Media representations of the Colten Boushie case : a critical discourse analysis of property, rural crime, and laissez-faire racism
department or school: Arts and Social Sciences, Irving K. Barber Faculty of (Okanagan)
data provider: DSpace
degree campus: UBCO
creator: Mudde, Laura
issued: 2024-03-18T08:05:50Z
issued: 2024
related degree: Doctor of Philosophy - PhD
degree grantor: University of British Columbia
description: This dissertation analyzes the media’s portrayal of the Colten Boushie case, who was killed by Gerald Stanley in Saskatchewan, Canada. This case and its media representations sparked debates about race, property, and rural crime. Despite some research delving into this case and the controversies it triggered, a substantive analysis of the media’s role is missing. Such an analysis is relevant, as it sheds light on how media framing impacts public discourse and policy to deepen our understanding of Indigenous-settler relations in Canada. An inductive and iterative frame analysis of sources published between August 2016 and April 2020 informed my critical discourse analysis of prominent themes. I problematize the media’s framing as promoting oppositional interpretations of events that reflect a group positioning, polarizing ambivalent and contingent frames along Indigenous-settler and rural-urban interpretations of the case. This research reveals the roles of the media in affirming and challenging specific legal and political orders in Canada. A frame analysis of the sources renders visible the normative ideas that perpetuate the power dynamics of settler-colonial discourse. This research emphasizes the significance of frame analysis as a method to examine how ideas are conveyed and disseminated to different publics. It problematizes the diverse attitudes that are circulated in different provinces with attention to differences evident in small, medium, and larger population centres. Contradictory patterns emerge that point to both an awareness of settler colonial realities and continued negative colonial attitudes toward Indigenous people in Canada. I address these contradictions by testing my frame analysis results against the theory of laissez-faire racism. Laissez-faire racism is informed by group position theory and refers to contemporary constructs of racial prejudice that continue Indigenous disadvantage as a legacy of colonial discrimination. I use the theory of…
aggregated CHO: https://circle.library.ubc.ca/rest/handle/2429/87589
note: MEDIA REPRESENTATIONS OF THE COLTEN BOUSHIE CASE: A CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS OF PROPERTY, RURAL CRIME, AND LAISSEZ-FAIRE RACISM. by Laura Mudde B.A., Utrecht University, 2014 M.A., Utrecht University, 2016 A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR of PHILOSOPHY in THE COLLEGE OF GRADUATE STUDIES (Interdisciplinary Studies) THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (Okanagan) March 2024 © Laura Mudde, 2024 ii The following individuals certify that they have read, and recommend to the College of Graduate Studies for acceptance, a dissertation entitled: MEDIA REPRESENTATIONS OF THE COLTEN BOUSHIE CASE: A CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS OF PROPERTY, RURAL CRIME, AND LAISSEZ-FAIRE RACISM. submitted by Laura Mudde in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Dr. Bonar Buffam, Irving K. Barber Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Supervisor Dr. Michael Evans, Irving K. Barber Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Co-Supervisor Dr. Brigitte Le Normand, Irving K. Barber Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Supervisory Committee Member Dr. Greg Garrard, Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies Supervisory Committee Member Dr. Judy Gillespie, Faculty of Health and Social Development University Examiner Dr. Jeffrey Denis, McMaster University External Examiner iii Abstract This dissertation analyzes the media’s portrayal of the Colten Boushie case, who was killed by Gerald Stanley in Saskatchewan, Canada. This case and its media representations sparked debates about race, property, and rural crime. Despite some research delving into this case and the controversies it triggered, a substantive analysis of the media’s role is missing. Such an analysis is relevant, as it sheds light on how media framing impacts public discourse and policy to deepen our understanding of Indigenous-settler relations in Canada. An inductive and iterative frame analysis of sources published between August 2016 and April 2020 inf…
has type: Thesis/Dissertation
date issued: 2024-05
is shown at: 10.14288/1.0440694
language: eng
degree discipline: Interdisciplinary Studies
provider: Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
publisher: University of British Columbia
rights: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
rights URI: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
scholar level: Graduate
contributor: Buffam, Bonar
contributor: Evans, Mike, 1961-
type: Text
identifier URI: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/87589