#summer may finlay
Media Representations of Race and the Pandemic
Season 1 “Race and COVID-19,” Episode 3, ‘Media Representations of Race and the Pandemic’.
One of the outcomes of colonisation and accompanying racial rule is the control of public narratives by non-Indigenous settlers. This results in a lack of attention to the ways in which Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people interpret the world. Aboriginal people have been telling stories for over 65,000 years, and we honour this expertise and wisdom. We believe it is very important to consider the role played by the media in framing public discussions of the link between race and Covid-19. Mainstream media create sensationalist accounts that spread moral panics about racialised people.
Amoral panic is when a group or event is seen as a threat to social values, usually during a time of massive social change, such as the pandemic. A moral panic whips up fear of particular groups, especially racial minorities. At the same time, it protects the interests of groups at the top of the racial hierarchy, which, in Australia, is white people of European descent.
Panellists:
Summer May Finlay is a Yorta Yorta Woman who grew up in Lake Macquarie near Newcastle. She is a Lecturer at the University of Wollongong, a Research Assistant at the University of Canberra, and a contributing editor at Croakey Health Media. She specializes in health policy, qualitative research and communications. She has worked in Aboriginal affairs at the National level and has strong professional connections across the country in the Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Service sector. Her article on “Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisations are taking a leading role in COVID‐19 health communication” is available here: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/f…
Dr Karen Schamberger is an independent curator and historian with interests in migration, cross-cultural relations and material culture. She is currently working with the Lambing Flat Folk Museum volunteers to redevelop an exhibition about the development of the town of Young from the goldrush, including the anti-Chinese riots in 1860-1. She has previously worked at the National Museum of Australia and Museums Victoria. Read about her research into the racism of Lambing Flat: https://www.theguardian.com/artanddes…
