Abstract
As in other Western European countries, Switzerland has tightened its integration policies by introducing language policies addressing a specific segment of the immigrant population. Based on the hegemonic discourse that language is the key to integration, these new policies are embedded in both national and cantonal integration legislation. It is the aim of this chapter to critically analyse this discourse and its materialization in the laws in a case study of Basel, a city in German-speaking Switzerland known for its integration policy innovation in order to understand its broader sociopolitical function. On the basis of a critical discursive analysis of (1) documents and recordings pertaining to the law drafting processes and of (2) interviews with experts, it becomes evident that the discursive field of national and cantonal integration and language policies is organized along the argumentative positions of ‘promoting’ versus ‘demanding’ integration. A discursive analysis of the two positions, drawing on the concept of interpretative repertoires, shows their codependency not only in structuring the discursive field, but also in legitimizing the tightening of the policies.
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Notes
- 1.
This law addresses neither asylum seekers (Law on Asylum; SR. 142.31) nor citizens of the EU/EFTA (bilateral agreements).
- 2.
Basel’s Integration Mission Statement (in German) ‘Leitbild und Handlungskonzept zur Integrationspolitik Basel-Stadt’, (p. 11) <http://www.bs.ch/publikationen/entwicklung/integrationsleitbild.html> [accessed 27 March 2015]. Information on the drafting of the integration law (‘Ratschlag betreffend Gesetz über die Migrationsbevölkerung (Integrationsgesetz)’): <http://www.grosserrat.bs.ch/dokumente/100236/000000236080.pdf> [accessed 27 March 2015].
- 3.
For a discussion on the diglossic situation in German-speaking Basel and its erasure in the integration debates, see Flubacher (2013).
- 4.
The following interview excerpts are translated by the author into English from Swiss German or German. The transcription guidelines are the following:
= simultaneous speech
(.); (..) short pause; longer pause
((xxx)) incomprehensible utterance
(.h); (h.) intake of breath; outtake of breath
/; \ rising intonation; falling intonation
[ ] interjection
- 5.
In some cantons, integration agreements (i.e. signed ‘contracts’) have been implemented; in others, already abolished again.
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Acknowledgments
I would like to express my gratitude to the two editors of this volume, Elisabeth Barakos and Johnny Unger, for their helpful input and inspiring comments. Furthermore, I would also like to thank my colleague Martina Zimmermann for her comments on an earlier version of this chapter.
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Flubacher, MC. (2016). On ‘Promoting and Demanding’ Integration: A Discursive Case Study of Immigrant Language Policy in Basel. In: Barakos, E., W. Unger, J. (eds) Discursive Approaches to Language Policy. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-53134-6_10
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