“A FLURRY OF ARRIVALS BY SMALL BOATS” – FRAMING ALBANIAN IMMIGRATION IN THE BRITISH PRESS

Abstract

This article investigates the metaphorical representation of Albanian immigrants in the British press between January 2021 and September 2023, a period marked by a noticeable increase in Albanian asylum seekers and a harsh political rhetoric around immigration. Drawing on the framework of Critical Metaphor Analysis, the study examines how metaphors are employed to frame migration and construct public perceptions of Albanian immigrants in the British press. The analysis is based on a corpus of news articles from a range of ideologically different newspapers, such as The Guardian, the Daily Mail, and The Telegraph. Four dominant metaphorical scenarios emerged from the data: the space container scenario, the natural disaster scenario, the commodity scenario, and the war scenario. These metaphors consistently portray Albanian immigrants as dehumanized, threatening, or lacking agency. The space container metaphor scenario presents Britain as a space under pressure, while the natural disaster metaphor scenario emphasizes migration as an uncontrollable and overwhelming force. The commodity metaphor scenario reduces immigrants to objects of trade, often linking them with economic or criminal narratives. Finally, the war metaphor scenario depicts immigration as an act of aggression or invasion, especially prominent in right-leaning media.