MITACS Conférences en technologie d'information et de communication
MITACS Seminar Series in Information and Communication Technology
et / and
l'Institut d'études des femmes / the Institute of Women's Studies
vous présentent / present
LES CAFÉS FÉMINISTES /
THE FEMINIST CAFÉS
RACE, GENDER AND VIOLENCE:
THE ECONOMY OF REPRESENTATIONS
Yasmin Jiwani
Professeure agrégée au Département de communication de l'Université Concordia
Associate Professor in the Department of Communication Studies at
Concordia University
Jeudi 18 mars / Thursday, March 18, 2010
11 h 30 - 11:30 a.m.
Pavillon Desmarais Hall
55 Laurier E., salle/room 3120
ENTRÉE LIBRE / FREE ADMISSION
Des rafraîchissements végétaliens seront servis
Vegan friendly refreshments will be provided
Cette conférence sera donnée en anglais seulement.
This conference will be given in English only.
ABSTRACT
Recasting violence as a discourse of power reveals not only who has
the power to define violence as violence, but also what is elided by
dominant definitions of violence. This presentation focuses on
mediated representations of racialized gendered violence ranging from
epistemic violence at the discursive level to corporeal violence in
its multiple mediations. Through an analysis of media
representations, I highlight the economy of representations that
prevails such that some forms of violence are either erased or
dissolved into the background, whereas others are highlighted as
deviant. In the process, certain bodies are considered deserving of
attention while others fade from the public scrutiny. At the same
time, through the process of recuperation and restoration, particular
bodies are constructed as worthy victims -as bodies that matter -
while others fade away from memory. This economy of representations
is racialized and gendered insofar as determining the manner in which
different bodies are treated and the corresponding responses that are
activated.
BIO
Yasmin Jiwani is an Associate Professor in the Department of
Communication Studies at Concordia University, Montreal. Her
doctorate in Communication Studies, from Simon Fraser University,
examined issues of race and representation in Canadian television
news. Her recent publications include: Discourses of Denial:
Mediations of Race, Gender and Violence. (Vancouver: University of
British Columbia Press, 2006), as well as an edited collection with
Candice Steenbergen and Claudia Mitchell titled: Girlhood, Redefining
the Limits. (Montreal: Black Rose Books, 2006). Her work has
appeared in Social Justice, Violence Against Women, Canadian Journal
of Communication, Journal of Popular Film & Television, Topia,
International Journal of Media and Cultural Politics, the University
of Toronto Quarterly and in numerous anthologies. Her research
interests include mediations of race, gender and violence in the
context of war stories, femicide reporting in the press, and
representations of women of colour in popular and mainstream media.
