Yasmin Jiwani is a Concordia University Research Chair in Intersectionality, Violence, and Resistance. She is the author of Discourses of Denial, and co-editor of Girlhood, Redefining the Limits, and Faces of Violence. She is a full professor in the Department of Communication Studies, and has published in the areas of Critical Race Theory, Communication Studies, Criminology, and Gender Studies.
Yasmin Jiwani – Analyzing Intersecting Violence(s): On the Benefits of Comparing ‘Apples’ and ‘Oranges’
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5 à 7
January 23, 2018
Time: 5:00-7:00pm
Feminist Media Studio
CJ Building, Room 2.130
Concordia University
7141 Sherbrooke W Montreal (Qc)
*Please note the date change to Tuesday, January 23, from Thursday, January 25.
In this presentation, I focus on Intersectionality as Theory and Method, paying particular attention to how it brings into sharp relief the contingent and relational dynamics that are at play in a critical analysis of media representations. My aim is to highlight the utility of a comparative approach, which is often rejected on the grounds of essentialism and historical specificity. Yet, adopting Patricia Hill Collins’s analysis of media representations as constitutive of one axis of the matrix of domination, I discuss how an intersectional analysis highlights a hegemonic economy that undergirds media representations such that the construction of worthiness acts as a valence separating out those that are considered unworthy of social attention and concern. To illustrate these points, I draw on my research comparing media representations of Indigenous and Afghan women in the immediate aftermath of 9/11, and my recent work on media representations of Indigenous and Muslim youth.
The 5 à 7 Open Studio Series provides a forum for informal encounters among members of the Studio and the community. It consists of presentations, conversations, or critique seminars by visiting scholars, artists and activists, presentations by Studio members of work in progress (both textual and media-based), and discussions around themes that link the practices and commitments of the Feminist Media Studio community. A common theme of the 5 à 7 gatherings consists in exploring the intersections of research, creation, and political engagement in feminist work (historically, and in our current efforts to articulate our research praxes, collectively).
