Foreign Aid as Gift: The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's Response to the Haitian Earthquake

摘要

This paper explores the construction of Canada as a benevolent nation through the distribution of aid as a “gift.” By analysing news media reports by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) during the period in which the Canadian government matched citizen donations (January 12 to February 12, 2010), I argue that Canada represents itself as a generous giver and Haiti as a sometimes ungrateful receiver of the “gift.” Understanding the gesture of gift giving as a project of self-construction, I argue that the media representations of Canada giving foreign aid made Haitians hyper-visible as poor, desolate, and violent while simultaneously rendering Canada's imperial project in Haiti invisible.View full textDownload full textKeywordsHaiti, Disaster, International Development, Canada, RaceRelated var addthis_config = { ui_cobrand: "Taylor & Francis Online", services_compact: "citeulike,netvibes,twitter,technorati,delicious,linkedin,facebook,stumbleupon,digg,google,more", pubid: "ra-4dff56cd6bb1830b" }; Add to shortlist Link Permalink http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15295036.2011.559479