1.4 photography in post-colonial contexts-2

The contemporary world bears legacies of earlier eras of colonial expansion and neo-colonial relationships between nations. Much has been written about the role of those who travel from the Global North to the Global South, including charitable missions and study abroad. It's important to consider stereotypes, issues of equity, power, perspective and representation that accompany photography in a post-colonial context. Since there's an entire academic field dedicated to postcolonial studies, the following images and text are intended as an invitation for further thinking.

Explore the many courses at VT that teach postcolonial theory, including those in the departments of history, religion and culture, and ones organized by the Alliance for Social, Political, Ethical, and Cultural Thought (ASPECT) program.

Check out the conversations and images on social media on #NoWhiteSaviors

Read Teju Cole's Links to an external site. 2012 Tweets that launched a public debate about white humanitarian interventions in African nations using his phrase, "White Savior Industrial Complex:"

    1. From Sachs to Kristof to Invisible Children to TED, the fastest growth industry in the US is the White Savior Industrial Complex.
    2. The white savior supports brutal policies in the morning, founds charities in the afternoon, and receives awards in the evening.
    3. The banality of evil transmutes into the banality of sentimentality. The world is nothing but a problem to be solved by enthusiasm.
    4. This world exists simply to satisfy the needs--including, importantly, the sentimental needs--of white people and Oprah.
    5. The White Savior Industrial Complex is not about justice. It is about having a big emotional experience that validates privilege.
    6. Feverish worry over that awful African warlord. But close to 1.5 million Iraqis died from an American war of choice. Worry about that.
    7. I deeply respect American sentimentality, the way one respects a wounded hippo. You must keep an eye on it, for you know it is deadly.

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[IMAGE: Screenshot of the Atlantic Monthly website, Teju Cole story from 2012.]

Question: what are alternative ways for American students to think, feel, and act responsively to privilege and difference when they travel in post-colonial Links to an external site. contexts?