The concept of xenophobia in the perspective of the Prototypical Theory of Categorization:

an analysis of the concepts attributed to the people of the Brazilian Northeastern in the bolsonarista discourse

Abstract

The migratory process is a global phenomenon arising from multiple variables, which generates conflicts between recipients and migrants. Xenophobia is a discriminatory process characterized as a type of disrespect and/or intolerance towards the places of origin, accents, cultures, religions or ethnicities of people who migrate. This study aims to analyze the mobilization of the concept of xenophobia in Ex-President Bolsonaro’s discourse and that of his like-minded followers (known as bolsonaristas), based on the prototypical categorization theory. This is an exploratory and descriptive study with a qualitative approach, grounded in bibliographical and documentary research. The corpus that forms the basis of the data analysis is composed of ten statements given by ExPresident Bolsonaro while he was a congressman and later as president, during public interviews referring to the people of the Brazil’s Northeast. The stages of data collection, processing, and analysis were conducted using content analysis techniques. The study characterizes the idea of regional xenofobia and contains the assumptions of the classical and prototypical model of categorization. It identifies the main characteristics of the concept of xenofobia according to the classical theory and articulates the notion of belonging with the possibilities pointed out in the prototypical theory. It discusses the belonging of the concepts attributed to the northeastern people in the bolsonarista discourse to the category of xenophobia, in the light of prototypical categorization theory.