The Women & Gender Studies Institute is pleased to announce that award-winning producer and broadcast journalist, Samira Mohyeddin has been selected as the inaugural WGSI Journalism Fellow. Samira will be working alongside Dr. Judith Taylor as Faculty Liaison.
Below is an interview with Samira about her background and plans for the fellowship.
Tell us a bit about yourself.
My name is Samira Mohyeddin and I am a Toronto based journalist. I have been working as a journalist for the past 15 years. Eight of those years were at Canada’s national flagship show, The Current at CBC Radio. The Current was a fast-paced deadline driven environment that often engaged with controversial and provocative issues and afforded me the ability to listen to people’s perspectives on issues that concerned Canadians and beyond.
In 2007, I graduated with a Master of Arts in Modern Middle Eastern History and Gender Studies. At the time (2005), Women and Gender Studies was not considered an area of study worthy of its own graduate degree, you had to be affiliated with another department; only collaborative programs and degrees were available at the graduate level. My graduate advisor, the late great Dr. Amir Hassanpour, knew my interest in women’s rights and historiography and suggested a collaborative program at WGSI. My home department at the time was Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations. I was researching cultural relativism and women’s movements in the Middle East and how the language of cultural authenticity can act as a snare, often impeding women’s movements in the region. I looked at how activist women were viewed and spoken about as the “enemy within,” a part of a wider colonial project.
How has your academic background informed your approach to journalism? What are some of the journalistic conventions that you seek to problematize in your work?
My academic background greatly informs my approach to journalism because it is rooted in context and critical thinking. For me, journalism at its core is about justice. It’s actually my background in theatre and Shakespearean studies that defines what journalism has always meant for me. In Act 2 Scene 2 of Hamlet, he compares himself to an actor and describes what he would do if he could tell the truth of what happened to his father: “Make mad the guilty and appall the free and confound the ignorant.” Those are the three things that I always aim to do with my work.
What is something that you are excited to explore during your time at the WGSI?
One of the things I want to explore the most while at WGSI is the notion of objectivity in journalism. I want to look at its origins and how it was developed and for whom. I want to problematize the idea and focus on the harm that it has done when reporting on specific issues and root out some of the double standards embedded in it. I also want to look at how it has been weaponized and used to silence dissent among journalists. The one thing I wish I knew most going into my studies and / or career was to pay attention to my own voice and to carve out a path for myself based on that, rather than trying to fit myself into an industry that is very formulaic and at times harmful.