Originally posted to BMJ Blogs, by Bryan Mukandi.
Regarding the Pain of Others:
What emotions have to do in the History of Humanitarian Images?
(Geneva 4-5, 2019)
Taking the title of Susan Sontag’s seminal work as a starting point, this workshop aims at re-opening an old debate about the potentialities of exhibiting other’s suffering in order to promote a culture of peace, prevent war and/or resolve conflict. Sontag concluded in her book that images of atrocities had led the Global North to a form of exhaustion, also called compassion fatigue, which has been criticised more recently as a myth. Yet, images remain today the main strategy of humanitarian organisations to raise awareness and funds. Continue reading
