Discourses of Denial Yasmin Jiwani Discourses of Denial Mediations of Race, Gender, and Violence © UBC Press 2006 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without prior written permission of the publisher, or, in Canada, in the case of photocopying or other reprographic copying, a licence from Access Copyright (Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency), www.accesscopyright.ca. 15 14 13 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 5 4 3 2 1 Printed in Canada on ancient-forest-free paper (100% post-consumer recycled) that is processed chlorine- and acid-free, with vegetable-based inks. Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication Jiwani, Yasmin Discourses of denial : mediations of race, gender, and violence / Yasmin Jiwani. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN-13: 978-0-7748-1237-5 ISBN-10: 0-7748-1237-0 1. Women immigrants – Canada – Social conditions. 2. Minority women – Canada – Social conditions. 3. Sex discrimination against women – Canada. 4. Violence – Canada. 5. Violence – Press coverage – Canada. I. Title. HN103.5.J59 2006 305.48’8’00971 C2006-900046-8 UBC Press gratefully acknowledges the financial support for our publishing program of the Government of Canada through the Book Publishing Industry Development Program (BPIDP), and of the Canada Council for the Arts, and the British Columbia Arts Council. This book has been published with the help of a grant from the Canadian Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences, through the Aid to Scholarly Publications Programme, using funds provided by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. UBC Press The University of British Columbia 2029 West Mall Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z2 604-822-5959 / Fax: 604-822-6083 www.ubcpress.ca In memory of my grandfather, Sultanaly Contractor my great aunt, Gulbanu Rattansi my colleagues, Amanda Ocran and Bob Everton my student, Nawaf al Rufaie Contents Acknowledgments / viii Introduction / xi Part 1: Laying the Terrain 1 Reframing Violence / 3 2 Mapping Race in the Media / 30 Part 2: Sensationalized Cases 3 Erasing Race: The Story of Reena Virk / 65 4 Culturalizing Violence and the Vernon “Massacre” / 90 Part 3: Voicing the Violence 5 Racialized Girls and Everyday Negotiations / 111 6 Gendered Racism, Sexist Violence, and the Health Care System / 145 Part 4: Mediations of Terror 7 Gendering Terror Post-9/11 / 177 Conclusion / 202 Notes / 211 Bibliography / 218 Index / 245 Acknowledgments Presenting a paper on imperial feminisms at a recent conference panel on mediating inclusions and exclusions, I was struck by a comment from one of the few attendees at the session, a well-established White scholar. His question centred on why we, the panellists, had decided to talk about race as if it were a “real” category. His language was somewhat more sophisti- cated, but his basic argument was that in making race real, we were danger- ously close to essentializing a category that is fluid and socially constructed. This is an argument often articulated against those who talk and teach race. My response to that comment was and is that race is real to me. It marks me just as gender does, but the confluence of race and gender interlocks in ways that shape every facet of my life, determining the choices I make, the paths I travel, and the roads I am prohibited from travelling. Later that day, my co-panellist, also a White man, commented on the nature of the question we were asked on the panel. Having just observed questions that were directed at me in a consecutive panel, he noted that doing any kind of work on race seemed like a constant battle, that I was always being challenged and my views contested. Speaking of the earlier panel in which he had participated, he commented that the man asking the question was White like himself. Whereupon he remarked that such a ques- tion was possible because the questioner, like himself, could always opt in and out of the struggle. I cannot opt in and out of the struggle. In fact, the struggle is an ongoing challenge in which the task is one of explaining race, showing its intricacies, and suffering its consequences. Nevertheless, as Sherene Razack cautions us, none of us is innocent in the story of race. Rather, we all have privileges and penalties that accrue from our particular positioning in the raced and gendered hierarchies that contain and define us. This book, then, is part of that constant challenge in talking race, but it also reflects the privilege in being able to tell this story, for not everyone has the opportunity to do so. Acknowledgments ix No work stands in isolation, and this book is no different. I would espe- cially like to acknowledge the volunteers at the FREDA Centre and most particularly Bruce Kachuk. As well, my sincere thanks to Jo-Anne Lee, a friend and a colleague, who persuaded me to take on this task of integrating the various researches I have conducted. A special note of appreciation to Linnett Fawcett, whose friendship and solidarity will always be valued and who spent countless hours trying to put order to a disorderly array of thoughts and texts; Felix Odartey-Wellington, who has been more of a col- league than a student and whose last-minute searches and careful reading saved the day; and Ya Ting Huang, who spent many hours putting together what seemed like a never-ending reference list; Candis Steenbergen for her wise comments and encouragement throughout; Christian Bertelsen for his thought-provoking reflections and critical reading; Ross Perigoe for his com- ments on an earlier draft; and to Tanisha Ramachandran, who was always there. I am immensely grateful for her friendship, companionship and soli- darity. However, my deepest thanks are for Marie Claire MacPhee and Trish McIntosh, who stood beside me at the most trying of times, giving me criti- cal feedback and sharing invaluable insights. Most of all, I want to acknowl- edge my partner in life, Iqubal Velji, who nurtured and sustained me through intense and often frustrating periods of work; my mother and father, Goolzar and Mansuralli Jiwani, to whom I owe so much of what I am today; my sister Sarah for her pragmatic attitude and continuous encouragement, and my sister Nazlin for being there. The inspiration for this work comes from my grandfather, Sultanally Contractor and my great aunt Gulbanu Rattansi, may their souls rest in peace. I owe an intellectual debt to my mentors and colleagues and would espe- cially like to recognize Helene Berman, Lorraine Cameron, Parin Dossa, Paul Heyer, Amin Al-Hassan, Agnes Huang, Fatima Jaffer, Sherry Jamal, Jo-Anne Lee, Minelle Mahtani, Amin Merchant, Shelley Moore, Nancy Janovicek, Sherene Razack, Zool Suleman, and Sunera Thobani. Their work, insights, encouragement and solidarity have made my life much richer and my con- victions stronger. Last but not least, I would like to acknowledge my col- leagues in the Department of Communication Studies at Concordia University, who have offered me an intellectual space and a sense of be- longing, and to Emily Andrews and Ann Macklem at UBC Press for their assistance throughout this process. Funding is a crucial reality for academics and community researchers alike. Much of the research presented here was supported by grants from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council’s Standard Research Grant (#410- 2004-1496) and the Social Cohesion Strategic Theme Grant (829-1999-1002). As well, Status of Women Canada provided much of the funding for the re- search on racialized girls and young women, and the Vancouver Foundation x Acknowledgments with Status of Women Canada and the BC Centre for Excellence for Women’s Health provided the funds for the research on racialized women and their encounters with the health care system. I would also like to acknowledge Taylor and Francis (http://www.tandf. co.uk) for granting me permission to reprint my essay “Gendering Terror,” which first appeared in Critique: Critical Middle Eastern Studies 13, 3 (2004): 265-91; to Sage, for permission to reprint an article which was published in Violence against Women 11, 7 (2005): 846-75; to Wilfrid Laurier University Press for allowing me to reproduce several pages of my article from Cana- dian Cultural Poesis, edited by Garry Sherbert, Annie Gerin, and Sheila Petty (forthcoming 2006); and Thomson Nelson for permitting me to reproduce sections of my article from their second edition of Mediascapes: New Patterns in Canadian Communication, edited by Paul Attallah and Leslie Shade (2005). The strength of this work comes from the voices and experiences of the girls and women who shared their lives and realities. I thank and acknowl- edge them for sharing their truth. This book is dedicated to their efforts, survival and success in this land we have come to call “home.” As always, any shortcomings are entirely due to me. Introduction Denials of racism are the stock in trade of racist discourse. – Teun van Dijk, Race and Ethnic Relations Canada suffers from historical amnesia. Its citizens and institutions function in a state of collective denial. Canadians have obliterated from their collective memory the racist laws, policies, and practices that have shaped their major social, cultural, political, and economic institutions for 300 years. – Frances Henry et al., The Colour of Democracy: Racism in Canadian Society Race, gender, and violence continue to be topical issues in contemporary Canadian society. From public perceptions of increasing girl gang violence to the supposed importation of terrorism, the “imagined” Canadian nation has had to not only grapple with a changing “complexion” but also face the pervasive and deeply entrenched nature of violence interwoven in its his- tory and informing contemporary social concerns – from intimate, domes- tic violence to international state-supported violence.