Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-fscjk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T02:01:27.219Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Hostile visual encounters: fighting to control photographic meaning in the DRC's digital age

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 May 2019

Aubrey P. Graham
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

On 16 July 2013, Simone Schlindwein, a German journalist, used her mobile phone to photograph a conflict-related image in the Democratic Republic of the Congo that later contributed to local riots and to her hasty exit across the border. From the ‘front’, she uploaded the photograph to her Twitter account and caused a melee of virtual and on-the-ground controversy that at record speed came to involve the United Nations, members of the Congolese diaspora, the Congolese army, the M23 rebel army propaganda office, and the residents of the region. This article starts from her image to ethnographically examine the resulting events and responses, both online and in the city of Goma. In so doing, it engages the heated regional debate as to whether the image was objectively captured or if the violence depicted was simply ‘playing for the camera’. Addressing the simultaneous online movement of the image through social media and news sites, the article argues that the combination of the socio-political climate, conflict and the uncontrollable narrative of the image created a perfect storm in which the entangled regional politics suddenly became visible.

Résumé

Le 16 juillet 2013, Simone Schlindwein, journaliste allemande, a utilisé son téléphone portable pour photographier en République démocratique du Congo une image de conflit qui a contribué par la suite à des émeutes locales et l'a contrainte à quitter le pays précipitamment. Alors qu'elle était sur le front, elle a chargé la photo sur son compte Twitter et déclenché toute une controverse (virtuelle et sur le terrain) qui a fini par impliquer à vitesse record les Nations Unies, des membres de la diaspora congolaise, l'armée congolaise, le bureau de la propagande de l'armée rebelle M23 et les habitants de la région. Cet article part de l'image pour examiner ethnographiquement les événements et les réactions qui en ont résulté, tant en ligne que dans la ville de Goma. Ce faisant, il participe au débat passionné régional sur la question de savoir si l'image était capturée objectivement ou si la violence affichée n’était rien d'autre qu'un « show devant l'objectif ». Traitant du parcours simultané de l'image en ligne sur les réseaux sociaux et les sites d'information, l'article soutient que le climat sociopolitique, le conflit et le récit incontrôlable de l'image ont convergé pour créer une tempête parfaite au cœur de laquelle est soudain apparu le bourbier politique régional.

Type
Photographies in Africa in the digital age
Information
Africa , Volume 89 , Issue 2 , May 2019 , pp. 266 - 285
Copyright
Copyright © International African Institute 2019 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Agbo, G. E. (2019) ‘Challenging the frivolities of power: the ubiquitous camera and Nigerian political elites’, Africa 89 (2): 286–302.Google Scholar
Allan, S. (2013) Citizen Witnessing: revisioning journalism in times of crisis. Cambridge: Polity Press.Google Scholar
Allan, S. (2015) ‘Introduction: photojournalism and citizen journalism’, Digital Journalism 3 (4): 455–64.Google Scholar
Autesserre, S. (2012) ‘Dangerous tales: dominant narratives on the Congo and their unintended consequences’, African Affairs 111 (443): 202–22.Google Scholar
Azoulay, A. (2008) The Civil Contract of Photography. Translated by Mazali, R. and Ruvik, D.. Cambridge MA: Zone Books.Google Scholar
Azoulay, A. (2012) Civil Imagination: a political ontology of photography. New York NY: Verso.Google Scholar
Bartlett, J., Norrie, R., Patel, S., Rumpel, R. and Wibberley, S. (2014) ‘Misogyny on Twitter’. London: Demos.Google Scholar
Batchen, G., Gidley, M., Miller, N. K. and Prosser, J. (2012) Picturing Atrocity: photography in crisis. London: Reaktion Books.Google Scholar
Behrend, H. (1998) ‘Love à la Hollywood and Bombay in Kenyan studio photography’, Paideuma 44: 139–53.Google Scholar
Behrend, H. (2003) ‘Imagined journeys: the Likoni Ferry photographers of Mombasa, Kenya’ in Pinney, C. and Peterson, N. (eds), Photography's Other Histories. Durham NC: Duke University Press.Google Scholar
Bøås, M. and Dunn, K. (2014) ‘Peeling the onion: autochthony in North Kivu, DRC’, Peacebuilding 2 (2): 141–56.Google Scholar
Brieilmaier, I. (2013) ‘Mombasa on display: photography and the formation of an urban public, from the 1940s onward’ in Peffer, J. and Cameron, E. (eds), Portraiture and Photography in Africa. Bloomington IN: Indiana University Press.Google Scholar
Buckley, L. (2000) ‘Self and accessory in Gambian studio photography’, Visual Anthropology Review 16 (2): 71–91.Google Scholar
Buckley, L. (2006) ‘Studio photography and the aesthetics of citizenship in the Gambia, West Africa’ in Edwards, E., Gosden, C. and Phillips, R. (eds), Sensible Objects: colonialism, museums and material culture. London: Bloomsbury.Google Scholar
Büscher, K. and Vlassenroot, K. (2010) ‘Humanitarian presence and urban development: new opportunities and contrasts in Goma, DRC’, Disasters 34 (S2): S256–73.Google Scholar
Caldarola, V. J. (1988) ‘Imaging process as ethnographic inquiry’, Visual Anthropology 1 (4): 433–51.Google Scholar
Campbell, D. (2015) ‘Why does manipulation matter?’, David Campbell [website], 24 February <https://www.david-campbell.org/2015/02/24/why-does-manipulation-matter/>, accessed 7 January 2016.,+accessed+7+January+2016.>Google Scholar
Cartier-Bresson, H. (1952) The Decisive Moment. New York NY: Éditions Verve and Simon and Schuster.Google Scholar
Edwards, E., Gosden, C. and Phillips, R. (2002) ‘Material beings: objecthood and ethnographic photographs’, Visual Studies 17 (1): 67–75.Google Scholar
Edwards, E., Gosden, C. and Phillips, R. (2012) ‘Objects of affect: photography beyond the image’, Annual Review of Anthropology 41: 221–34.Google Scholar
Foucault, M. (1977) Discipline and Punish. Translated by Sheridan, Alan. New York NY: Vintage.Google Scholar
Geary, C. (2003) In and Out of Focus: images from Central Africa, 1885–1960. London: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
Geschiere, P. and Jackson, S. (2006) ‘Autochthony and the crisis of citizenship: democratization, decentralization, and the politics of belonging’, African Studies Review 49 (2): 1–8.Google Scholar
Graham, A. (2014) ‘One hundred years of suffering? “Humanitarian crisis photography” and self-representation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo’, Social Dynamics 40 (1): 140–63.Google Scholar
Graham, A. (2016) ‘Pictures and politics: using co-creative portraits to explore the social dynamics of the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo’, Visual Methodologies 4 (1): 10–29.Google Scholar
Hall, S. (1993) ‘Encoding, decoding’, Cultural Studies Reader 4: 90–103.Google Scholar
ICRC (2016) ‘Customary IHL – practice relating to Rule 113. Treatment of the dead’. Geneva: International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) <https://www.icrc.org/customary-ihl/eng/docs/v2_rul_rule113>, accessed 5 January 2016.,+accessed+5+January+2016.>Google Scholar
Jackson, S. (2006) ‘Sons of which soil? The language and politics of autochthony in eastern DR Congo’, African Studies Review 49 (2): 95–124.Google Scholar
Joseph, S. (2012) ‘Social media, political change, and human rights’, Boston College International and Comparative Law Review 35: 145–88.Google Scholar
Joyce, D. (2013) ‘Media witness: human rights in an age of digital media’, Intercultural Human Rights Law Review 8: 230–80.Google Scholar
Kelly, J. (2009) ‘When NGOs beget NGOs: practicing responsible proliferation’, Journal of Humanitarian Assistance, 29 April.Google Scholar
Kratz, C. (2002) The Ones that Are Wanted: communication and the politics of representation in a photographic exhibition. Berkeley CA: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Linfield, S. (2010) The Cruel Radiance: photography and political violence. Chicago IL: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
MacDougall, D. and Taylor, L. (1998) Transcultural Cinema. Princeton NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Mead, M. (1975) ‘Visual anthropology in a discipline of words’ in Hocking, P. (ed.), Principles of Visual Anthropology. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Mustafa, H. (2002) ‘Portraits of modernity: fashioning selves in Dakarois popular photography’ in Landau, P. S. and Kaspin, D. D. (eds), Images and Empires: visuality in colonial and postcolonial Africa. Berkeley CA: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Newman, N. (2009) ‘The rise of social media and its impact on mainstream journalism’, Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism 8 (2): 1–5.Google Scholar
Peffer, J. and Cameron, E. (2013) Portraiture and Photography in Africa. Bloomington IN: Indiana University Press.Google Scholar
Pinney, C. (1997) Camera Indica: the social life of Indian photographs. Chicago IL: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Pinney, C. and Peterson, N. (2003) Photography's Other Histories. Durham NC: Duke University Press.Google Scholar
Reyntjens, F. (2009) The Great African War: Congo and regional geopolitics, 1996–2006. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Rosen, A. (2015) ‘A rare map of the most complex conflict on earth’, Business Insider, 14 December <http://www.businessinsider.com/map-congo-conflict-2015-12>, accessed 7 January 2016.,+accessed+7+January+2016.>Google Scholar
Sekula, A. (1984) Photography against the Grain: essays and photo works, 1973–1983. Halifax: Press of the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design.Google Scholar
Sekula, A. (1986) ‘The body and the archive’, October 39: 3–64.Google Scholar
Sontag, S. (1977) On Photography. London: Macmillan.Google Scholar
Sontag, S. (2004) Regarding the Pain of Others. London: Macmillan.Google Scholar
Spertus, E. (2002) ‘Gender online: theory and practice’, Asian Women 14: 213–18.Google Scholar
Sprague, S. (2003 [1978]) ‘Yoruba photography’ in Pinney, C. and Peterson, N. (eds), Photography's Other Histories. Durham NC: Duke University Press.Google Scholar
Stearns, J. (2011) Dancing in the Glory of Monsters: the collapse of the Congo and the great war of Africa. New York NY: Public Affairs.Google Scholar
Tagg, J. (1988) The Burden of Representation: essays on photographies and histories. Vol. 80. Minneapolis MN: University of Minnesota Press.Google Scholar
Tagg, J. (2009) The Disciplinary Frame: photographic truths and the capture of meaning. Minneapolis MN: University of Minnesota Press.Google Scholar
Turner, T. (2007) The Congo Wars: conflict, myth and reality. London: Zed Books.Google Scholar
Turton-Turner, P. (2013) ‘Villainous avatars: the visual semiotics of misogyny and free speech in cyberspace’, Forum on Public Policy: A Journal of the Oxford Round Table 1: 1–18.Google Scholar
UN (2013) ‘“Intervention brigade” authorized as Security Council grants mandate renewal for United Nations mission in Democratic Republic of Congo’. New York NY: United Nations <http://www.Un.Org/Press/En/2013/Sc10964.Doc.Htm>, accessed 27 January 2016.,+accessed+27+January+2016.>Google Scholar
UN Group of Experts (2014) ‘Final report of the Group of Experts’. New York NY: United Nations Security Council <http://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=S/2014/42>, accessed 30 August 2016.,+accessed+30+August+2016.>Google Scholar
Van Reybrouck, D. (2012) Congo, Une Histoire. Paris: Éditions Actes Sud.Google Scholar
Vlassenroot, K. and Büscher, K. (2013) ‘Borderlands, identity and urban development: the case of Goma (Democratic Republic of the Congo)’, Urban Studies 50 (15): 3168–84.Google Scholar
Werner, J. F. (2001) ‘Photography and individualization in contemporary Africa: an Ivoirian case-study’, Visual Anthropology 14 (3): 251–68.Google Scholar