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6

The newpaper article “Brexit is entrenching some dangerous myths about ‘British’ culture” written by Afua Hirsch and published in ‘The Guardian’ on 25 May 2017 deals with the position of the British culture to the Brexit and the interior conflicts. In her article Afua Hirsch mentions both sides of the British history, the thoughts of the British culture about Brexit and her own opinion to the situation in Britain. At first she starts with her headline and a subheading, which both attract the attention of the readership by terms like “dangerous myths” and “more hostile and alarming”. She also put a photo next to her text, which has the caption “Britain First and EDL protesters stage a demonstration in London”. It makes clear that there are some interior conflicts in Britain because of the Brexit. Then she starts her text with an introducing comment what shows that she is incorporating her opinion into the article (cf. ll. 1-3). After that she talks about the good history of Britain. She goes on talking about the bad history of Britain to show both of the sides but also to underline that every country has bad events in the past (cf. ll.3-29). She brings this message across by mentioning the example with “Winston Churchill” (l.17f) who killed “savages” in Sudan. In the next paragraph the author add results and statistics from a survey in Britain what is about the opinion of the British about the situation there. It shows that “[…]more than half of British people […]” (ll. 31f) feel hostile to immigrants. Besides, “[m]ore than half of the British people” (ll. 40f) think that immigrants destroy their culture, so they want to get isolated by them to “get [their] country back”. Afua Hirsch put this statistics in her article to give the reader the chance to understand the British people. She also mentions the big call of British against black people in their country (cf. ll. 64ff). At this point she wants her readership to realize the situation in Britain and the thoughts and fears of the British people. However, then she switches to her opinion about the events in Britain. First, she says that every country or every culture is influented by other cultures and traditions. To connect this statement with the British situation, she gives a list of some examples like the “fish and chips” (l. 79) which are from Portugal. With the examples she gains more credibility for her statement and the readership tends to understand her. At the end of her article she makes clear that the British people lost the thread to reality because they demonstrate against immigrants who destroy their culture. She think so because of the fact that every culture is influented by other cultures, so there is no “thoroughbred” culture (cf. 90ff). To summarize, Afua Hirsch wants to show how British people think and feel about the Brexit and added her own position to underline that the hostility of British against immigrants is false because immigrants can not destroy a “thoroughbred” culture since there is no “thoroughbred” culture.

1

The newspaper article is about the development of Britain regarding to the exterior attitude towards the world and the interior cultur conflict affected by the recent situation of the Brexit. The article is divided into four parts. In the first part(ll.1-29) the author informs the readers about the leading role of Britain in creating the human rights but killing 'savages' in Sudan. With this serious topic she wants to get the attention on her following arguments. The next part (ll.30-57) is about the attitude of british people towards ethnic minorities and that they accuse them because of several problems like that immigrants would "take away jobs" (ll.37-38). When the author lists up the different opinions, she relies on percentages from a survey to become more credible. In the following part (ll.58-74) the author says that the ethnic minorities now feel less british because they remember the past, for example "being openly chased in the streets by white racists"(ll.72-73). In the last paragraph (ll.74-105) the author arguments that a lot of the british culture is shaped by the immigrants and that they are a part of the society. She uses examples like "fish and chips"(l.79) wich came from Jewish refugees, to support her argument. In the end she also claims that "[n]o society ever has a perfect grasp of its history" (ll.87-88) and also appeals to the readers. By looking at the stylistic devices, one can day that the author often uses the word "white"(ll. 52/73/...) in a very negative way, to show that racism against ethnic minorities is bad and that the history should not repeat itself. Hirsch also repeats the word "minorities"(ll.33/42/...) to get the attention and show the sincerity of the situation. She also uses an enumeration(ll.78-84) to list up positive things that immigrants brought when the came to Britain. To come to an conclusion, one can say that Hirsch wrote an opinionated article to express how she feels about the current situation that is 'caused of the Brexit.

10

The given newspaper article is an opinion piece which is written by the columnist Afua Hirsch. In context to that it becomes clear that she does not only wants to inform but to persuade the readership about her opinion about Britain's cultural development.

The given article is divided into seven paragraphs. In the fisrt few lines she introduces the readership to Britain's situation and leading role. In the topic sentence she already awake the interest of the reader because of the two sides of Britain (ll. 1- -13). Furthermore, she states examples to illustrate the history and the problematic contradictory present of Britain, which support the understanding for readership to her introduction into the topic (ll. 13-29). Besides, she points out the different opinions of the multicultural life in Britain by including a survey what appears really trustful and convincing(ll.30-43). In addition to that she lits up the movement and the associated demand of being independent. So far she also includes the problematic movements in connection with the Brexit(ll. 44-57). In context to that she makes clear that there is formation and distance of different ethnical and separated groups in the society by referring to the Opinium Poll what underlines her point of view(ll. 58-73). Later on, she refers to the fact that the union of different cultures influence the British culture by including several common examples so far everybody could identify with at least one of them(ll.74-86). Finally, she concludes her impression of the British movement by including own experiences what is really authentic and appeals to the audience by inviting the readership(ll. 87-105).

Throughout her newspaper article Afua Hirsch employs some stylistic devices to emphasize her point of view. First of all it become clear that she qoutes several experts like the "international trade secretary Liam Fox" (ll. 7 ff.) and includes facts and figures which are underlined by surveys (cf. Ll. 31ff). So far she wants to convince the audience that she expresses trustful and authentic information about her opinion of the racist movement in Britain along the Brexit and the isolation of ethnic minorities. Furthermore, she includes a methaphor in context to the statement that the aim of the Brexit is to get their country back which can be understand that their "country [should be] white again" (l.52). This leads to the problematic that there is a movement against ethnic minorities what she underlines by including her own experiences and the personal pronoun 'I' (cf.55f.). In context to that she wants to emphasize to the audience especially those who feel concerned and in the same position like her. Later on she includes several examples in a construction of an enumeration "such as fish and chips, an innovation of Jewish refugees from Portugal. Roads and cities built by the Romans, banks were founded by Huguenots, a royal household established by a broad cross-section of European aristocracy" (ll. 78ff.). According to that she wants to stress that the complex of different influences of different cultures should not be destroyed by the recent situation of the Brexit.

Regarding to her use of informal language it is becoming clear that she makes use of short forms to emphasize to the readership. Due to that fact she mostly employs negative words that illustrate the conflict amd problem in Britain. In context to that it is apparent that she is connecting the Brexit with aspects like "racism" (l. 70) against "ethinic minority British" (l. 59) but also the development of the "idea [of] British culture" (l. 74). This shows that her choice of words effects the message of the text. Besides, she uses verbs in the past tense purposely to relate on what have already influenced the British culture (cf. Ll. 78ff.).

In general I come to the conclusion that the news article of Afua Hirsch is really convincing with reference to the recent situation and movements that also becomes an international phenomenon. All in all the author in persuading by including own experiences.

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The newspaper article is about Afua's Hirsch opinion of the British culture to the Brexit and interior conflicts.

First, Afua Hirsch mentions the general informations about the current situation in Britian (cf.ll.11-13) to introduce into the topic. In the next part (cf.ll.13-29) she shows the history and employs examples to support her arguments about the contradictory present. Furthermore, she underlines her arguments with facts from ethnic groups and represent their opinion (cf.ll. 30-43). In the next paragraph (cf. ll. 44-57) she uses symbols to illustrate the associated movement of British demand and of being independent. She points out the distance of different ethnical groups in the society with facts and figures. Moreover, she highlights the main topic again and uses examples that the union of different influences forms the British culture (cf.ll. 74-86). In the last part (cf.ll. 87-105) she gives a conclusion and makes an appeal to the audience that the consideration of the own attitude towards the society and British culture movement is important.

Firstly, it should be mentioned that the picture pays the attention of the reader, which helps to illustrate the situation and the reader can understand the following text better by having an first idea about what the text is about. It shows the current situation of the interior conflicts, because of the Brexit. It is a "demonstration in London" . She starts with the main topic and her opinion in this situation (cp.ll1-3). After that she mentions the example of "Winston Churchill" (l. 17f.). Moreover the statistics show that "[m] ore than the half of British people (ll. 40f.) think that immigrants destroy their culture and it shows the opinion that multiculturalism is different. But in this position, it is racist against immigrants. That she puts statistics in her article underlines that she wants to convince the audience and wants to be trustful. Besides she underlines the big call of British against black people (cp. ll. 65f.) that they should realize the current situation and the thoughts and fears of British people. Another point is that she states examples like "fish and chips" (l. 79) to show that different cultures have influenced other countries in culture and tradition. At the end she makes an appeal (cp. ll. 105) to emphasize that British people lost their connection to the reality, because they have to realize that there is no thoroughbred culture.

All in all, she shows her own opinion and the opinion of British people too. She makes clears how they feel and what their thoughts are. In addition, she underlines that they should stop to make the immigrants guilty.

4

The given newsletter article “Brexit is entrenching some dangerous myths about ‘British‘ culture“ is written by Afua Hirsch and published on 25 May 2017 in ‘The Guardian‘. It is about the development of British history and how they get to Brexit, in the authors opinion.

The article is devided into five paragraphs. Paragraph one is about the Brexit and how it is entrenching Britains cultural backround (ll.1-13). The second paragraph is about Britain’s history in general and how it comes to “the Britain of today“ (ll. 13-29). The next paragraph points out the main reasons for Brexit, for example the many immigrants (ll.30-73). Paragraph four shows the cultural traditions because of immigration and some examples for very famous British traditions (ll.74-90). The last paragraph is about the negative aspects of influence by other ethnic minorities (ll.90-115).

In her newspaper article Afua Hirsch usues some stilistic devices to stress her opinion. From the first sentence she gives her own opinion to the topic. She says that “there is something deeply ironic about the wave of nostalgia“(ll.1 ff.), this represents her own opinion on Britains politics. Hirsch quotes experts, like “international trade secretary Liam Fox“ (ll.8 ff.), to justify her arguments. These expert quotes show to the audience that she has reliable information and that her opinion of the British politics and the Brexit are reliable too. In the British history she gives examples for what went wrong in the past, like “Winston Churchill, who was able to boast of killing “savages“ in Sudan“(ll.17ff.), this shows that Britain wasn’t that good in their past and it is not that good if they want their “old“ Britain back. Later on she points out opinions of different British people who are againts immigrants because they “take away jobs“(ll.37 f.). With the metaphor “make our country white again“(ll. 51 f.) she underlines how bad the opinions of the Brexit members are. She also points out that racism is one of the main reasons for Brexit, because many British people think that immigrants “threat(en) their “cuture““(l.43). Hirsch shows that many “cultural traditions are the products of immigration“(ll.77 ff.) and names many examples after that to verify her argument. She chooses informal language to structure her arguments in a correct and clear way. but she also uses short forms to involve the “normal“ reader into her argumentation and make it easier to understand.

Finally I come to the conclusion that Afua Hirsch represents her opinion of Britain and the Brexit in a very good way because it is easy to understand and you can comprehend her arguements very good.

22

The newspaper article written by Afua Hirsch titled “Brexit is entrenching some dangerous myths about ‘British’ culture” is a column and was published by the Guardian on the 25 May 2017. It deals with the topic of racism in Britain and how the Brexit influences British culture and the way it is perceived.

Hirsch starts her article by using very emotional language to appeal to the reader's conscience. “There is something deeply ironic about the wave of nostalgia sweeping political discourse in modern Britain.” (ll. 1) By using grading words such as ironic or “nonsense” (l.76) she shows the reader her own opinion throughout the entire article. She then goes on to refer to a survey that shows that “more than half of British people feel hostile [...] to refugees” (ll. 31-33) or “[feel] that people from ethnic minorities threaten their ‘culture’.” (ll. 42) This underlines her following point about how “British culture is perceived as white”. She also mentions her own experiences with racism and gives the example of a taxi driver telling her that she would “be off home soon” (l. 56). Hirsch continues with an Opinium Poll that shows that ethnic minorities are less likely to identify as British. She blames the “absence of protection from racism in the workplace” (ll. 70) for this. She ends her article by making an appeal to her readers. “thanks to [...] hostility towards the impact of ethnic minority people on British culture, so should everyone else.” (ll.102-105)

To conclude, Hirsch shows the reality of British culture and the way it is perceived.

’’’8’’’

The newpaper article “Brexit is entrenching some dangerous myths about ‘British’ culture” written by Afua Hirsch and published in ‘The Guardian’ on 25 May 2017 contains the conflicts caused by the Brexit.

The article is separated in seven paragraphs. At first Aula Hirsch mentions the British history by telling both sides of the British past. Right after the explains the opinions of Britain’s Citizens and her own opinion about the upcoming Brexit. Furthermore she accosiated the demand of being independent and its movement and also the not so positive movement in connection with the Brexit. Later on she starts by talking about the great past Britain’s and goes on with the bad one, but she points out that every country has a bad past and it’s nothing new. In addition to this she gives the example “Winston Churchill” who killed savages in Sudan. Aula Hirsch gives a statistic which shows, that more than half of the Britain’s feel hostile by immigrants and feel like their destroying their culture. The Britain’s mostly wants to get their culture back by getting isolated by them. The author gives this statistics as an example for her readers. She also tells the readers about the movement against black people in Britain. She wants to make the readership realise the impact of the Brexit on immigrants and racism. Hirsch then expresses her own opinion about the Brexit and its problems caused. She says that every country and culture is influenced by other ethnics and she gives a lot of examples to connect this argument with the whole Brexit situation. In the end of the article, she expresses how the Britain’s lost thread on reality because they start racist movements.

All in all you can say, Aula Hirsch gives many reasons for Britain’s to overthink their behaviour and change it to something better.

18

Analysis

The given column “Brexit is entrenching some dangerous myths about ‘British’ culture”, written by Afua Hirsch and published in The Guardian on the 25th of May 2017 deals with the widespread hostility towards ethnic minorities in Britain regarding the Brexit. The article at hand employs a standfirst informing the reader about its main topic. Additionally, there are two pictures included. One of the pictures shows a Britain First and EDL demonstration, whereas the other one represents Britain’s multicultural history showing The Great Mosque. The pictures demonstrate the division within Britain due to racism and are meant to grab potential readers’ attention. First, the article begins by introducing Britain's current situation by discussing its history and Britain’s membership of the EU providing the reader with essential background information (ll. 1- -29). Thereafter, the column refers to a few surveys regarding common attitudes toward people from different ethnic minorities (ll.30-43). The laid-out evidence suggests the author’s professionality and trustworthiness. Furthermore, the author talks about racism as a cause of the Brexit (ll. 44-57). The text explains that as a result, ethnic minority British people struggle with identifying as British, which is proven by the Opinium poll, a further piece of evidence used to evoke a feeling of trust in the reader (ll. 58-73). Moreover, the author draws attention to the influences of immigration on the British culture (ll.74-86), before stating her own opinion and emotions regarding Britain’s current situation and appealing to the audience (ll. 87-105). The author employs several stylistic devices in order to underline the article’s trustworthiness and the relevance and seriousness of the issue at hand, which is the widespread hostility towards people of other ethnical backgrounds. After providing the reader with some background information about Britain’s history as a “leader of world trade” (ll.7), the author states that “it’s only a matter of time before Britain’s membership of the Council of Europe” (ll.23) ends. This prediction implies that the end of the membership is inevitable considering the current circumstances and therefore, emphasizes the urgency for change. This urgency is furtherly shown using word fields including words and phrases such as “demonising” (ll.92), “nervous” (ll.97), “divorced from reality” (ll.91) and “malign” (ll.100). The intensity of the problem at hand is highlighted by facts and figures (ll.31,37,40f.) provided in surveys, that are used in order to lend credibility to the arguments listed by the author. On of these surveys, the Opinium poll, claims that “ethnic minority British people are now less likely to identify as British since the EU referendum(.)” (ll.59ff.). The contrast between the fact that these people are indeed British and the fact that they nonetheless do not feel as though they are truly a part of Britain shows the intensity of the effects of racism in combination with the Brexit. The author then refers to the past again enumerating issues existing before the EU such as “the absence of protection from racism in the workplace, or at hands of the police, or (…) being openly chased in the streets by white racists(.)” (ll.70ff.). The present climax furtherly underlines the intensity of racism. Additionally, the text states that the “idea that British ‘culture’ is somehow opposite to the presence of ethnic minorities is a historical nonsense(.)” (ll.74ff.), which is supported by an enumeration of examples of products of immigration (ll.78ff.) as “iconic cultural traditions” (ll.77). Finally, the author expresses her opinion more intensely using emotive language (eg. “I feel very nervous” (ll.96f.)) in order to leave a lasting impression and appeals to the reader that “everyone else” (ll.105) should share her opinion given the provided evidence. In conclusion, it can be said that the purpose of the text is to educate people on the impact of racism and the Brexit and to encourage them to act.

2

The newspaper article "Brexit is entrenching some dangerous myths about 'British' culture" written by Afua Hirsch and published on 25 May 2017 in 'The Guardian' deals with the upcoming Brexit, such as its reasons and fears.

The author believes that the upcoming Brexit will only worsen the current situation, regarding this she expresses her thoughts of feeling nervous. She even appeals against Brexit, so the type of the article is a column.

She starts out by mentioning the good history of Britain (ll. 1-13), in which it had a very high position in world trade. The reader should be aware of Britain's high reputation and its influence on other countrys. Next she tells about the critical history of Great Britain (ll. 14-29). Even if the state always showed humanitarianism, it was built on racism. The author uses a juxtaposition "killing "savages" [...] creating the international humanitarian norms" (ll. 18-21). By placing these historical events next to each other, she turns out its inconsistency and irony. Additionally, Afua Hirsch refers to the famous Winston Churchill. In this way, she supports her statements and gains the reader's credibility. Further, she points out the british fear about immigrants (ll. 30-43). According to a survey, more than half of the British citizens think other "ethnic minorities threatened their "culture" " (ll. 42f.) and one in four think they would "take away jobs" (ll. 37f.). By including a survey she illustrates seriousness. Later on she informs about radical, racist campaigns, which demand that people with another ethnic background, should leave the country, to preserve their cultural heritage. By mentioning concrete groups, such as 'dog whistles' she highlights the gravity of the situation. The following paragraph is about the uncomfortable feeling of British people, who have got another ethnic background (ll. 57-73). They can't longer "identify as British since the EU referendum" (ll. 60f.). She refers again to a poll to gain credibility. The author compares contradicting opinions, to illustrate the grand split in British population. Next, she explains that all those concerns of losing cultural heritage are unjustified because the culture is exactly shaped by immigration. She describes those collapsing statements as "most ironic" (L. 77). Further, she gives a lot of examples to support her statement "roads and cities were built by the Romans" (ll. 80f.) With that statement, she vitiates the previous opinions. Finally, she continues that "perceptions [...] count" (L. 84) and that "no society ever has a perfect grasp of its history" (ll. 87f.). Afua Hirsch says that she "feel[s] very nervous" (L. 97) about the current situation. With using the pronoun 'I' she makes her conserns more personal. In the end she appeals to treat people with ethnic minorities peacefully "so should everyone else" (L. 105).

The author uses a formal language to illustrate her message serious, additionally, she uses a frequent choice if words. The negative connotations of words like "kill" (L. 18), "racist attacks" (L. 54), "hostility" (L. 65) emphasize the dramatic situation in Britain and its unknown future. There are also two pictures. The first picture has the caption "Britain First and EDL protesters stage a demonstration in London", which shows people with different flags and two police officers. The other picture shows an old building and has the caption "Multicultural history : the Great Mosque on Brick Lane in London used to be Protestant church and synagogue".

Finally I come to the conclusion that the initial hypothesis that Afua Hirsch is against a Brexit is true.