亚媒体中使用隐喻来构建意大利移民的情况。使用批判性话语分析方法，本文调查了用于构建意大利移民的隐喻范围，这些隐喻在早些年也应用于亚洲移民。研究发现，此类隐喻是构建移民偏差和威胁的种族编码手段。它还进一步发现，这种威胁建构是使移民限制合法化的手段，并重申了保护白澳大利亚的必要性。虽然对于意大利移民带来的危险程度存在一些矛盾，但使用此类比喻来构建讨论说明了围绕意大利移民的辩论在多大程度上是基于种族观念的。