The discourse surrounding climate refugees is marked by ideological contestation and affective complexity. This study offers a novel perspective by integrating Laclau and Mouffe’s post-structuralist discourse theory with Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), while foregrounding the role of affect in hegemonic struggles. Through a detailed study of the first landmark case of Teitiota in Kiribati, it investigates how affect resources function in the construction and deconstruction of hegemony in discourses. Quantitative annotation, polarity scoring of affect resources in representations reveal two hegemonic discourses: “Apocalypse”, which casts climate refugees as threats and helpless victims, and “Adaptation”, which portrays them as resilient and politically active agents. The corpus-based affect annotation makes it possible to trace the how affects incur emotions which “articulate” different but similar elements into constructing hegemony and meanwhile compete with each other to deconstruct hegemony. The antagonism is highlighted in this entangled process, not only reflecting deep-seated geopolitical divides between the Global North and South, but also opens possibilities for discursive plurality. It contributes to theoretical debates by linking affective (emotional) charge to hegemonic contestation in climate governance while also offering practical implications for understanding how climate-induced displacement is framed and responded in the ever-lasting game in antagonsim, which precisely accounts for a way out — a pluralistic approach that recognizes diverse voices and affect with competing claims.

Keywords: Climate Refugee, Post-Structuralist Discourse Analysis, Affect, Hegemony, CDA

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Funding

This research was funded by the Research Funds for Student Innovation and Entrepreneurship Training Program at Sun Yat-sen University, Project No. 20251741

Conflicts of Interest:

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest to report regarding the present study.

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“The Making of a Climate Refugee”: A Critical View on How Affects Construct and Deconstruct Hegemony in Discourses