Trends in Critical Media Studies on Gendered Representations of the “Third World” Produced by International Development Actors : Toward an Anti-Capitalist Transnational Feminist Solidarity

ハン　シホン　シュギ　フェミニズム　ノ　レンタイ　ト　ジェンダー　ヒョウショウ　コクサイ　カイハツ　ト　ダイサンセカイ　ジョセイ　ヲ　メグル　メディア　ケンキュウ　ノ　カノウセイ

コンドウ, リンタロウ

Kondo, Rintaro

Department of Education, Graduate School of Human Sciences, Osaka University

This paper reviews critical media studies scholarship on racialized and gendered representations of the “Third World” produced by various actors involved in international development, such as United Nations agencies, multilateral institutions, government agencies, private foundations and corporations, and non-governmental organizations, to present a new research agenda for Japanese international cooperation. Fundraising and advocacy materials depicting people in the “Third World,” which are widely circulating in the form of commercial advertisements, promotion videos, internet websites, and research reports, play a crucial role in connecting aid recipients in the global south with citizens in the global north. However, these representations often reinforce stereotypes concerning race and sex, rendering the exploitative structure of the capitalist world economy invisible. Taking account of current trends in international development agendas and the hegemony of neoliberal global capitalism, scholars in critical media studies have expanded the scope of analysis, from “negative” representations of victimized women and children to “positive” representations of empowered and self-reliant women and girls, and to promotional strategies calling for “investment in girls”. However, with a few exceptions, no analytical studies on specific materials have been conducted in Japan. To build an anti-capitalist transnational feminist solidarity, we hope to observe the development of media research that critically examines racialized and gendered representations of the “Third World.”