RT Article
T1 Popular Journalism, Religious Morality, and the Canadian Imaginary: Queers and Immigrants as Threats to the Public Sphere
JF Journal of religion and popular culture
VO 26
IS 2
SP 244
OP 258
A1 Mosurinjohn, Sharday
LA English
YR 2014
UL https://ixtheo.de/Record/1691062014
AB In Canada, opposition toward GLBQ identities and practices has been almost entirely religious in nature. On the other hand, antipathy toward "undesirable" immigrant profiles—ironically, often those perceived as homophobic and misogynistic—has been articulated through arguments about the supposed incompatibility of their religious values (usually Islamic) with "Canadian" mores. This paper analyzes a variety of national news media to demonstrate how the transgressive figures of the immigrant and the queer are composed in a powerful and particular way through journalistic attitudes toward and understandings of religion. In particular, I examine a discursive framework emergent in reporting on two recent tragedies—one, the 2011 suicide of the gay Ottawa teenager Jamie Hubley, and the other, the 2009 Shafia family "honour killings." I argue that this reporting disingenuously evokes a commitment to tolerance without occasioning a substantial interrogation of what is really being tolerated and why.
K1 Canada
K1 Journalism
K1 Christianity
K1 Islam
K1 queerness
K1 Immigration
K1 Shafia trial
K1 Jamie Hubley
K1 Youth suicide
K1 Toleration
DO 10.3138/jrpc.26.2.244