December 8, 2023
By Sayaspora
A crucial subject on which we wanted to hear from you! Women of the African diaspora, originally from Black Africa or the Maghreb, are undeniably extremely under-represented in the Montreal and Quebec media. This can have multiple consequences for our personal development as well as for our integration and sense of belonging to society, and you may not even be aware of them! This is an issue faced by racialized women in general.
« I was turned down for the supporting role for which I’d been cast, but offered instead the role of a young woman from the suburbs with behavioral and life difficulties. »
That’s what Sarah, one of the participants, must have heard in our second video clip.
In this video, 3 women with different backgrounds and life stories, in one of which you may find yourself, talk frankly about the impact that media representation has had on them, at different levels: ona personal level, in the fact of sometimes having to respond to certain stereotypes in which the few women from the diaspora with whom they could identify were confined, or in the fact of wanting to resemble the women they saw in the mainstream media.
The debates that ensued between Layla, Esther and Sarah in this capsule are incredibly rich and honestly it wouldn’t do them justice to try and sum them up in a few lines in this article, so we invite you to go and see for yourself!
« But I don’t want the mainstream media to represent me! »
Suffice to say that the face-to-face conversation we had on this topic was lively to say the least, and that’s almost an understatement!
Rather than engage in the risky exercise of summarizing what was said in a few lines, we prefer to invite you to create your own conversation with your loved ones on some of the issues discussed at the meeting:
- What influence has media representation had on your personal and/or professional development?
- Do you trust the mainstream media to convey your voice?
- Do we really still need them today?
- Our taxes finance them, so isn’t it legitimate to impose our place on them?
- Are so-called alternative media, created by and for us, the solution? Should they try to reach a wider audience? To what extent?
- Shouldn’t the term alternative be rethought?
Good luck moderating the conversation! Especially as watching the video capsule is sure to lengthen this list!
It would be all too easy for the podcast episode to let you off the hook when it comes to the debates generated by the questions raised above! However, our two guests Marina and Priscilla will undoubtedly provide plenty of arguments and resources to fuel it!
In addition to providing a historical overview of our place in the Montreal and Quebec media, the episode looks back at some of the milestones for minority communities. It also invites you to reflect on the future of the media able to represent our voices, and the shape it will take.
We look forward to hearing from you! 🙂
