Skip to main content
profile image
Selected Works of Sharon Sliwinski
Popular Press
The Childhood of Human Rights: The Kodak on the Congo
The Childhood of Human Rights: The Kodak on the Congo (Autograph ABP version) (2010)
  • Sharon Sliwinski
Download
Abstract
This article examines the Congo reform movement’s use of atrocity photographs in their human rights campaign (c. 1904–13) against Belgian King Leopold, colonial ruler of the Congo Free State. This material analysis shows that human rights are conceived by spectators who, with the aid of the photographic apparatus, are compelled to judge that crimes against humanity are occurring to others. The article also tracks how this judgement has been haunted by the potent wish to undo the suffering witnessed. 
Keywords
  • photography,
  • human rights,
  • Congo,
  • atrocity
Disciplines
Publication Date
2010
Citation Information
Sharon Sliwinski. "The Childhood of Human Rights: The Kodak on the Congo" The Childhood of Human Rights: The Kodak on the Congo (Autograph ABP version) (2010)
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/sharon_sliwinski/25/