Shier, A., & Shor, E. (2016). “Shades of Foreign Evil”: “Honor Killings” and “Family Murders” in the Canadian Press. Violence Against Women, 22(10), 1163–1188. 

https://doi.org/10.1177/1077801215621176 

“This article compares murder cases labeled “honor killings” with cases labeled “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 “honor 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, honor, and shame.”

The Teaching Against Islamophobia resources were developed with funding support from the Law Foundation of BC, and the Centre for Comparative Muslim Studies at SFU.

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