She Just Wanted to Be Like Any Other Canadian.Pdf
SHE JUST WANTED TO “BE LIKE ANY OTHER CANADIAN TEENAGER”: REPRESEN- TATIONS OF MUSLIM WOMEN IN LOCAL NEWSPAPERS, LEGISLATION AND POLITI- CAL DEBATES IN POST 9/11 CANADA JACLYN ALLEN A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Arts in History Nipissing University School of Graduate Studies North Bay, Ontario © Jaclyn Allen ! ! ! ! ! ! ! Abstract This MRP, “She just wanted to “be like any other Canadian teenager”: Representa- tions of Muslim Women in Canadian newspapers, legislation, and political debates in the context of post 9/11 Canada,” analyzes local newspaper coverage of the murders of Muslim women. It focuses, in particular, on the 2007 murder of Aqsa Parvez in Mississauga, On- tario, but also considers reports on the 2009 murder of Rona Mohammad, Zainab Shafia, Sahar Shafia, and Geeti Shafia in Kingston, Ontario. Alongside this analysis this MRP con- siders the Zero Tolerance for Barbaric Practices Act, Quebec’s Bill 94, and political debates at the federal and provincial level about these pieces of legislation. Post 9/11 discourses in newspapers, legislation, and political debates mobilize gendered and racialized stereotypes about Muslim women and men, which have particular consequences for Muslim women and men living in Canada. They raise important historical questions: What is the history of women like Aqsa Parvez, Rona Mohammad, Zainab Shafia, Sahar Shafia, and Geeti Shafia in Canada? What stories are shared about them, and the men in their families and commu- nities, in these public discourses? How does this impact ideas about the past and present of Muslim people in Canada? To answer these questions, I examine local newspaper cov- erage from the Mississauga News and the Kingston Whig-Standard, as well as, Canadian legislation and political debates.
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