| This thesis examines the representations of the Iraqi Kurds through a critical discourse analysis of news on the Iraqi-Kurdish conflict in the Globe and Mail and the New York Times, in 1988 and 1991. The significance of these two time periods is that in 1988 Iraq was not an enemy of the West, but in 1991 it was. However, in both years, Iraq was in conflict with the Kurds. Through a comparative analysis of sampled data of 35 headlines and seventeen full-text articles, this study demonstrates that there was a differential representation of the Kurds by both papers. In the light of the examined historical and political contexts of the conflict in both years, it is suggested that the determining factor for this differential representation could have been the difference in the Western powers' relationships with Iraq in the two time periods in question. |
