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The ironic spectator: solidarity in the age of post-humanitarianism

Chouliaraki, Lilie (2012) The ironic spectator: solidarity in the age of post-humanitarianism. Polity Press, Cambridge, UK. ISBN 9780745642109

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Abstract

This path-breaking book explores how solidarity towards vulnerable others is performed in our media environment. It argues that stories where famine is described through our own experience of dieting or or where solidarity with Africa translates into wearing a cool armband tell us about much more than the cause that they attempt to communicate. They tell us something about the ways in which we imagine the world outside ourselves. By showing historical change in Amnesty International and Oxfam appeals, in the Live Aid and Live 8 concerts, in the advocacy of Audrey Hepburn and Angelina Jolie as well as in earthquake news on the BBC, this far-reaching book shows how solidarity has today come to be not about conviction but choice, not vision but lifestyle, not others but ourselves – turning us into the ironic spectators of other people’s suffering.

Item Type: Book
Official URL: http://www.polity.co.uk/
Additional Information: © 2012 Polity Press
Divisions: Media and Communications
Subjects: H Social Sciences > HN Social history and conditions. Social problems. Social reform
H Social Sciences > HT Communities. Classes. Races
N Fine Arts > NE Print media
P Language and Literature > PN Literature (General) > PN1990 Broadcasting
Date Deposited: 25 Jul 2012 08:33
Last Modified: 15 Sep 2023 21:52
URI: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/44959

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