During the last decade the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement has brought increased attention to the issues pertaining to police brutality and the systemic discrimination of black Americans. At the same time as the movement has experienced growing support, its opposers have also consolidated. Among them president Donald Trump has proved to be one of the staunchest critics of Black Lives Matter. This has further strengthened the movement's oppositional role in relation to the US government. Therefore this bachelor's thesis examines what role the Trump-administration plays in the portrayal of Black Lives Matter. Using the Essex School of discourse analysis the statements of Trump and his administration towards the movement are examined, and through them discourses opposed to BLM are identified. Through the theoretical lenses of postcolonialism and post-marxism the Trump-administration’s statements can be shown to portray BLM as a violent and extremist socialist movement. The statements have the effect of rendering BLM as distinct from regular americans and as opposed to american values in various ways. This has the additional effect of creating division among the supporters of BLM themselves as they are torn between allegiance to the movement and the nation. The Trump-administration’s statements towards BLM are concluded to stem from the discourses of “American Exceptionalism”, “Neoliberalism” and “Law and Order”. This indicates that previously mentioned discourses are in opposition to BLM.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:liu-177869 |
| Date | January 2020 |
| Creators | Järnland, Erik |
| Publisher | Linköpings universitet, Statsvetenskap |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | Swedish |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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