BİR ÖTEKİLEŞTİRME PRATİĞİ OLARAK COVID-19: DONALD TRUMP’IN ÇİN KARŞITI SÖYLEMİ

2020 yılının başından itibaren tüm dünyada COVID-19 vakaları hızla artış göstermiş, dünya genelinde100 milyondan fazla insan bu salgından etkilenmiş ve 2 milyona yakın insan hayatını kaybetmiştir. Koronavirüsün, küresel sağlık sistemleri, sosyal yaşam ve ekonomi üzerindeki etkili olmasının yanı sıra küresel siyasal söylem üzerinde de etkili olmuştur. Amerika Birleşik Devletleri’nde siyasi söylemdeki değişiklik eski Başkan Donald Trump’ın 17 Mart 2020’de yayınladığı bir tweet’te “Çin virüsü” ifadesini kullanması ile yankılanmıştır. Trump’ın virüsü belirli bir milliyetle ilişkilendirmesi sosyal medyada geniş yankı bulmuştur. Trump’ın ardından bazı muhafazakar politikacılar ve Trump yanlısı medya kuruluşları da “Çin virüsü” veya “Wuhan virüsü” gibi ifadeleri kullanmışlardır. Bu çalışma COVID-19 salgınının medyada yoğun bir şekilde öne çıkan Çin karşıtı söylemler üzerinden bir “ötekileştirme pratiği” haline geldiğini ortaya koymayı amaçlamaktadır. Çalışmanın hipotezi, Başkan Trump’ın Çin’e karşı yeni bir “ötekileştirme” söylem inşa etmeye çalıştığı ve COVID-19 salgınının ötekileştirme söyleminin yeniden inşası için araçsallaştırıldığıdır. Pratiklerden ortaya çıkan sosyal ve politik söylemleri içeren tartışmalara daha kapsamlı bir bakış açısı kazandırmayı amaçlayan bu çalışmada kuramsal bakış açısı olarak sosyal inşacılık kullanılmıştır.

Anahtar Kelimeler:

Ötekileştirme, COVID-19, Sosyal İnşacılık, Donald Trump, Söylem

COVID-19 AS AN OTHERING PRACTICE: DONALD TRUMP’S ANTI-CHINESE DISCOURSE

Since the beginning of 2020, cases of the COVID-19 have risen rapidly, more than 150 million people have been affected and more than 2,5 million people have lost their lives. In addition to its impact on global health systems, social life, and the economy, the virus has had impact on the global political discourse. In the United States, change in the discourse has resonated with United States’ former President Donald Trump’s use of the phrase “Chinese virus” in a posted tweet on March 17, 2020. Trump’s association of the virus with a certain nationality had broad repercussion on social media. Following Trump, some conservative politicians and pro-Trump media outlets have used words such as China virus, Chinese virus or Wuhan virus. This study aims to reveal that COVID-19 pandemic has become a practice of “othering” through anti-Chinese discourses that are heavily prominent in the media. Hypothesis is that President Trump has been trying to build a new “othering” discourse against China and he instrumentalized COVID-19 pandemic for the re-construction of the othering discourse. Social constructivist theoretical perspective is used in the study to provide a more extensive perspective to debates that includes social and political discourses emerging from practices.

Keywords:

Othering, COVID-19, Social Constructivism, Donald Trump, Discourse,

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