Metaphors of Migration

From its inception, the nation of Australia has enacted migration controls as a means of reg-ulating and shaping the population. The press plays a crucial role in the (re)production of dis-courses of nationality and the legitimation of migration restriction; the language used in the press is therefore of critical importance. The use of metaphors to stigmatise migrants can be traced back to press reports that are contemporaneous with the earliest non-White migration, and this usage persists to the present day. Research has shown how such language has been used to create a sense of national identity based on exclusion, as well as to justify and legiti-mate legal and political action that targets migrants. Within the Australian context however, there is a lack of research on the specific historical, social and economic contexts that occa-sioned (and were sanctioned by) such metaphors of migration, or on how such usage devel-oped. This paper highlights that lack as an area in need of further study as a means to explore the ongoing utility of metaphoric language that stigmatises certain categories of migrants, and designates them as intrinsically external to the nation state