Erasure: Media Representation of Anti-Shia Violence in Pakistan

Batool, Syeda Sana (2024) Erasure: Media Representation of Anti-Shia Violence in Pakistan. Doctoral thesis, Falmouth University / University of the Arts London.

Text (Sana Batool - PhD Thesis) Batool - Thesis Final Sana Batool.pdf - Submitted Version Restricted to Repository staff only until 30 November 2026. Available under License Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial No Derivatives. Download (2MB) | Request a copy

Abstract / Summary

"Journalism is the first rough draft of history."
In 2005, my journalism professor dressed in a grey sweater quoted Alan Barth (1940) to a room of
aspiring journalists. That idea—of recording history as it happens—felt powerful. But in practice, I
learned that some histories are never written.
As a Shia journalist in Pakistan, I watched stories of anti-Shia violence disappear—buried, ignored,
or distorted.
This thesis is an investigation into why these stories vanish, how violence is erased, and the forces that shape what gets remembered and what gets forgotten.

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