‘Justin Trudeau has had a colourful few days, hasn’t he?’: Blackface and Politics
Abstract
Individuals use discursive techniques to justify racism and avoid sounding racist in everyday
life. The main aim of this research was to examine one specific instance of potential racism,
involving Canadian Prime Minster Justin Trudeau’s use of ‘blackface’. Techniques of
discourse analysis were used to analyse media coverage of Trudeau’s previous actions in
adopting ‘blackface’, following his public apologies for these actions. Four thematic strands
of argument were identified in an analysis of the articles gathered from online media sources
surrounding the incident. The forms of argument used by the media to criticise Trudeau and
his actions were as follows: (1) describing blacking-up as racist; (2) presenting defence of
this behaviour as politically motivated; (3) questioning all Trudeau’s behaviour, and (4)
depicting Trudeau as a flawed character. These arguments function both as a focus for media
criticisms of Trudeau and his actions and as a basis for producing further criticisms of his
policies and political actions. They do at the same time point to some of the issues involved
in determining what is to count as racism in current society. Further research is needed to
explore more fully the extent to which such argumentative strands are deployed more widely
in political debate.