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More Than Just Terrorists?: Constructions of Canadian

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More Than Just Terrorists?: Constructions of Canadian MORE THAN JUST TERRORISTS?: CONSTRUCTIONS OF CANADIAN MUSLIM IDENTITIES IN THE CANADIAN DAILY PRESS A Thesis Presented to The Faculty of Graduate Studies of The University of Guelph by MEGAN NICHOLSON In partial fulfilment of requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy September, 2011 © Megan Nicholson, 2011 ABSTRACT MORE THAN JUST TERRORISTS?: CONSTRUCTIONS OF CANADIAN MUSLIM IDENTITIES IN THE CANADIAN DAILY PRESS Megan Nicholson Advisor: University of Guelph, 2011 Professor Emerita Linda A. Wood Discursive psychology was used to analyze constructions of Canadian Muslim identities in the Canadian mainstream daily press. News and opinion discourse from a six-month period (November 1, 2008 - April 30, 2009) was examined. Whereas previous research has typically focused on negative news coverage, I examined the full range of identity portrayals of Canadian Muslims available in the daily press. Not unexpectedly, the most overtly negative identity constructions of Canadian Muslims were found in coverage of terrorism trials. In that coverage, the accused were typically worked up as endorsing an extreme interpretation of Islam. These extreme descriptions of the accused may suggest a particularized and therefore non-representative Muslim identity. Negative identity was also constructed in articles that reported on Canadian Muslims’ interactions with the legal and immigration systems: the behaviours of some Canadian Muslims (e.g., polygamy) were formulated as a threat to mainstream Canadian social values. The coverage also dealt with the issue of discrimination against Canadian Muslims. The case for discrimination was accomplished via comparison (e.g., government treatment of Muslim versus non-Muslim Canadians). However, in some coverage, Canadian Muslims were indirectly and subtly portrayed as possibly deserving of discriminatory treatment. Canadian Muslims were favourably portrayed when they: 1) upheld mainstream Canadian social values, 2) had a sense of humour about their Muslim identity, and 3) educated non-Muslim Canadians about Islam. However, favourable identity constructions of Canadian Muslims were often accompanied by background information that negatively portrayed Muslims in general. This juxtaposition of positive representations of individual Canadian Muslims with negative general information about Muslims and Islam may have subtly suggested that good Muslims are an exception rather than the norm. Overall, it was found that Canadian press coverage offers a fuller picture of Canadian Muslim identity than elsewhere (e.g., the U.S. and the U.K.). However, Sampson’s (1993) distinction between accommodative and transformative voice suggests that this picture is still incomplete. Several possibilities for improvement are suggested; for example, the press’s reliance on ready-made news (e.g., staged events) may provide opportunities to increase favourable identity portrayals of Canadian Muslims. Acknowledgements When I began the Ph.D. in 2005, I did not expect that it would take six full years to complete. It has been quite a journey. Several times along the way I came within a hair of packing the whole thing in. The fact of the matter is that without the unwavering support of my partner, Michel de Lecq Marguerie, my family, and my advisor, Professor Linda Wood, this dissertation would be sitting unfinished in a box in the basement. First, I would like to thank my Advisory Committee for their advice on how to improve this study, and for their willingness to review drafts so promptly: Professor Linda Wood, Professor Clare MacMartin and Professor Andrew Winston. I extend special thanks to my advisor, Linda. Linda and I spent countless hours together over the course of my graduate school career and I will miss our marathon meetings (except, perhaps, those on weekends). Linda’s commitment to me went well above and beyond the duties required by an advisor and I will be forever grateful to her. I also would like to thank the members of my Examining Committee: Professor Richard Buttny (Syracuse University), Professor Kieran O’Doherty, and Professor Megan McMurtry. In preparing for the defense, I had envisioned a nerve-wracking three hours; however, I was delighted to find myself enjoying the committee’s thoughtful questions and the thought-provoking discussion that emerged. Special thanks go to Andrew Taylor and Jason Newberry for their patience and understanding when commitments to my dissertation had to be placed ahead of commitments to work. I’m thrilled to be part of the Taylor Newberry Consulting team and feel privileged to have the two of you as mentors for the next chapter of my life. To my oldest and dearest friends, thank you for always being there for me even when I would sometimes disappear into dissertation abyss for months on end: Melanie Rose, Erica Procter, Shelley Tincombe and Jody Wolfe. When I was growing up, my grandparents always said not to take my siblings for granted; that I would understand as an adult that they are the most important people in my life. They were right. To Nicholas, Helen and Anthony, thank you for your love, support and encouragement. All those years of joking references to me as “Dr. Sister” helped me believe that one day I would be. I’m just as proud of each of you as you are of me. I wish to thank my mother, Joyce, who walked each step of this journey beside me and encouraged me to keep putting one foot in front of the other. And to my partner Michel, a simple thank you does not nearly capture my gratitude. No more “When I’m finished my Ph.D…” To all of you: We did it! i Running Head: CANADIAN MUSLIM IDENTITIES IN THE PRESS Table of Contents Table of Contents…………………………………………………………………. ii List of Tables……………………………………………………………………… v Chapter One: Introduction Introduction…………………………………………………………………………. 1 Background: Studies of Muslims in the Press……………………………………. 2 Communications/journalism studies research on Muslims in the press………….. 3 Quantity of press coverage about Muslims……………………………………..... 3 Negative press coverage about Muslims…………………………………………. 4 Research on domestic Muslims in the press……………………………………… 7 Critique of the communications/journalism studies research…………................ 10 Critical Discourse Analysis studies of Muslims in the press……………………. 12 Critique of CDA studies…………………………………………………………. 19 Additional studies of Muslims in the press……………………………………… 22 Background: Social Psychological Research on Identity…………………………… 24 Critique of social identity theory research……………………………………...... 27 Background: The Discursive Psychology Approach to the Study of Identity………. 30 Discursive psychology …………………………………………………………… 30 The DP approach to the study of identity………………………………………… 33 Review of relevant DP studies of identity………………………………………... 34 Conclusion and Research Questions…………………………………………………. 46 Chapter Two: Method Data…………………………………………………………………………………… 49 Preliminary Analysis…………………………………………………………………. 53 Initial reading…………………………………………………………………........ 53 Headlines………………………………………………………………………….. 54 Identity topics in newspaper discourse……………………………………………. 55 Initial Coding…………………………………………………………………………. 56 Analytic Concepts…………………………………………………………………….. 58 Appearance-reality contrasts………………………………………………………. 58 Category entitlement………………………………………………………………. 58 Empiricist constructions…………………………………………………………… 59 Extreme case formulations………………………………………………………… 59 Footing…………………………………………………………………………….. 60 Hierarchy of modalization………………………………………………………… 60 Ironicization……………………………………………………………………….. 60 Narrative…………………………………………………………………………… 61 Rhetoric of argument………………………………………………………………. 61 ii Running Head: CANADIAN MUSLIM IDENTITIES IN THE PRESS Stake and interest……………………………………………………………. 61 Systematic vagueness………………………………………………………… 62 Three-part lists……………………………………………………………….. 62 Vivid description…………………………………………………………….. 62 Validation Procedures in Discursive Psychology………………………………. 62 Chapter Three: Analysis Introduction ……………………………………………………………………… 64 The Construction of Terrorist Identity……………………………………………. 65 Basic identity information……………………………………………………… 66 The role of religiosity in terrorist identity……………………………………… 68 Section summary……………………………………………………………….. 78 The Construction of Canadian Muslims as a Threat to Canadian Values…………. 79 Canadian Muslim identity in coverage of freedom of religion cases ………….. 80 Canadian Muslim identity in coverage of polygamy…………………………… 92 Section summary……………………………………………………………….. 99 The Construction of Discrimination Against Canadian Muslims………………… 100 Constructions of government discrimination …………………………………. 100 Negative identity information in constructions of discrimination…………….. 114 Section summary………………………………………………………………. 124 The Construction of Favourable Canadian Muslim Identities……………………. 125 Negative information in favourable identity constructions…………………… 126 Canadian Muslims uphold Canadian values………………………………….. 134 Canadian Muslims do positive identity work………………………………… 136 The link to terrorism in favourable coverage .…………………….………….. 144 Canadian Muslims have a sense of humour…………………………………... 146 Section Summary……………………………………………………………... 149 Chapter Four: Discussion The Range of Canadian Muslim identities………………………………………. 152 The construction of terrorist identity…………………………………….. 153 The construction of Canadian Muslims as a threat to Canadian values…. 155 The construction of discrimination against Canadian Muslims…………. 156 The construction of favourable Canadian Muslim identities……………. 158 How are Canadian Muslim identities constructed?...............................................
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