A Doctoral Thesis Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of Doctor of Philosophy of Loughborough University

Latino im/migrants are often portrayed in negative and stereotypical ways in mainstream U.S. media. This dissertation utilizes Ethnographic Content Analysis to analyze news segments about Latino im/migrants from Fox News, MSNBC and Univisión between 2010 and 2012 and digital storytelling with a group of Latino im/migrant parents in central Florida. First, I questioned if a Spanish-language news media source constructed Latino im/migrant family-focused stories differently than mainstream English-language sources. Utilizing Critical Race Theory as a theoretical lens, I conclude that English and Spanish-language news stations portray Latino im/migrants in different ways. Fox News portrays Latino im/migrants in a generally neutral or negative tone, MSNBC offers a generally neutral or positive tone, and Univisión offers a generally positive tone. Moreover, Fox News generally frames Latino im/migrants as a “problem to be solved” with the implied solution almost always being deportation or exclusion. Univisión generally framed the global, neoliberal, capitalist system that creates the need for mass migration as the “problem” and identified activism and social change as the “solution.” These analyses are supported with evidence from stock video footage from segments that often dehumanizes im/migrants as well as use of rhetoric during segments (namely phrases like “illegal” and “anchor baby”). Second, I questioned if, when offered the opportunity to represent themselves, would Latino im/migrant parents construct images of parenthood that both acknowledge and transcend the mainstream news media discourse? I conclude that the digital stories Latino im/migrant parents created in 2009 represent a broader, fuller picture of Latino im/migrant parenthood and that these stories rely more heavily on lived, narrative experience even after considering the change in format from news segment to digital story. Digital stories provide an effective vehicle for conducting participant observation and ethnography. Moreover, I argue that digital storytelling has the potential to be effective in increasing voice and building capacity for positive social change.

Den här flerfallstudien har som syfte att undersöka hur den arktiska ursprungsbefolkningen ges regionalt inflytande i intressefrågor som direkt eller indirekt påverkar deras traditionella livsuppehälle i de arktiska områden som tillhör Ryssland, USA, Kanada, Danmark (Grönland) och Norge. Studien tillämpar metoden Ethnographic Content Analysis och utgår från teorierna liberalism och realism inom internationella relationer för att analysera ländernas arktiska policys och institutionella processer som berör deras arktiska ursprungsbefolkning. Vikten av inflytande i staternas institutionella processer är vital för ursprungsfolkens fortsatta överlevnad i Arktis, och eftersom Arktis beräknas bli en ny global region för utveckling så är det viktigt att identifiera farorna som dåliga strategier, policys, rättsliga ramverk och samarbeten skulle kunna skapa i relation till välbefinnandet hos regionens ursprungsbefolkning. Resultatet av studien visar på att Arktis som område är väldigt viktig ur ett geostrategiskt och ekonomiskt perspektiv för länderna, och resulterar i att ursprungsbefolkningens inflytande blir begränsat eller försvårat av staten i vissa sakfrågor som berör båda parter. Flertalet länder erkänner den arktiska ursprungsbefolkningens mänskliga rättigheter, men hur rättigheterna implementeras och vilken utsträckning ursprungsbefolkningen får medverka i implementeringen skiljer sig åt mellan staterna. Skillnaden ligger framförallt i hur maktstrukturen är fördelad mellan staten och ursprungsbefolkningen, där vissa länder uppvisar en stark centralmakt medan andra ger större utrymme för självbestämmande och självstyre. Generellt har staterna därför en betydande roll för beslutstagande influerat av både realistiska och liberalistiska värderingar. I den mån som staterna agerar efter liberalistiska värderingar så arbetar dem aktivt mot att samarbeta med ursprungsbefolkningen och bekräfta deras rätt till inflytande för att generera en representativ bild av samhället. Å andra sidan visar nationalstatens centrala roll i beslutsprocesser på att realistiska värderingar fortfarande väger tungt i samhällsstrukturen samt utformandet av nationella intressen och policys. / This multiple case study has the purpose of examining how the Arctic indigenous population is given regional influence in issues that directly or indirectly are affecting their traditional livelihoods in the Arctic areas belonging to Russia, the United States, Canada, Denmark (Greenland) and Norway. The study applies the method of Ethnographic Content Analysis and uses the international relation theories of liberalism and realism to analyze the nations’ Arctic policies and institutional processes that affects their Arctic indigenous population. The matter of influence within the states institutional processes is of vital significance for the continued survival of the Arctic indigenous population, and since the Arctic is believed to become a new global area of development, it is important to identify the dangers that bad strategies, policies, legal framework and cooperation could create in relation to the well-being of the Arctic indigenous people. The result of the study show that the Arctic is important both as a geostrategic and an economic perspective for the countries, which limits or obstruct the influence given to the indigenous peoples in issues affecting both parties. The majority of the countries recognize the Arctic indigenous peoples’ human rights, but the countries differ in both how the rights are implemented and to what extent the indigenous population are part of the implementation. The difference lies especially in how power is distributed between the state and the indigenous people, where some countries showcase a strong centralized power within the government and other states devote a greater space for self-determination and autonomy. Generally, the states’ role for decision-making is therefore of great importance, influenced by both realistic and liberal values. When acting upon liberal values, the states actively work towards cooperation with the indigenous people and recognizing the indigenous people’s right to influence, to generate a representative depiction of the society. However, the nation state’s central role in decision-making display that realistic values still are paramount in the structure of society and in the formation of national interests and policies.

The news media are powerful purveyors of culture in North America. Crime news reporting particularly is an influential means by which the news media define the boundaries of deviant and non-deviant behaviour. For the purposes of the present research, I examined the ways that the print news media constructed cases of male-perpetrated Intimate Partner Homicide (IPH) in Alberta. Using a social constructionist theoretical orientation grounded in an Ethnographic Content Analysis methodology, I examined 381 newspaper articles that discussed four separate incidents of male-perpetrated IPH. Approaching these data from the perspective of media reciprocity and a social constructionism epistemology, I considered the various ways that the print media presented these cases for their audience, but also the various ways that the audiences expectations and the general zeitgeist of the culture may have affected this presentation. Much of the dominant discourse in the cases I studied was consistent with previous research examining IPH presentations in the news media, namely that the media present victims and perpetrators in stereotyped ways according to their gender and ethnicity. However, I also examined some less prominent themes, including those that were pro-feminist, ambivalent, fictionalized, and constructed for the purpose of audience titillation and voyeurism. Additionally, owing to the qualitative nature of the methodology, I was able to examine discussions that subverted the stereotypical representation of victims and perpetrators in the news media and examine how these presentations could affect audience understanding of the phenomenon of IPH. Overall, the present project led to a discussion of how the media construct various facets of psychology and feminism and how these facets are in turn constructed by society in a reciprocal process whereby the media influence culture and culture correspondingly affects the media.

The news media are powerful purveyors of culture in North America. Crime news reporting particularly is an influential means by which the news media define the boundaries of deviant and non-deviant behaviour. For the purposes of the present research, I examined the ways that the print news media constructed cases of male-perpetrated Intimate Partner Homicide (IPH) in Alberta. Using a social constructionist theoretical orientation grounded in an Ethnographic Content Analysis methodology, I examined 381 newspaper articles that discussed four separate incidents of male-perpetrated IPH. Approaching these data from the perspective of media reciprocity and a social constructionism epistemology, I considered the various ways that the print media presented these cases for their audience, but also the various ways that the audiences expectations and the general zeitgeist of the culture may have affected this presentation. Much of the dominant discourse in the cases I studied was consistent with previous research examining IPH presentations in the news media, namely that the media present victims and perpetrators in stereotyped ways according to their gender and ethnicity. However, I also examined some less prominent themes, including those that were pro-feminist, ambivalent, fictionalized, and constructed for the purpose of audience titillation and voyeurism. Additionally, owing to the qualitative nature of the methodology, I was able to examine discussions that subverted the stereotypical representation of victims and perpetrators in the news media and examine how these presentations could affect audience understanding of the phenomenon of IPH. Overall, the present project led to a discussion of how the media construct various facets of psychology and feminism and how these facets are in turn constructed by society in a reciprocal process whereby the media influence culture and culture correspondingly affects the media.

The news media are powerful purveyors of culture in North America. Crime news reporting particularly is an influential means by which the news media define the boundaries of deviant and non-deviant behaviour. For the purposes of the present research, I examined the ways that the print news media constructed cases of male-perpetrated Intimate Partner Homicide (IPH) in Alberta. Using a social constructionist theoretical orientation grounded in an Ethnographic Content Analysis methodology, I examined 381 newspaper articles that discussed four separate incidents of male-perpetrated IPH. Approaching these data from the perspective of media reciprocity and a social constructionism epistemology, I considered the various ways that the print media presented these cases for their audience, but also the various ways that the audience’s expectations and the general zeitgeist of the culture may have affected this presentation. Much of the dominant discourse in the cases I studied was consistent with previous research examining IPH presentations in the news media, namely that the media present victims and perpetrators in stereotyped ways according to their gender and ethnicity. However, I also examined some less prominent themes, including those that were pro-feminist, ambivalent, fictionalized, and constructed for the purpose of audience titillation and voyeurism. Additionally, owing to the qualitative nature of the methodology, I was able to examine discussions that subverted the stereotypical representation of victims and perpetrators in the news media and examine how these presentations could affect audience understanding of the phenomenon of IPH. Overall, the present project led to a discussion of how the media construct various facets of psychology and feminism and how these facets are in turn constructed by society in a reciprocal process whereby the media influence culture and culture correspondingly affects the media.