Gender, sexual violence and securitization in two (western) media discourses on DRC

• Autor(a) principal: Oprea, Anastasia Maria
• Data de Publicação: 2013
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10071/8336
• topic: Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC); Conflict; Gender; Sexual violence; Media; República Democrática do Congo (RDC); Conflito; Género; Violência sexual; Média; África; Africa

In the last few years, media discourses concerning the ongoing instability in the Democratic Republic of Congo have come to focus substantially on the question of sexual violence against women. Absolute statements qualifying the DRC as “the worst place to be a mother”, “the worst place on earth to be a woman”, and rape as “the greatest silence” seem to unquestionably label the country as the contemporary locus of sexual violence against women. The purpose of this dissertation is to explain on which grounds these depictions are based, and how they are related to diverse cultural, social and political perceptions. The analysis conducted focuses on the documentary “The Greatest Silence: Rape in the Congo”, counterpointing the view chosen for the film “War Witch”. The objective is to investigate how sexual violence in the DRC is depicted within the (Western) media discourses. Sexual violence will be analyzed in relation to violence in general, and in particular, in relation with the gender constructs. The hypothesis that securitization can be manifested within media discourses will also be explored.