“That’s the Life of a Gangster”: analyzing the media representations of Daniel Wolfe.

Abstract

Daniel Wolfe has been represented by the news media as one of Saskatchewan and Manitoba’s most “notorious gang members.”1 Wolfe first made headlines at the age of 31 after he instigated a fatal home invasion in the rural community of Fort Qu’Appelle, northeast of Regina.2 Later that year, while on remand at the Regina jail, Wolfe and five other Aboriginal inmates staged an elaborate break-out which received extensive national media coverage.3 Two years later Wolfe was killed in prison. His death, although tragic, was regarded by media and experts as an “obvious conclusion” to a gangster’s story.4 Through an interdisciplinary approach consisting of interviews with key participants and a discourse analysis of print, radio, TV, and online new sources, I examine the media spectacle of Daniel Wolfe as a case study concerning the implications his story had on media representations of the Aboriginal gangster on the prairies. “That’s the Life of a Gangster”: Analyzing the Media Representation of Daniel Wolfe interrogates how Daniel Wolfe’s story is used by media, police, and politicians to perpetuate fear of Aboriginal men. I examine: 1) The role the media plays in the Aboriginal gangster is a current monolithic mis-representation of Canada’s Aboriginal peoples. For this thesis I take a three pronged approach: Firstly, I conduct an analysis into the media representations of Wolfe to examine the racialization of gang crime and the production of a moral panic. Secondly, I investigate how stereotypes of Aboriginal gang members such as Wolfe are reproduced and embodied by Aboriginal youth through an analysis of media represented links between Aboriginal bodies, hip-hop, and crime. Thirdly, I examine how agency and healing are being practiced through processes of storytelling by members of Wolfe’s family. The intent of this thesis is to contribute to and challenge the current conversation regarding the growing Aboriginal population and its perceived link with a so-called ‘growing Aboriginal gang problem’ on the prairies.