The Transnational Racial Discourse about West African Muslim Immigrants in an Era of Global Terrorism

Abstract

Elite racist discourses contribute to the construction of transnational racial discourses about West African immigrants (Muslims and non-Muslims), which heightens their invisibility. This study used critical discourse analysis, racial formation theory and intersectionality theory to examine written text and verbal language in the data to show a relationship between discourse and racialization because elite racist discourses produce and reproduce racism, which racially categorize West African immigrants as terrorists, criminals, fraudsters, and inferior people. The results show that dominant western ideologies emerge in elite racist discourses and play a role in spreading Islamophobia and disseminating stereotypes about Africa, shaping, and influencing public perceptions and Black discourses about West African immigrants, which contributes to the construction of transnational racial discourses about them and heightens their invisibility.