Framing the YPG and YPJ : A Critical Discourse Analysis of Orientalist and Liberal Feminist Portrayals in United States’ Media and Politics

Abstract: This thesis analyses media portrayal of the People's Protection Units (YPG) and the Women’s Protection Units (YPJ) in US media by making use of Fairclough’s three-dimensional model of critical discourse analysis. The thesis investigates if these portrayals have been used as a justification by the United States White House to intervene militarily in the conflict in Rojava. Three ways of portraying the YPG and YPJ have been identified: an Orientalist portrayal contrasting the YPG and YPJ to the Orient and including them in a Western ‘us’, a liberal feminist portrayal where the YPJ are contrasted and distanced to the ‘Third World woman’, and the portrayal of the fighters as nationalist and violent suicide bombers, placing them as ‘the Other’. The Orientalist ‘us’ portrayal was found to be used by the US government to justify military intervention. The contextual analysis of US media and politics showed that these portrayals depend on political agendas and therefore say much more about the political climate in the US than being representative of the YPG and YPJ which in its turn causes troubling misrepresentations of the YPG and YPJ.