Theory of Knowledge - Course Companion for Students Marija Uzunova Dang Arvin Singh Uzunov Dang

terms: Mukherjee Who
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the photographer who
was
dehumanizing images
took
famine
Madras
1876 the Sanitary Commissioner of
In
Dr Cornish, had felt that a
Madras,
might help rally the British
photographer
and political class to lend relief to
public
famine. If they could “see the living
the
assembled at feeding houses”, as
skeletons
had, perhaps they could be moved to act
he
quoted in Digby 1878). Others in the
(Cornish
special correspondent, Friend of India
(unnamed
quoted in Digby 1876)
newspaper,
intentions of Cornish and the unnamed
The
correspondent were to help the afflicted
special
of their district. The photographer
inhabitants
answered their call was Willoughby
who
Hooper, and his photographs crossed
Wallace
line between photojournalism and perverse
a
with accompanying captions such
aesthetic,
“Forsaken” and “The Last of the Herd”. A
as
incident describes how Hooper, at the
separate
of a gangster, interrupted the firing
execution
at the last moment to adjust his camera’s
squad
Once he was satisfied he asked them
focus.
photographs to accuse and possibly
“For
a moral response, they must shock”
invoke
terms: The
Search
Images of
Conversation
can bring about
suffering
change
Graphic magazine, 6 October 1877. The magazine featured
The
of the Madras famine in an exploitative aesthetic. This
images
photographs are from long ago but
These
ethical implications of aesthetic decisions
the
not gone away. Consider the linked
have
by Alison Dundes Rentein (2018).
article
examines the power of visual media,
Rentein
photography, in the politics of
particularly
aid and human rights. The ethical
poverty,
surrounding the practice and impact of
issues
genre of photography, sometimes called
this
have been thoroughly discussed
poverty-porn,
both academic and social discourse. The TOK
in
within this area are still worth examining
issues
side of the debate is outlined by Jonathan
One
writing in the UK newspaper the
Jones,
that “mobilizing shame” through
Guardian,
can move people to contribute
photographs
philanthropy, activism and
through
assistance.
development
IV. Ethics
IV. Ethics
Case study
Imagin(in)g the Global South
region felt similarly.
I feel an irresistible longing to send you
photographs of some of the living skeletons, of
Figure 10.10 Photograph by Willoughby Wallace Hooper, from
which there are evidently hundreds in the districts
immediately surrounding Madras. Words convey a
photograph was among the least disturbing of Hooper’s images;
poor idea of the appearance of a human being for
some days before he dies of starvation.
others were deemed too hard-hitting for inclusion.
as they will drive dilemmas of the future.
to carry on.
wrote Judith Butler (2007).
317