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Antisemitism as designed discourse: Jewish youth interpreting everyday encounters with antisemitic manifestations
Author(s): Westberg, Gustav; Brylla, Charlotta Seiler; Årman, Henning
Date: 2026
Topics: Antisemitism: Jewish Perceptions and Experiences, Discourse and Discourse Analysis, Ethnography, Youth, Main Topic: Antisemitism
Abstract: This paper explores how Jewish youth in Sweden interpret antisemitic discourse encountered in their everyday lives. Drawing on traditions of social semiotics, discourse ethnography, and child and youth studies, the study design enables an emic perspective and highlights how participants draw on their knowledge of multimodal design and production when making sense of the semiotic manifestations they encounter. The data consist of the participating youths’ own documentation of the semiotic manifestations they encounter, as well as focus group discussions in which this documentation is discussed by the youth. The paper presents a novel discourse-design approach to antisemitism that conceptualizes antisemitic manifestations as integrated wholes in which meaning and form, content, and expression are fused. Results show that the participating youth interpret the material properties of antisemitic discourse and their effects with respect to semiotic investment, as well as the affordances of different production and distribution media. By centering interpretation and treating antisemitism as a lived and contextualized semiotic phenomenon, the paper demonstrates the importance of exploring antisemitic and racist discourse from the perspective of the targeted minority.