Stories we tell about "others": Pathologizing discourses in mainstream media and their role as a distal determinant of indigenous peoples' health

Indigenous peoples in Canada face significant health inequities compared to the non-Indigenous population. While the effects of historical and on-going colonialism are understood to contribute to these health disparities, the mechanisms by which pathologizing, racist, or colonial discourses contribute to the social environments underlying these health disparities remain under-examined. Using Foucauldian discourse analysis, this research investigates the role of Canadian print media in disseminating pathologizing discursive representations of Indigenous peoples. Focusing on columns, editorials, and letters to the editor printed in the Globe and Mail in 2008, I analyzed mainstream media’s contribution to the discursive environment underlying racialized health inequities. This analytical process has identified multiple instances, both implicit and explicit, wherein pathologizing and stereotypical discourses about Indigenous peoples and communities are disseminated, legitimated, and perpetuated. These discourses ultimately function to maintain existing power imbalances and health inequities between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples.