Honour Killings and Family Murders in the Canadian Press

• In Event: 328 - Regular Session. Race, Class, and Gender in Global Media Today: Representations and Associations

Abstract

This article compares murder cases labelled “honour killings” to cases labelled “family/spousal murders” in the Canadian news media, exploring the construction of boundaries between these two practices. We conducted a systematic qualitative content analysis, examining a sample of 486 articles from three major Canadian newspapers between 2000 and 2012. Our analysis shows that “honour killings” are framed in terms of culture and ethnic background, presenting a dichotomy between South Asian/Muslim and Western values. Conversely, articles presenting cases as “family/spousal murders” tend to focus on the perpetrators’ personalities or psychological characteristics, often ignoring factors such as culture, patriarchy, honour, and shame.

Author

• Eran Shor, McGill University