Abstract
In this paper, I interrogate the relationship between genocide and ecocide by examining visual culture in general and photojournalism in particular in the context of Gaza. I argue that while professional journalists reporting the genocide in Gaza have been subjected to targeting and killing, for the first time, this genocide has been live-streamed by those who have been instigating this horror and those who have been subjected to extreme violence. I specifically examine the significance of photojournalism not only by photojournalists such as Motaz Azaiza and others who risk their lives depicting the genocide in Gaza but also photography by ordinary people who can’t run from violence as participant witnesses through online websites depicting the juxtaposition of lost lives and the destruction of the landscape. These photographic representations display the convergence of genocide and ecocide in the specific case of Gaza, capturing the horrific elimination of children, women, and men as well as the schools, hospitals, mosques, trees, rivers, agricultural lands, and water sources. By discussing photojournalism as a witness and as the overwhelming evidence in the very first livestream genocide, I ask what it means to livestream a genocide. What does it say about photojournalism? And how do these digital testimonies intervene beyond provoking outrage but standing for justice?
Presenters
Minoo MoallemProfessor, Gender and Women's Studies and Media Studies, UC Berkeley, California, United States
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
Media, War, Gender, Violence, Weaponization, Transnational contestations
