A timely new research anthology, co-edited by project member Dr James Morrison (in cooperation with Professor Sarah Pedersen of Robert-Gordon University, Aberdeen), was published earlier this month. Entitled Silenced Voices and the Media: Who Gets to Speak? (Palgrave Macmillan), the book examines the marginalisation – or ‘silencing’ – of various groups, from minority ethnic communities to people experiencing socioeconomic and intersectional disadvantages, and addresses issues of under-representation in the media and the wider cultural industries. The book focuses on different levels and manifestations of under-representation – in terms of stigmatisation (in framing and discourse), denial of voice (as omitted or marginalised narrative subjects and/or sources), and ignored or neglected audiences. Importantly, it redirects attention towards what the editors describe in their introduction as the “people deprived of an audible voice and/or visibility”. As such, the book investigates issues of direct relevance to the “Voices from the Periphery” project – which explores marginalisation of deindustrialised communities in England’s North through various lenses.
Project member Dr Maike Dinger has contributed a chapter on the missing voices of the Scottish independence referendum, held in 2014. Her contribution analyses the tensions between media representations of the vote as a once-in-a-generation mass participatory event and the practical exclusion of some (‘left behind’) groups from the political debate.
