A Framing Analysis of News Discourse in the Case of Environmental Racism in Lincolnville, Nova Scotia

Abstract

In the province of Nova Scotia today, most environmental hazards, such as waste disposal sites and polluting industries, are located in proximity to African Nova Scotian and Mi’kmaq communities. Thus, those communities are left to suffer a myriad of negative impacts, such as a lack of fresh air, clean water, access to unspoiled nature, dwindling property values, and resulting mental and physical health impacts, which work to perpetuate their historical oppression. In the academic literature, this societal issue is referred to as “environmental racism,” which theorizes that intersections between race and class result in the trend in which historically marginalized communities are disproportionally located nearby environmental hazards. This thesis deconstructs the issue of environmental racism in the African Nova Scotian community of Lincolnville as portrayed through mainstream and alternative internet news outlets. Using the methodology of framing analysis, this thesis uncovers underlying themes and tones associated with news discourse on the issue of environmental racism in Lincolnville, and explores whether news discourse is impeding or assisting the transcendence of this issue in present day Nova Scotia.