Témoignage and Responsibility in Photo/Graphic Narratives of Médecins Sans Frontières

Abstract

This article analyzes photographic and graphic narratives of missions conducted by MSF in the Sahel (1984–1985), Afghanistan (1986), and Democratic Republic of the Congo (2005) for the ways in which the narratives construe the responsibility of their readers toward what they see as well as of MSF's missions toward those they serve, particularly in relation to MSF's official policy of témoignage or witnessing as advocacy. I read the chronotopes (space-time) within these books for how they represent suffering and position the reader as voyeur, philanthropist, or protester (Chouliaraki 2006). In their distinctive forms, these texts bridge the presence of immediate crisis and the larger historical framework through which it may be understood. As simultaneously visual and literary media, photo/graphic narratives work through the dual compulsions to show and to tell, both of which manifest through their formal manipulations of the structure of a humanitarian crisis. In their framing devices, these books play with constructions of temporality and distance (moral, intersubjective, and geographical) that govern “the ethics of mediation[,] the humanization of vulnerable others” (Chouliaraki 2011: 363) upon which humanitarian responsibility depends.

Notes

1. I take these three positions, marking key points on a spectrum from passive to active engagement with representations of suffering and the conditions that underlie them, from Chouliaraki (2006: 145–146). Although Chouliaraki analyzes television news depictions of suffering, her focus on the chronotope of representation is particularly relevant to the kinds of texts I address here.

2. Dr. James Orbinski emphasizes, “MSF was born out of an understanding of the role humanitarians could play in shaping public opinion. It insisted on the responsibility not just to act but to speak out in solidarity against violations of human rights and international humanitarian law” (Orbinski 2006: 69).

3. Puleo quotes Salgado's frequent claim, “I'm not showing these pictures to make anyone feel guilty, but to provoke a discussion” (Puleo 1999: 10, fn 11).