Why Can’t We See Insurgents? Enmity, Invisibility, and Counterinsurgency in Iraq and Afghanistan
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12910669 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Susan L Carruthers (corresponding author) |
| Year | 2015 |
| Volume | 8 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 191-211 |
| Publication date | 2015-05-04 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Photography and Culture (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1751-4517 • E-ISSN: 1751-4525 |
| Publisher | Taylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/17514517.2015.1076246 |
| OpenAlex | W2299579225 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 5 |
| References cited | 17 |
This essay invites reflection on the peculiar paucity of photographic images of the enemy in counterinsurgency wars. Drawing parallels between Iraq and Afghanistan and earlier wars prosecuted by American forces in the Philippines, the British in Malaya and Kenya, and the French in Algeria, I suggest striking visual continuities. Photography has long exhibited a certain affinity for atrocity, whether in revealing the aftermath of “terrorist” attacks or exhibiting abuse of detainees—exposure that has occurred both with and without official state sanction. Since the late 1890s, photographic depictions of “insurgent suspects” have abounded. Likewise, colonial history offers several precursors to recent scandals involving soldiers posing with corpses and severed body parts. Yet images of insurgents as living beings have been, and remain, scarce. How do we explain this photographic lacuna and its persistence into the digital age? This essay proposes that resistance has multiple sources that exceed straightforward state prohibition on certain kinds of image making, suggesting a more deeply rooted refusal to acknowledge the humanity of singularly stigmatized enemies
Adversary · Ancient history · Colonialism · Criminology · Invisibility · Militant · Parallels · Political science · Politics · Resistance (ecology · Sociology · State (computer science · Terrorism · History · Law · Memory, Trauma, and Commemoration · Military History and Strategy · World Wars: History, Literature, and Impact
The Burden of Representation
In Time of War
Paying the Human Costs of War
The Media at War
Soldier Photography of Detainee Abuse in Iraq
Death in Wartime
Body horror on the internet
The Censored War
Orientalism and War
Winning Hearts and Minds
White Love and Other Events in Filipino History
Regarding the pain of others
Mau Maus of the Mind
The Body and the Archive
| Unique citing works | 5 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,63 |
| Citation span | 2018 - 2023 (6) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 5 |