RACIST DISCOURSE IN LEBANON; KAFALA SYSTEM, LAWS AND SOCIAL MEDIA

Abstract

The living conditions of domestic workers in Lebanon is a result of different social, political and cultural aspects by the state. One of the social aspects can be found on a Facebook page, known as “Lebanese Madams,” (LMF) which revolves around discourse that discusses topics revolving around domestic workers. The discourse on the LMF helped bring insights about the laws and the Kafala system, where my thesis focuses on the following research question: What insights can be obtained from a discourse analysis of LMF, especially with considerations about the laws and the Kafala system. For this reason, I analyzed the discourse of the LMF by using discourse analysis, as well as the racist discourse framework adopted by Saridakis & Fotopoulou (2015), along with sub-categories that I created.

The analysis of the discourse of the LMF helped give insight into the general discourse towards domestic workers in Lebanon, as well as insights towards the laws and Kafala system. After going through the 100 pages of forum posts, the most common sub-categories were created. These sub-categories were compared to the main framework by Saridakis & Fotopoulou (2015) (Us vs Them, Inferior vs Superior and Them as a threat) and were put into the main categories they best fit

The first common theme found in the data was the dynamic of master-servant relationship, which defines the theme of Us vs Them with is subcategories (Denial of Racism and Communication). The inferior vs superior category is based on the creation and targeting cultural and non-racial race categories like “immigrants” while primarily discriminating against non-white people through their Othering and the idea of “whiteness,” with the subcategories (Imposition and Dehumanization of Domestic workers). Finally, Them as a threat (domestic workers) are a threat in terms of them being naturally violent and partaking in abuse, murder or stealing, with the subcategory Protection Measures taken.

The discourse of the LMF helped show the insights of the Madams towards domestic workers, and the different forms of racist tendencies, such as restriction of communication and dehumanization of domestic workers. These findings indicate that the discourse in the LMF does have clear relationships to the ways Lebanese laws create a lack of accountability for employers of domestic workers and thus normalize the Kafala system.