Author
Lea Schwacke
Title
“Between Two Worlds”: The Racialisation of Femicides in German News Reports
Malmö University. 2022 (English)
Link to thesis: http://mau.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:1665010/FULLTEXT01.pdf
Abstract
Although femicide, the gender-related killing of females, is a phenomenon which cross-cuts societes and national borders, in European countries such as Germany, the news coverage of such cases differs according to whether victim and/or perpetrator are ascribed to belong to the 'majority society' or to 'migrant', in particular Muslim-marked, communities. This thesis aims to contribute to the discussion on femicide in connection with cultural racism by conducting a Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) to examine the representation of two recent femicide cases in four German newspapers. The analysis revealed that the case associated with the 'German majority society' is represented as a “femicide” and explained with regard to patriarchal society structures. The case associated with the Muslim-marked minority is represented as an “honour killing” and explained by the perpetrators‘ 'lack of integration' and their adherence to values which are labeled as misogynist and archaic.
Keywords
Cultural Racism – Muslim Migrants – Femicide – Honour Killing – German Majority Society