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https://theconversation.com/show-some-gratitude-how-this-rhetoric-shapes-views-on-immigration-even-for-migrants-286332>
"New Zealand First leader Winston Peters is known for targeting immigrants with
inflammatory comments about their place in their new country.
He made headlines last year when he urged immigrants who “come here with their
ideas, foreign to our country” to “show some gratitude”.
Recently, he doubled down, insisting the “Kiwi dream” was not for just anybody
who “decides to come to our great country […] we have built just for their
convenience”.
But Peters’ comments are not isolated. They exemplify a broader rhetorical
pattern and political strategy: the migrant gratefulness narrative.
Similar rhetoric is used by Pauline Hanson in Australia, portraying immigration
as the nation extending a privilege and demanding appreciation and obedience in
return.
As our new research shows, migrants often absorb these expectations into their
own sense-making.
We worked with older Chinese people who migrated to Aotearoa New Zealand as
young adults and found they internalised and reproduced gratefulness as
important to their life experiences as migrants.
They used gratefulness to explain lifetime experiences of racism, suggesting
that when migrants experience discrimination, it is due to a lack of gratitude.
They framed poor treatment and racism as inevitable, as part of “human nature”
– something to be endured rather than challenged."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
