-Save the Children. Live on Website; 2016.
Region of focus; South Sudan
http://www.savethechildren.org/site/c.8rKLIXMGIpI4E/b.8197811/k.31C7/Helping_Starving_African_Children.htm
'What do our students know about famine in the Horn of
Africa?'
- Oxfam Australia. Live on Website; 2016
Region of focus; 'The Horn of Africa.'
Region of focus; 'The Horn of Africa.'
https://www.oxfam.org.au/2011/08/what-do-our-students-know-about-the-famine-in-the-horn-of-africa/
The photographic images above reveal another reality aside
from acute poverty; a reality which sees the era of neo colonial rule harnessed
by global and regional institutions alike. In order to shed light on this reality,
we must embark on an unapologetic examination on the role and nature of these
images within the mainstream NGO sector they have been elected to represent.
While utilized by differing organisations, Oxfam and Save
the Children, both photographic images adopt the same regional focus of Eastern
Africa. Yet, while one image is identified generally from South Sudan, the other is simply identified as
'The Horn of Africa'- a reference to the East African region in its entirety of
6 countries. Thus, the treatment of the subjects featured within each photographic
image corresponds with the conceptual ideology of Orientalism; why distinguish
between African regions anyway? In his academic text Orientalism (1978), Said argues that the failure to distinguish
among countries and differing cultures of a region reinforced an exercise of Western
colonial power over the former colonised. Perhaps a comparison can be made
between Said's examination of the 'Oriental' Middle East, Far East and Near
East, and the contemporary treatment of the 'Dark Continent' as reflected in
these images? Moreover, while the role of the inclusion of these images in their
relative relief campaigns is to encourage sympathy and thus financial support,
the notion of identity is brought into question. The discourse surrounding the
concept of 'The West and the Rest', as explored by Stuart Hall (1992), has the
resulting outcome of the 'othering' of all beings outside of 'Western'
discourse. If discourse is indeed about the production of knowledge through
language (Hall, 1992), then these photographic images above are reflective of
implications of power operations; this conceptual notion of 'othering' is ever
prominent within strategies of humanitarian communication employed by
mainstream news media and particularly NGOs,
not confined to a single region, but rather a very universal depiction of
the suffering 'other' in the regions that make up the Global South. But it's
the truth being shown, right?
The concept of the 'Pornography of Poverty' is most prominent
in these images, laden with symbolic inequalities that reinforce post colonial
perceptions of cultural superiority. In both images, only the most vulnerable groups
are utilized, which is highly representative of the treatment of different
regions across the African continent by mainstream news media and the NGO sector.
While there is
no denying the fact that the realities are very real, filtering information to
create a bias reinforces the discourse of the 'West and the Rest.' Through
the use of such images, the African continent has come to symbolise poverty;
'flooded with images of the emaciated child.' (Mahadeo & Mckinney, 2007)
This contribution to 'othering' through the graphic depictions of human
suffering is a sharp reminder that these
images do not represent an encounter between equals (Hall, 1992). Instead, these images ‘help to legitimise the
foundational idea of all western-based development – that the global south is
inevitably better off with ongoing interventions than it would be without them’
(Manzo 2008: 652).
But is it all bad? In the last decade, there has been a marked shift has
been away from the use of such imagery towards other strategies of humanitarian
communication such as Positivism, and the use of comedy as a vehicle to promote
awareness of development campaigns. Organisations such as Build Africa directs all work away
from aid relief and towards long-term development through community empowerment,
which in turn has a definite impact on the nature of the strategies employed
when promoting media publicity and awareness; particularly an absence of a Western influence
on screen and the emphasis on community involvement. Moreover, comedy is now used
as a means of combating donor fatigue and revealing the controversy behind other
such campaign strategies. A prime example being Comic Relief's African Appeal
sketch in 2007 lead by Ricky Gervais, which encouraged 'us' to elicit self
reflection on 'our' involvement in 'othering' distant suffering (Chouliaraki,
2013). However, these methods of communication are not without their flaws; in
both distances, the 'other' remains a subject of generosity of the West, which
ensures that the discourse of power remains prevalent through tokenism. Will an
antidote to donor fatigue be found? Will there be a reversion back to the use
of colonial suffering?
Word Count: 763
Bibliography
Chouliaraki, L. (2013). The Ironic Spectator: Solidarity
in the Age of Post Humanitarianism. Cambridge Press.
Hall, S. (1992). The Formations of Modernity. Polity
Press.
Mahadeo, M., &
Mckinney, J. (2007). Media representations of Africa: Still the Same Old
Story? Centre of Global Education .
Said, E. (1978). Orientalism. Penguin Press.
http://www.build-africa.org/ - Build Africa
