CMN2101- Research Methods in Communications - Literature review and annotated

bibliography
Ciara Robison
As social media has only recently evolved into a method of amplifying social problems, I

was anticipating that there would be very limited information specifically surrounding how

social media affects the framing of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls

(MMIWG). I chose to focus on a more theoretical approach to my review. With the categories

provided by Larrabee, it is suggested that a theoretical and thematic approach is taken in my

review which highlights the concepts and theories relating to my research question. Using a

general search Google Scholar I found a 2019 research article surrounding the way the news and

mass media (excluding social media) has displayed MMIWG, which will help me better

understand how that has adapted with the growth of social media popularity. Through a separate

search on the University of Ottawa’s Omni Library website I was able to find two additional

research articles that focus on how social media educates people and frames the issue of

MMIWG; the first, a 2018 article from an Australian communications company focusing on the

framing of MMIWG on social media. The second article, a 2019 article about the role of social

media in the education of MMIWG. For my three source, it was difficult to find primary

documents as there is so little information, each of my resources is a research article that is a

collection of sources and information that surrounds the authors’ questions or ideas within their

topics.
Moeke-Pickering, T., Cote-Meek, S., & Pegoraro, A. (2018). Understanding the ways

missing and murdered Indigenous women are framed and handled by social media users.

Media International Australia, 169(1), 54–64. https://doi.org/10.1177/1329878X18803730

This research article is focused on the ways social media has impacted the framing of MMIWG.

It contains statistics surrounding violence against women to identify the disproportionate rates of

violent crime against Indigenous women. The article also speaks towards the idea of Indigenous

people reclaiming or taking control of narratives surrounding MMIWG on social media. The

authors identify the fact that social media can assist and detriment social movements and shows

the ways it has occurred with MMWIG. This article assists me in my research as my research

question is closely related to each concept identified in this article.

Watson, K. “Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women : The Role of Grassroots

Organizations and Social Media in Education”. Canadian Woman Studies, vol. 33, no. 1-2,

June 2019, https://cws.journals.yorku.ca/index.php/cws/article/view/37772.

This article primarily identifies the negative ways that social media has affected MMWIG,

speaking about different social media campaigns and how they have reinforced certain beliefs

and stereotypes surrounding Indigenous women. There is also reference to a book written by

Kevin Kurashimo, Troubling Education: Queer Activism and Antioppressive Pedagogy which

speaks towards the way discourse impacts oppression, which can be tied into my research

question as discourse is the basis of social media. I chose this article as a method of viewing the

way social media can affect education as well as public opinion, which is the largest piece of my

research question.
Corbett, Elisha. “No News Isn't Always Good News: Media Representation of Missing and

Murdered Indigenous Women in Canada.” No News Isn't Always Good News: Media

Representation of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women in Canada (2019): n. pag.

Print.

Understanding the background of how MMIWG have been presented to the public and what role

the press has played in educating the general public is an important aspect of my research

question, as through that I can further understand how social media has impacted the education

and public opinion of MMIWG. This article focuses on the faults of the press and how the

information given surrounding MMIWG perpetuates negative perspectives of Indigenous

women. It is also highlighted that Indigenous women were not presented in the same way white

women were; the author identifies a lack of humanity being given to Indigenous women. I

included this article as a way of getting background knowledge on how MMIWG have been

presented and seen prior to or outside of a social media world and where the differences lay

within social media and the press.