Social construction of aboriginal peoples in the Saskatchewan print media
Date
2002
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
ORCID
Type
Degree Level
Masters
Abstract
This thesis examines the portrayal of Aboriginal Peoples in two Saskatchewan daily newspapers. This research is based on the question: "How is the notion of Aboriginal Peoples socially constructed in the print media?" Previous research indicates
that media portrayals of minority groups are often partial and stereotypical. Such portrayals are partly responsible for linking the unacceptable behavior of minority groups
to phenotypic traits, and thereby contributing to the social significance of "race." Discourse analysis is used to analyze 437 newspaper articles that were collected using a full-text keyword search of the EBSCO Host database, which indexes articles from the Leader Post and the Star Phoenix. In general, the results reveal that Aboriginal peoples are regularly portrayed as problematic; either as having problems themselves, or as causing problems for non-Aboriginal peoples. The results support the view that race is socially constructed and demonstrate that "race," through media discourse, can become a socially acceptable explanation for social problems.
Description
Keywords
keyword searching, Inuit, Metis, Indian
Citation
Degree
Master of Arts (M.A.)
Department
Sociology
Program
Sociology