Table Of ContentImages and
Human Rights
Images and
Human Rights
:
Local and Global Perspectives
Edited by
Nancy Lipkin Stein
and Alison Dundes Renteln
Images and Human Rights: Local and Global Perspectives
Edited by Nancy Lipkin Stein and Alison Dundes Renteln
This book first published 2017
Cambridge Scholars Publishing
Lady Stephenson Library, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE6 2PA, UK
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Copyright © 2017 by Nancy Lipkin Stein, Alison Dundes Renteln
and contributors
All rights for this book reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means,
electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without
the prior permission of the copyright owner.
ISBN (10): 1-4438-9988-7
ISBN (13): 978-1-4438-9988-8
This collaboration is dedicated to our families, friends, colleagues, stu-
dents, and to all who fight for human rights.
Alison Dundes Renteln
Nancy Lipkin Stein
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapter One ................................................................................................. 1
Images and Human Rights: Local and Global Perspectives
Nancy Lipkin Stein and Alison Dundes Renteln
Chapter Two .............................................................................................. 11
The Human Right to Photograph
Michel Angela Martinez and Alison Dundes Renteln
Chapter Three ............................................................................................ 41
Human Rights Films and Disability: Towards Observational Cinema
as a Practice of “Shared Human Rights”
Anastasia Klupchak
Chapter Four .............................................................................................. 60
Perception of the Visual: We See With Our Brains
Sarah Brown
Chapter Five .............................................................................................. 74
The Nature of Being: A Sense of Meaning Virtue and Other Values
of the Ovahimba
Rina Sherman
Chapter Six ................................................................................................ 94
“In God We Trust”: Islam, Photographs, and Imaginations of Bangladesh
Fabiene Gama
Chapter Seven .......................................................................................... 121
One Hundred Years of Suffering? “Humanitarian Crisis Photography”
and Self-Representation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
Aubrey P. Graham
Chapter Eight ........................................................................................... 153
Visions of Sex-Trafficking: The Filmic Representation of Suffering
Katherine Wahlberg
viii Table of Contents
Chapter Nine ............................................................................................ 178
An Evolutionary Process of Capturing Images of People Experiencing
Homelessness
Dr. Andra Opalinski, Dr. Susan Dyess and Dr. Nancy Stein
Chapter Ten ............................................................................................. 200
Memes, Mashups, and the Battle for the Future of Human Culture
Tok Thompson
Chapter Eleven ........................................................................................ 213
Images of Trans: Framing the Way We See Transgender People
Nancy Lipkin Stein
CHAPTER ONE
IMAGES AND HUMAN RIGHTS:
LOCAL AND GLOBAL PERSPECTIVES
NANCY LIPKIN STEIN
AND ALISON DUNDES RENTELN
Introduction
Images, moving and still, are clearly powerful, and yet we really do not
know exactly how they affect us and our world. Despite tremendous
interest in the role of the visual in human rights advocacy, relatively little
empirical research has documented its influence. This book offers
reflections on the role of images as they circulate in both global fora and,
in particular communities that contributors have examined carefully in
context. The idea for this unusual collection was inspired by a panel Dr.
Nancy Stein organized for the Royal Anthropological Society’s
conference, Anthropology and Photography, that was held at the British
Museum in June 2014. Evident enthusiasm for the subject in London and
elsewhere inspired others to join the project. This interdisciplinary volume,
Images and Human Rights, includes research from healthcare advocates,
human rights scholars and activists, photographers, and visual
anthropologists who see a need for more careful contextual interpretation
of images in global and local settings.
Although vast literature exists on the importance of images concerning
global injustices in fields such as human rights, photography, and visual
studies, few provide case studies of specific photographs in cultural
context. This book affords insights into the role of the visual from various
disciplines including anthropology, fine arts, folklore, human rights,
healthcare, photography, politics, and law. The contributors offer detailed
illustrations of images in various countries that have arguably influenced
public perceptions of vulnerable groups as well as the members’ own self-
understandings. Chapters touch on representations of individuals who are
