Between morality and the market: the circulation of humanitarian photography

Chouliaraki, Lilie ORCID: 0000-0002-5683-4691 and Stupart, Richard (2024) Between morality and the market: the circulation of humanitarian photography. International Journal of Communication. ISSN 1932-8036 (In Press)

Text (Chouliaraki and Stupart. Humanitarian images as moral practices. IJoC._Jan.2025) - Accepted Version Download (397kB)

Abstract

What kind of thing, morally speaking, is an image of suffering? Going beyond questions of representation, we here focus on the creation and circulation of such imagery to ask what we can learn about the ethics of images by examining the contexts and norms within which these move around. Using a 2022 Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) controversy as its case study, we highlight the quality of humanitarian images as moral practice and trace three moral tensions that emerge as images circulate within and beyond humanitarian spaces. Through this discussion, we make three contributions to our understanding of the circulation of humanitarian images. We contribute to the recognition of the implicit norms governing not just the content of images but also their circulation and use; the identification of a dual economy of image circulation: a moral economy and a market economy that both come to shape these norms; and, the observation that the ongoing rivalry between these two economies renders the norms of image circulation increasingly antagonistic in ways that threaten to undermine the very quality of humanitarian images as moral practice.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	© 2024
Divisions:	Media and Communications
Date Deposited:	25 Nov 2024 13:03
Last Modified:	12 Dec 2024 04:35
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/126164

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