Protests and Media Representations: An Intersectional Analysis of the Marikana Massacre (2012), the Johannesburg Protests, and the Phoenix Massacre (2021)

Juliet Eileen JosephORCID iD

Issue: Vol.4  No.1 January 2023  Article 5  pp.59-77
DOI: https://doi.org/10.38159/ehass.2023415 |   Published online 31st January, 2023
© 2023 The Author(s). This is an open access article under the CCBY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

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This study contributes to the current body of knowledge that explores how the media creates stereotypes and influences gender parity in society. A vast amount of literature has been published on gender and the media, resulting in sufficient conceptual and theoretical frameworks. Using intersectional analysis, the study examines how media frames, focalizes and represents intersecting roles to shed light on afro-patriarchal frames, stereotypes, and representations. A qualitative analysis of two major events that occurred during South Africa’s post-colonial period, the Marikana Massacre, the Phoenix Massacre which was accompanied by protests in parts of Johannesburg are presented in this study. The study findings highlight that these hallmark incidents in South African history are characterized by nationalistic, capitalist, and gendered discourses. As a result of the Marikana Massacre, the study suggests that the state insisted on pursuing its national interests at all costs, including using force and pushing agendas under the guise of increased nationalism and patriotism. In contrast, the study suggests that the state used limited force against looters and those who burned tyres and factories during the Phoenix Massacre. Moreover, dominant frames connected to state nationalism and upholding capitalism remain linked to intersectional differences in unequal societies.

Keywords: Gender, Media, Intersectional Theory; Inequality, Nationalism, Post-colonial, Capitalism

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Juliet Joseph is a Doctoral candidate and researcher at the Department of Politics and International Relations (Politics and IR), and Sarchi Chair: African Foreign Policy and Diplomacy. A few of her research interests are Feminist and Gender studies, Regionalism, African Politics, International Political Economy, Development Administration, Economic Policy and Social Policy in Developing Countries, Development Theory, as well as the broader debates surrounding International Security Studies and Security Communities.

Joseph, J.E. “Protests and Media Representations: An Intersectional Analysis of the Marikana Massacre (2012), the Johannesburg Protests, and the Phoenix Massacre (2021),” E-Journal of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences 4, no.1 (2023):59-77.  https://doi.org/10.38159/ehass.2023415

© 2023 The Author(s). Published and Maintained by Noyam Publishers. This is an open access article under the CCBY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

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