On the Ethics of Mediating Embodied Vulnerability to Violence
Media ethics has long been haunted by the question of representing human beings’ vulnerability to violence. While journalism and photojournalism have an obligation to report on the realities of violence and suffering in the world, the “spectacle of suffering” is fraught with ethical dilemmas. In thi...
Saved in:
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
MDPI AG
2024-09-01
|
| Series: | Religions |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/15/9/1127 |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| _version_ | 1850259629196443648 |
|---|---|
| author | Meenakshi Gigi Durham |
| author_facet | Meenakshi Gigi Durham |
| author_sort | Meenakshi Gigi Durham |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Media ethics has long been haunted by the question of representing human beings’ vulnerability to violence. While journalism and photojournalism have an obligation to report on the realities of violence and suffering in the world, the “spectacle of suffering” is fraught with ethical dilemmas. In this essay, I seek to theorize the ethics of <i>vulnerability to violence</i> in media representation. As a starting point, I argue for the politics of embodiment as a generative process that constitutes differential vulnerabilities. I move then to consider the way embodied vulnerabilities play out in the media, as exemplified by recent events such as the Black Lives Matter and MeToo movements as well as in times of war, from Vietnam to, more recently, Ukraine and Israel/Palestine. This leads to considerations of spectatorship: who looks and who is looked at? How are these relations of gazing related to the vectors of social and geopolitical power? Are images of embodied vulnerability simply media spectacles that reinforce power hierarchies, or are they powerful prosocial messages that might mobilize humanitarian activism? To address these epistemic questions, I propose that the feminist ethics of care encompasses an invitational rhetoric that can guide media praxis. Care ethics is aligned with various religious epistemologies, and because of that, I argue for it as an umbrella framework that has application in a variety of national and cultural contexts. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-d1457920328a478eab98e0740bafe492 |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 2077-1444 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2024-09-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Religions |
| spelling | doaj-art-d1457920328a478eab98e0740bafe4922025-08-20T01:55:49ZengMDPI AGReligions2077-14442024-09-01159112710.3390/rel15091127On the Ethics of Mediating Embodied Vulnerability to ViolenceMeenakshi Gigi Durham0College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242, USAMedia ethics has long been haunted by the question of representing human beings’ vulnerability to violence. While journalism and photojournalism have an obligation to report on the realities of violence and suffering in the world, the “spectacle of suffering” is fraught with ethical dilemmas. In this essay, I seek to theorize the ethics of <i>vulnerability to violence</i> in media representation. As a starting point, I argue for the politics of embodiment as a generative process that constitutes differential vulnerabilities. I move then to consider the way embodied vulnerabilities play out in the media, as exemplified by recent events such as the Black Lives Matter and MeToo movements as well as in times of war, from Vietnam to, more recently, Ukraine and Israel/Palestine. This leads to considerations of spectatorship: who looks and who is looked at? How are these relations of gazing related to the vectors of social and geopolitical power? Are images of embodied vulnerability simply media spectacles that reinforce power hierarchies, or are they powerful prosocial messages that might mobilize humanitarian activism? To address these epistemic questions, I propose that the feminist ethics of care encompasses an invitational rhetoric that can guide media praxis. Care ethics is aligned with various religious epistemologies, and because of that, I argue for it as an umbrella framework that has application in a variety of national and cultural contexts.https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/15/9/1127embodied vulnerabilityvulnerability to violencemediationmedia ethicsfeminist ethicsethics of care |
| spellingShingle | Meenakshi Gigi Durham On the Ethics of Mediating Embodied Vulnerability to Violence Religions embodied vulnerability vulnerability to violence mediation media ethics feminist ethics ethics of care |
| title | On the Ethics of Mediating Embodied Vulnerability to Violence |
| title_full | On the Ethics of Mediating Embodied Vulnerability to Violence |
| title_fullStr | On the Ethics of Mediating Embodied Vulnerability to Violence |
| title_full_unstemmed | On the Ethics of Mediating Embodied Vulnerability to Violence |
| title_short | On the Ethics of Mediating Embodied Vulnerability to Violence |
| title_sort | on the ethics of mediating embodied vulnerability to violence |
| topic | embodied vulnerability vulnerability to violence mediation media ethics feminist ethics ethics of care |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/15/9/1127 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT meenakshigigidurham ontheethicsofmediatingembodiedvulnerabilitytoviolence |