THE RACE ISSUE Researching diversity and representation of race in contemporary fashion editorials RACE & REPRESENTATION En undersøgelse af diversitet og repræsentation af race i nutidige modeserier Lise Charlotte Lehwald Bachelor in Visual Communication, 15 HP VT 2018, K3, Malmö University Supervisor: Tina-Marie Whitman ABSTRACT The purpose of this research is to examine the diversity and representation of models of color in ELLE US’ 2017 fashion editorials. As the purpose is twofold, so is the methodological approach, which looks at the material through both a quantitative content analysis and a qualitative visual analysis. Theoretically, the analyses are grounded in postcolonialism, representation and the concept of new racism. To discuss medias’ influence on audiences, the theory also presents related research on this subject. Illustrating a statistical lack of diversity, as well as tendencies of stereotypical representations, the research indicates a postcolonial discourse in ELLE’s content – results that are problematic both in relation to racial equality and to the socially constructed beauty-ideals that ELLE takes part in creating. ABSTRAKT Formålet med denne opgave er at undersøge diversiteten og repræsentationen af farvede modeller i ELLE US’ modeserier fra 2017. Ligesom formålet, er den metodologiske tilgang todelt, da den undersøger materialet gennem både en kvantitativ indholdsanalyse såvel som en kvalitativ visuel analyse. Teoretisk tager opgaven sit udgangspunkt i postkolonialisme, repræsentation og konceptet ‘new racism’. For at kunne diskutere mediernes indflydelse på deres publikum, præsenterer teorien også relateret forskning inden for dette felt. Analyserne viser både statistisk manglende diversitet og tendenser af stereotype repræsentationer, hvilket indikerer en postkolonial diskurs i ELLEs indhold – resultater, der er problematiske både i forhold til racemæssig lighed og for de socialt konstruerede skønhedsidealer, som ELLE er med til at skabe. KEY WORDS Racial diversity, Representation, Race, Stereotyping, Beauty-ideals, Discourse, Fashion Editorial, Postcolonialism, Symbolic Annihilation, Tokenism, New Racism SØGEORD Racediversitet, Repræsentation, Race, Stereotyper, Diskurs, Skønhedsideal, Modeserie, Postkolonialisme, ’Symbolic Annihilation’, ’Tokenism’, ’New Racism’ 1 Lise Charlotte Lehwald TABLE OF CONTENT ABSTRACT ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 1 ABSTRAKT ...................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 1 KEY WORDS .................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 1 SØGEORD ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 1 1. INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................................................................... 3 2. BACKGROUND ........................................................................................................................................................................ 4 2.1. ELLE MAGAZINE & FASHION EDITORIALS ........................................................................................................................................... 4 2.2. RACE & ETHNICITY ............................................................................................................................................................................................ 4 2.3 MEDIA, BEAUTY & IDENTITY ........................................................................................................................................................................ 5 3. PROBLEM ................................................................................................................................................................................ 6 4. PURPOSE .................................................................................................................................................................................. 6 4.1. RESEARCH QUESTIONS .................................................................................................................................................................................... 7 5. THEORY ................................................................................................................................................................................... 7 5.1. POSTCOLONIALISM, ORIENTALISM & NEO-ORIENTALISM ........................................................................................................... 7 5.2. NEW RACISM, TOKENISM & SYMBOLIC ANNIHILATION ................................................................................................................ 8 5.3. REPESENTATION & SOCIAL CONSTRUCTIONISM .............................................................................................................................. 9 5.4. STEREOTYPES ..................................................................................................................................................................................................... 10 5.5. RACE AS A SIGNIFYING PRACTICE .......................................................................................................................................................... 11 5.6. MYTH ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 12 5.7. DISCOURSE AND POWER .............................................................................................................................................................................. 12 5.8. RELATED RESEARCH ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 13 6. METHOD ................................................................................................................................................................................ 14 7. CONTENT ANALYSIS ........................................................................................................................................................... 15 7.1. MATERIAL – CONTENT ANALYSIS ............................................................................................................................................................ 15 7.2. DELIMITATIONS OF MATERIAL ................................................................................................................................................................. 15 7.3. CONTENT ANALYIS - METHOD ................................................................................................................................................................. 15 7.4. CODING ................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 16 7.5. CONTENT ANALYSIS - ANALYSIS & RESULTS ...................................................................................................................................... 17 GRAPH 1 - RACIAL DIVERSITY ............................................................................................................................................................................ 17 GRAPH 2 - RACIAL DIVERSITY COMPARED TO US CENSUS ................................................................................................................. 18 GRAPH 3 & 4 - RACIAL DIVERSITY IN SOLO EDITORIALS VS. GROUP EDITORIALS ................................................................ 18 8. VISUAL ANALYSIS ................................................................................................................................................................. 19 8.1. MATERIAL – VISUAL ANALYSIS .................................................................................................................................................................. 19 8.2. METHOD – VISUAL ANALYSIS ..................................................................................................................................................................... 19 8.3.VISUAL ANALYSIS - ANALYSIS & RESULTS ............................................................................................................................................. 20 EDITORIAL B ............................................................................................................................................................................................................... 20 EDITORIAL C .............................................................................................................................................................................................................