(VLS2a) Violence as a Cultural Process I: Media and State Narratives on Violence
Tuesday Jun 18 9:00 am to 10:30 am (Eastern Daylight Time)
Trottier Building - ENGTR 1100
Session Code: VLS2a
Session Format: Paper Presentations
Session Language: English
Research Cluster Affiliation: Sociology of Culture, Violence and Society
Session Categories: In-person Session
How do people and institutions construct the meanings they attach to violence? This is a recurring session that aims to advance sociological theories, methods, and empirical explorations of how people come to understand violence. What conceptual frameworks and experiences enhance or prevent the understanding of the various meanings of violence? Part 1 of this session focuses on how institutions such as the state and the media produce “official stories” of violence. Part II, on the other hand, focuses on how survivors, activists, and scholars might challenge these official stories and shed new light into the uses and meanings of violence, from the perspectives of those most affected by it. Tags: Culture, Violence
Organizers: Natalia Otto, University of Toronto, Lily Ivanova, University of British Columbia, Marie Laperriere, University of Manitoba; Chairs: Natalia Otto, University of Toronto, Lily Ivanova, University of British Columbia
Presentations
Zerrin Akter Anni, University of British Columbia
Medias role in shaping perceptions of violence against women and their portrayal in news reporting significantly influences our understanding of this critical issue. My research delves into the intricate dynamics between media and violence against women in Bangladesh, using the prominent case of Rumana Manzur, a former UBC Fulbright Scholar who suffered a brutal assault by her ex-husband in June 2011. By conducting a qualitative research method, I employ ethnographic media analysis of news reports to investigate how the popular news media of Bangladesh responds to the issue of violence against women and represents the victims of such violence. The first section of findings of this research highlights that news media can perpetuate gender stereotypes and subtly shift blame onto the victim through various techniques, creating intricate interactions between the reader and the text. These techniques include sensationalized headlines, textual content, and graphic images. This victim-blaming process not only retraumatizes the survivor but also distorts the actual facts when presenting the case to a larger audience. Consequently, the representation of violence against women cases in media, particularly the portrayal of women as victims during reporting, significantly impacts our collective comprehension of this issue. Nevertheless, by delving deeper into the transformative journey of the Rumana Manzur from 2011 to 2018, the second chapter of findings also suggested that a number of articles from a selected newspaper underwent a significant evolution over the years, transcending the conventional portrayal of victims in news media. I contend that when viewed through a feminist lens, a noticeable transformation is noticeable in the way certain news media present its narrative, shifting away the focus from victimhood to the empowerment of survivors. This shift successfully challenges deeply ingrained stereotypes and the inclination to blame victims of violence providing a source of resilience by showcasing strength as well as advocating for transformative social justice. To conclude, throughout the thesis, I have addressed noticable gaps in the literature, including the need for a feminist perspective in media analysis of violence against women, the ethical considerations in sensationalism, and the role of media in shifting the focus from victimhood to empowerment. Therefore, the research contributes to filling these gaps by providing a nuanced analysis of media portrayals of violence in the context of Bangladesh, using a prominent case study. Additionally, the research underscores the importance of ethical reporting and the medias role in shaping public perception, making a valuable contribution to the discourse on gender-based violence in media.
Maya Krishnan, McGill University
This paper aims to excavate the implications of GBV in Indian news coverage and the ways that coverage of GBV is leveraged within news representations of ongoing Indian political debates and identity-based discourses. Recent scholarship has underscored the widespread implications of increasingly polarized and politically biased news media coverage and has specifically highlighted the polarization of Indian news media against the backdrop of contemporary national-political tensions. Like other democratic contexts, Indian citizens demonstrate a growing cognizance of the political biases of major news outlets and is an important dimension of understanding mainstream news coverage and consumption. Considering that political bias consistently leaks into and often characterizes everyday news coverage, this project focuses on the contemporary coverage of gender-based violence (GBV) across the political spectrum of newspapers in India. Specifically, we ask how the English-language Indian news press covers GBV, specifically femicide. GBV is often understood as an apolitical issue, divorced from concurrent political and electoral debates; eradicating GBV in India is popularly conceptualized as a national and potentially unifying issue. This is also in part because similar rhetoric patterns to describe GBV are employed across the political spectrum of Indian newspapers. These include graphic descriptions of violence, ways of establishing victim and perpetrator identities, as well as the extent of (lack of) inclusion and description of marginalized groups including religious minorities, lower-castes, and tribal populations. Moreover, contemporary research has established ‘infotainment’ as a central practice of English-language Indian news coverage and of GBV specifically. This paper presents an analysis of approximately 500 news reports of GBV in India. We utilize four major English-language national newspapers across the contemporary Indian political spectrum using OpIndia (right), The Times of India (right-center), The Hindu (left-center), and The Indian Express (left). The publications selected have geographically varied central offices, specifically including coverage centered in North and South India as well as right/left-wing variation in these regions. India is a strategic site for comparing the differential news media treatment of GBV for several reasons. First, the country is characterized by a significant majority-minority cleavage with both ethnicity and religion occupying a central role in the identities of both Hindus and Muslims as well as related ongoing political conflicts. Namely, contemporary national politics in India can be characterized by increasingly diffused exclusionary Hindu-nationalist discourses and values which have reflected in growing ethnic and religious conflict across the country. Additionally, GBV in India has and remains statistically highly prevalent, with recent data since the COVID-19 pandemic indicating almost 1 in 3 married women having experiences DV/IPV. Further research has highlighted the role of ethno-religious, caste, and other social inequalities in enhancing vulnerability to DV/IPV and limiting access to institutional recourse. Despite this context and clear historical legacies of the politicization of GBV in Indian women’s rights movements, GBV is still largely considered apolitical and its representations, diffusions, and perceptions across society are rarely determined or understood through these lenses of current national and identity politics. Recent research in contexts with similar ethno-religious majority-minority cleavages has focused specifically on coverage of femicide, namely murders perpetrated by family members and intimate partners, which can be conceptualized as DV/IPV. A preliminary analysis based of a 200-article pilot dataset reveals the utility of a similar definitional focus, with potentially fruitful divergences. Focus on femicide, or murder of women, allows for incorporating the structural factors that impact DV/IPV as well as the often everyday and mundane nature of this violence. We currently use GBV as a broader scope to include a larger spectrum of cases, particularly because cases often covered in national news present as anomalous from conventional cases of DV/IPV in the extent or type of violence, sensationalized case details or actors involved, as well as the public-facing positionality of victims or perpetrators. However, as we continue data collection, we anticipate transitioning to a narrower definition of femicide to avoid over-sampling sensationalized cases as well as assess the implications of this femicide coverage on both ongoing electoral debates and discourses of gender and ethno-religious majority and minority identities.
Non-presenting author: Eran Shor, McGill University
Jillian Sunderland, University of Toronto
Culture as Rhetoric: State Narratives in Tackling Gender Violence within the RCMP
This paper delves into the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) sexual violence scandal, which culminated in a watershed moment that saw approximately 3,000 female officers reaching a $125 million settlement with the government. Additionally, the Federal Court awarded an additional $100 million settlement to non-officer women in the RCMP. Former Supreme Court of Canada Justice Hon. Michel Bastarache was tasked with investigating this issue as part of the settlement. In his final report, he forcefully condemned the Force by stating, "The level of violence and sexual assault that was reported was shocking…. the culture of the RCMP is toxic and tolerates misogyny and homophobia at all ranks and in all provinces and territories " (Bastarache 2020, p. 2). Bastaraches report became an integral pillar in the governments comprehensive examination of gender violence within the RCMP. This paper analyzes the litany of governmental reports that tackled this problem to uncover how the state adjudicates gender violence within an institution tasked with public safety. In so doing, it asks what these administrative documents can reveal about how gender violence is understood organizationally. This project foregrounds feminist insights on the state and organizations that view these institutions as intertwined with and productive of white masculine authority (Connell 2009; Acker 1991). Through this lens, I conceptualize the RCMP as a masculinist institution and situate this scandal within similar feminist investigations of sexual violence within the police, military, and professional sports (Duriesmith 2023; MacKenzie and Wadham 2023; Enloe 2004). Historically, male-dominated organizations framed gender violence through the lens of individual pathology or scapegoated it onto a few bad apples (Duriesmith 2023; MacKenzie and Wadham 2023). Feminists have forcefully challenged these individualized framings. Instead, they proffered that such violence is culturally produced (Schmid 2010) in which certain cultures fomented versions of masculinity that are predicated on dominating feminized bodies. Yet, in recent years, a notable shift has occurred in that many inquiries into male-dominated institutions have drawn on the lexicon of how ‘culture’ is responsible for this conduct (Duriesmith 2023; MacKenzie and Wadham 2023; Enloe 2004). I observe parallel instances in state reports examining the RCMP scandal. This begs the question of whether the adoption of a cultural understanding of gender violence aligns with its feminist origins or if it takes on new meanings in these organizational contexts. Thus, I ask: How do these reports define the concept of culture, and which specific aspects are singled out for transformation? What roles and functions does culture assume when confronted by those endeavouring to grapple with this issue? Who or what is held accountable for the creation of a misogynistic culture? In this paper, I argue that various state agencies employ the concept of culture in limited and truncated ways. I maintain that ‘culture’ serves as a rhetorical device that, while seemingly acknowledging issues within the institution, simultaneously deflects deeper scrutiny of its foundational principles. In this manner, I draw parallels to my previous work on the St. Mikes sexual assault case, where I documented how the media and legal discourses placed blame for the assault on the schools culture and masculinity. I argued that this elided culpability for privileged people and institutions in a way that reinscribed traditional power hierarchies (Sunderland 2024). I find similar rhetorical moves in the RCMP case but extend this argument to argue how the discourse of culture is meant to shore up legitimacy for the Force to better serve state purposes. From this standpoint, it seems the inquiries are more intent on reinforcing the existing white patriarchal colonial social order than on initiating genuine reform. In this order, violence is exclusively projected outward, directed at those deemed legitimate targets, specifically Indigenous, Black, and impoverished communities. By aligning with a feminist tradition that centers historical inquiry, critical analysis, and the examination of gender power dynamics, the superficial nature of the critiques levied against the RCMP in the wake of its sexual harassment scandal is unsurprising. Expecting such an institution to initiate or embrace its own radical dismantling is to misunderstand its foundational purpose. However, while the state and its institutions are unlikely to spearhead their own dismantlement, critically examining their actions and the discourses they propagate is invaluable. Through these findings, I hope to add to the literature critiquing the invocation of culture in state documents. Yet, I further argue that these discourses are not just about maintaining an institution; they are about delineating the boundaries of legitimate violence and, by extension, the contours of the state itself.
Karen Andrews, McGill University; Safeera Jaffer, McGill University
In the years since #MeToo (2017), heightened media discourse has brought sexual harassment and assault into a greater public view and consciousness (Eckert et al., 2022). Traditional print and online media wield immense power with news stories (Bohner, 2001; Clark, 1992; Starkey et al., 2019; Sue et al., 2020). The specific ways that journalists frame their reporting around sexual violence influences audiences and can perpetuate rape myths such as victim blaming. Despite certain gains in media framing over the past decade (Aroustamian, 2020), issues surrounding sexual violence reporting not only continue but have devastating consequences (Sacks et al., 2018; Sampert, 2010). Research has also shown that the media can be proxy educators for the public around prevalent issues such as gendered violence, including sexual violence. Therefore, this paper examines the underlying tension between the advances and constraints of contemporary media reporting and training on sexual violence. This thematic literature review used key search terms on Google Scholar and relevant journals to investigate reporting practices. The theoretical framework that guided this research was critical feminist analysis, mainly through an intersectional lens. Seven major themes emerged from the findings. Firstly, we identified five major themes surrounding the products of media reporting: (1) rape culture and rape myths are still prevalent, even post #MeToo, (2) ‘linguistics of blame’ are still being used (3) sexual violence is still being framed in problematic ways, (4) intersectionality is still ignored, and (5) there is still an ongoing issue with bias in the use of sources. Related to the process of reporting about sexual violence, the findings also include how (6) journalists face significant challenges with writing about sexual violence, and (7) the practical disconnect between engagement and the existence of ethical guidelines for sexual violence reporting. We conclude that journalism has the power to shape public perception of sexual violence. Journalists require additional and meaningful support to report on these stories in ways that will dismantle rape myths rather than perpetuate them. They need trauma-informed education and gendered violence reporting training, both in school and on the job. However, we must also account for the social and economic environment. Journalists in precarious situations face pressure to churn out stories, impacting their ability to produce carefully and ethically framed stories. Based on our findings and conclusions, we argue that there are significant structural challenges to ethical reporting practices for sexual violence, and much more work must be done to resist prominent stigma and stereotypes. The issues of sexual violence and media reporting are entrenched in colonialism, patriarchy, racism, homophobia, transphobia, ableism, and other systems of oppression, which impact people in varying ways. Considering efforts to break through the weight and gravity of this continuum of violence, we look to journalism schools and media outlets to prioritize education and training. As such, these issues extend beyond the media sphere and into broader society. This directly connects to the 2024 CSA conference theme of challenging hate. Our shared futures and interconnectedness as human beings depend on our ability to act upon and against systems of oppression that often manifest in sexual violence.
Trevor Green, York University
Every day across Canada, news outlets (be it the CBC, the Aboriginal People’s Television Network, or independent news outlets such as the Narwhal) publish stories on Indigenous Peoples, including coverage of settler violence and government inquiries. Both the 2015 Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) and the 2019 National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG) put forth specific recommendations (Calls to Action and Calls to Justice, respectively) that pertain or involve Indigenous communities (be it First Nations, Inuit, or Métis) and the news media. A mollifying term that is often employed within news stories and government reports is “partnerships” with Indigenous communities or organizations and non-Indigenous actors, entities or people (whether in relation to governments, academic institutions, or newsrooms). Indeed, “partnership” is used in both the TRC and especially the MMIWG, and this generic term – “partnership” and/or “partnerships” – to describe the relationship between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Peoples is ambiguous, conceptually vague and ultimately problematic. Partnership as a concept within these reports or news stories is not legally binding and is rarely mentioned within the context of Section 35 of the Constitution Act, 1982, which specifically focuses on aboriginal rights and treaty rights. Can reconciliation or decolonization in Canada ever be sustained with a “mainstream” media that uses terms such as “partnership” and is itself entangled in a web of cultural misrepresentation, and disingenuous historical commemoration which hinders Indigenous resurgence and ignores treaty rights and self-sovereignty? This question examines the convoluted and often mistrustful relationship between the Fourth Estate, national inquiry reports, and Indigenous communities. There have been grassroots-led movements that use social media, such as Idle No More. Although admirably in its ambition, it is telling that such movements have been met with limited influence within the current capitalist media landscape (which is, of course, facing its own crisis—declining business models, ‘fake news’ and the blocking of Canadian content on social network platforms in retaliation to the Online News Act). Given this crisis, my work asks whether a de-colonized iteration of the recommendations outlined in the TRC and MMIWG can truly offer a pathway for decolonization and reconciliation within the current media landscape. My research paper will employ a critical discourse analysis employing discursive practices and methods developed by Norman Fairclough and James Paul Gee, to contrast and compare the use of the term “partnership” within the text of the final reports of the TRC and MMIWG. Furthermore, using keyword searches on various news organization websites (specifically CBC, the Aboriginal People’s Television Network website, and The Globe and Mail) I will collect quantitative data involving news stories (published between 2015 and 2019) that use words such as “Indigenous” and “partnership” in relation to stories involving the MMIWG and TRC. As a Status Indian (I am affiliated with my mother’s Cowichan community in what is now British Columbia, which does not have a treaty), I will employ Indigenous research methods using creation myths from my Cowichan nation, to help contextualize and “talk back” to the Western/Eurocentric research methodology. Within this research framework, I have developed a question that will be explored through a mixed-methods approach: which terms, other than “partnership,” can lead to substantive change or decolonization when these news outlets are themselves within a violent and capitalist hegemony that is egregiously out of sync with Indigenous sovereignty and self-determination?