Apprehending the 'Telegenic Dead

Considering Images of Dead Children in Global Politics

Datos Bibliográficos

ID2236855
AutoresHelen Berents (0000-0003-1331-3308, Queensland University of Technology, autor de correspondencia)
Año2019
Volumen13
Número2
Páginas145-160
Fecha de publicación2019-06-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaInternational Political Sociology (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 1749-5679 • E-ISSN: 1749-5687
EditorialOxford University Press (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1093/ips/oly036
OpenAlexW2907115898
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas29
Referencias citadas53

Images of suffering children have long been used to illustrate the violence and horror of conflict. In recent years, it is images of dead children that have garnered attention from media audiences around the world. In response to the deaths of four children killed by the Israeli army while playing on a Gazan beach, Israeli Prime Minister Netenyahu accused Hamas of generating “telegenically dead” Palestinian children for their cause (CNN 2014). In this article, it argues with this term to consider the appearance of images of dead children in global politics. I draw on a growing literature relating to the corpse as a subject in international relations (IR), asking how children's bodies are understood, following Butler, as “grievable lives.” It explores the notion of “iconic” images and the politics of sharing images of dead bodies and consider global power relations that allow certain children's deaths to be visible and not others. Through this analysis, the article argues that the idea of telegenic death might be productively considered to understand how the fleshy reality of children's deaths contribute to discussions about the representation and visibility of children in contexts of crisis and conflict.

Archaeology · Dead body · Dead end · Epistemology · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Global Security and Public Health · History · Law · Migration, Refugees, and Integration · Philosophy · Political Conflict and Governance