seeingaylankurdi!throughwesterneyes:! how!this!image!of ... ·...

Seeing Aylan Kurdi through Western eyes: How this image of a little boy speaks challenge to an empire state of mind.

Rel 6016 – Issues in Cultural Studies And the Bible

Dr. Katie Edwards

140228645

27/05/2016

Issues in Cultural Studies Dr. Katie Edwards

140228645 27/05/2016

2

Seeing Aylan Kurdi through Western eyes: How this image of a little boy speaks challenge to an empire state of mind.

To be homeless the way people like you and me are apt to be homeless is to have homes all over the place but not to really be at home in any of them. To be really at home is to be really at peace, and our lives are so intricately interwoven that

there can be no peace for any of us until there is peace for all of us.1

A handful of Afghans dying could make the front pages, but only if they were strangled one by one by Beyoncé as the half-‐‑time entertainment at the Super

Bowl.2

On 2nd September 2015, pictures of Aylan Kurdi3, a three-‐‑year old Syrian

refugee whose body had washed up on a beach in Bodrum, Turkey, were shared

with news media around the world. These shocking images triggered a series of

highly emotional responses in UK media4, which profoundly changed the UK

1 Frederick Buechner, The Longing for Home: Recollections and Reflections, (San Franscisco, Harper, 1996) p.14 2 Boyle, Frankie, “Britain Clings to its Bombing Addiction with the Weary Rationale of a Junkie” in The Guardian, 20/10/2015 http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/oct/20/britain-‐‑clings-‐‑bombing-‐‑addiction-‐‑weary-‐‑rationale-‐‑junkie-‐‑frankie-‐‑boyle) accessed 07/05/2016 3 News media incorrectly reported that the child was named “Aylan” Kurdi, when in fact it later transpired that his name was “Alan”. As I will be working with a range of resources here that all refer to him as “Aylan”, I will continue to use this name throughout this work. 4 For two examples of such articles see Yasmin Alibhai Brown in the I on 2/09/2015 at http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/so-‐‑david-‐‑cameron-‐‑is-‐‑this-‐‑


140228645 27/05/2016

3

discourse on the global refugee crisis, including eliciting a promise from David

Cameron to accept more refugees5 and multiple outpourings of support for

refugees from ordinary people up and down the country.6

On social media, the images were shared quickly and widely on Twitter,

Instagram and Facebook, causing an instantly noticeable rise in the use of the

term “refugees” versus “migrants”.7 This was important because there had

previously been significant debate in the media on the use of these terms, with

news agency Al Jazeera refusing to use the term “migrant”, which it deemed to be

“pejorative”.8 A change in the public use of the terms “migrant” and “refugee”

may have demonstrated increased public sympathy with the plight of refugees,

and as Francesco D’Orazio explains,

The term that the politicians, the media and the people would end up adopting to talk about the issue would inevitably have massive implications in terms of

humanitarian aid and policy making.9

At 8pm on September 3rd, over 53,000 tweets per hour were about the

dead-‐‑syrian-‐‑child-‐‑one-‐‑of-‐‑the-‐‑swarm-‐‑of-‐‑migrants-‐‑you-‐‑fear-‐‑so-‐‑much-‐‑10483298.html and Roy Greenslade’s comment piece from 03/09/2015 in the Guardian, http://www.theguardian.com/media/greenslade/2015/sep/03/will-the-image-of-a-lifeless-boy-on-a-beach-change-the-refugee-debate 5 http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/sep/04/david-‐‑cameron-‐‑syrian-‐‑refugees-‐‑uk-‐‑will-‐‑take-‐‑thousands-‐‑more accessed 04/05/2016 6 See this response in the Guardian from 03/09/2015 showing national responses to the refugee crisis. http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/sep/03/refugee-‐‑crisis-‐‑what-‐‑can-‐‑you-‐‑do-‐‑to-‐‑help accessed 04/05/2016 7 See https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/news/nr/aylan-‐‑kurdi-‐‑social-‐‑media-‐‑report-‐‑1.533951 accessed 04/05/2016 8 See this BBC report from 28/08/2015 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-‐‑34061097 accessed 26/05/2016 9 D’Orazio, Francesco in Vis, F. & Goriunova, O. (Eds.) “The Iconic Image on Social Media: A Rapid Response to the Death of Aylan Kurdi” (Visual Social Media Lab, Sheffield University at http://visualsocialmedialab.org/projects/the-‐‑iconic-‐‑image-‐‑on-‐‑social-‐‑media) accessed 04/04/2016 p.11


140228645 27/05/2016

4

Aylan Kurdi story.10 In a study of the images posted online, Farida Vis notes that

17% of images were “response images”11, art made and shared by those moved

by the tragedy. Exploring what may have driven people to respond to images of

Aylan by making art, Holly Ryan comments,

Rather than testing art’s ability to disturb, these individuals seem to be using art as a means of dealing with the disturbing... not only are these artworks an example of creative resilience, they also play a role in generating forms of knowledge and understanding that are at once both personal and political.12

I am interested in the way that this image has been reworked and

responded to, and am particularly focussing here on how images of Aylan Kurdi

managed to impact the discourse about refugees in the global west.13 News and

entertainment website “Bored Panda” posted a compilation of 97 response

images shared online after Aylan’s death14. These include images of the little boy

sleeping in a bed, as an angel, surrounded by political figures and playing on the

beach. The article has been viewed over 220,000 times. The compilation includes

images of Aylan in a classically styled Pieta, a nativity scene, and several images

with religiously loaded iconography15. Jane Dillenberger describes iconography

10 Vis, Iconic, p.17

11 Vis, Iconic, p.28 12 Vis, Iconic, p.44-‐‑45 13 Whilst using language of “the west” throughout this essay, it is important to acknowledge the problematic nature of the term, loaded as it is with vestiges of imperialism. Stuart Hall explains, “We may not ourselves believe in the natural superiority of the West. But if we use the discourse of “the West and the Rest” we will necessarily find ourselves speaking from a position that holds that the West is a superior civilization” For more on this see Stuart Hall, The West and the Rest: Discourse and Power in Maaka and Andersen, The Indigenous Experience: Global Perspectives (Canadian Scholars Press, 2006) p.166 14 See http://www.boredpanda.com/syrian-‐‑boy-‐‑drowned-‐‑mediterranean-‐‑tragedy-‐‑artists-‐‑respond-‐‑aylan-‐‑kurdi/ accessed 04/05/2015 15 Picture 29 is a pieta: http://www.boredpanda.com/pieta/ picture 39 is a nativity scene http://www.boredpanda.com/without-‐‑faith-‐‑in-‐‑humanity and see


140228645 27/05/2016

5

as “the imagery and symbols that were part of the visual language of earlier

ages”16 Thus we can begin to explore how the photographs of Aylan Kurdi, a

Middle Eastern, Muslim boy, have inspired people to make art that clearly

references the Judaeo-‐‑Christian tradition, a tradition that has been deeply

significant in the development of Western culture, and whose iconography is

unconsciously understood by those in the west. Jim Aulich explains:

For western eyes the photograph under discussion takes part in the construction of a world where something might be done, that there might be life after death, and the guilt arising from a double sense of responsibility and impotence might be lifted. The reference to the Passion of Christ gives it the significance of a

higher authority to obscure the political and military realities of the war in Syria and the ensuing refugee crisis.17

Seeing the pictures of Aylan Kurdi in this light may help us to understand

why they had such a powerful impact. As Heine points out, “several other photos

of drowned children in which death is much more present, did not reach a viral

status”18

I will show that the pictures of Aylan Kurdi enabled many in the global

west to respond compassionately to the refugee crisis when other pictures of

dead children had not had the same impact. I will argue that this is because Aylan

Kurdi looked western in the clothes he was wearing, and his skin was pale in

tone. This enabled western viewers to experience a higher level of empathy and

compassion than they may have experienced if Aylan had looked more Middle-‐‑ picture 65 for an example of a religious response picture entitled “the softening of hearts” with quasi-‐‑messianic overtones http://www.boredpanda.com/the-‐‑softening-‐‑of-‐‑hearts/ 16 Dillenberger, Jane. Image and Spirit in Sacred and Secular Art, Crossroad Publishing, New York, 1990, p.1 17 Vis et al, p.51 18 Jan-‐‑Jaap Heine et al. “Engagement of Tragedy on Social Media” (https://wiki.digitalmethods.net/Dmi/WinterSchool2016EngagementWithTragedySocialMedia) accessed 04/05/2015


140228645 27/05/2016

6

Eastern. Alongside this, the way that his body was positioned looked like a

sleeping child; the formulation of this image was iconic and led to multiple

response images being made. This provoked many parents to see him as a child

like theirs. Furthermore, the images unconsciously referenced Christian

iconography, which placed them into a western “visual vocabulary”19

I will then consider how the response to the images of Aylan Kurdi

interact with the Christian tradition, exploring how they challenge an empire

state of mind that is prevalent in the Western church. Miguez et al. describe an

imperial mindset as

The tendencies of expansion and the desire for unlimited control of immeasurable accumulation and the pretension to be able to mould

subjectivities and to be imbued with a sense of transcendence, are some examples of what some human beings want to be when they want to be

divine...The Empire that keeps expanding in search of its own safety and control is the ultimate threat to human freedom.20

I will argue that engagement with a post-‐‑colonial hermeneutic is a

mechanism that opens up an alternative perspective, enabling the formation of a

theology of exile, whereby exile, not empire is seen as the dominant, defining

human narrative.

Considering the compassion that many western people felt towards

Aylan, Nadine El-‐‑Enany writing in a paper entitled “The Human Refugee”

explains,

Perhaps it was the innocence evoked by the body of a light-‐‑skinned child that enabled the temporary, fleeting awakening among white Europeans to a refugee

movement that long-‐‑preceded the media spotlight on that photo.21 19 Dillenberger, Image, p.1 20 Nestor Miguez, Joerg Rieger & Jung Mo Sung, Beyond the Spirit of Empire, Theology and Politics in a New Key (SCM Press, London, 2009) p.xi 21 El-‐‑Enany, N. (2016). Aylan Kurdi: The Human Refugee. (Law and Critique, 27(1)), p.13


140228645 27/05/2016

7

Drawing on psychological research that demonstrated, “the existence of a

racial bias in the emotional reaction to other people’s pain.”22, she considers that

whilst the pictures of Aylan engendered an outpouring of compassion, there are

deeper considerations for the West to consider:

It was, after all, the ancestors of the white Europeans tweeting selfies taken with their babies as they headed for their nearest #RefugeesWelcome march who

colonised the lands from which these desperate people come.23

Social scientist, Polly Pallister-‐‑Wilkins argues that Aylan Kurdi ‘s image

could be seen as a “totemic” image in the refugee crisis. She explains,

The innocence of the child becomes a proxy for naturalness, blamelessness and it becomes easier to invoke compassion and justice because the child is seen as separate from and free from the messy politics and contingency of the ‘adult’

world.24

She considers that whilst these images acquire a totemic resonance in the

media, Aylan himself becomes objectified in the process. She is concerned that

this process of objectification “erases other forms of suffering.”25 Enabling the

viewer to experience compassion for Aylan, whilst disavowing the full extent of

human suffering in the wider and more complex refugee crisis.

22 Forgiarini M, Gallucci M, Maravita A. “Racism and the Empathy for Pain on Our Skin” (Frontiers in Psychology. 108(2)), p.1 23 El-‐‑Enany, Human, p.14

24 Pallister-‐‑Wilkins, P. The Child as Totemic Image in Humanitarianism (https://societyandspace.files.wordpress.com/2015/10/invoking-‐‑the-‐‑child-‐‑as-‐‑totemic-‐‑image-‐‑pallister-‐‑wilkins.pdf )accessed 04/05/2015

25 Pallister-‐‑Wilkins, The Child.


140228645 27/05/2016

8

This concern is echoed by Anne Burns, who comments, “when Kurdi’s

death functions as a ‘tragic symbol’, it becomes depersonalized.”26 Burns is

concerned that the initial wave of compassion and political goodwill towards

refugees that began in the wake of the pictures may well be short-‐‑lived.

Nevertheless, she concludes that the pictures will remain in the “public

imaginary”27 and that they have an important role in evoking compassion.

Commentators have described the picture of Aylan on the beach, alone as

“iconic”. Simon Faulkner explains,

Like most iconic images, the photographs...are relatively simple in terms of their formal content...This visual simplicity lent itself to an easy legibility that appears to have been a crucial motivating factor for those people who contributed to the circulation of the images...The body (with its easily recognisable clothing of red t-‐‑

shirt, blue shorts, and plimsolls) became a movable icon that could be repurposed in line with quite different concerns.28

Part of how Aylan’s image came to be repurposed is that he is seen and re-‐‑

depicted from the perspective of a parent. In the Bored Panda article, there were

several depictions of Kurdi tucked up safely in bed29, and multiple commentators

mentioned his shoes and the way that he was dressed, in smart, western-‐‑style

clothes. Procter and Yamada-‐‑Rice explain, 26 Vis et al, Iconic, p.38 27 Vis et al, Iconic, p.39 28 Vis et al, Iconic p.53 29 See http://www.boredpanda.com/how-‐‑his-‐‑story-‐‑should-‐‑have-‐‑ended/ http://www.boredpanda.com/syrian-‐‑boy-‐‑drowned-‐‑mediterranean-‐‑tragedy-‐‑artists-‐‑respond-‐‑aylan-‐‑kurdi/ (in which the children depicted are all white) http://www.boredpanda.com/from-‐‑embrace-‐‑of-‐‑syria-‐‑to-‐‑drowning-‐‑in-‐‑the-‐‑sea-‐‑turkey/ http://www.boredpanda.com/this-‐‑is-‐‑where-‐‑he-‐‑should-‐‑be/ http://www.boredpanda.com/rest-‐‑you-‐‑rest-‐‑now-‐‑tonight-‐‑you-‐‑are-‐‑safe-‐‑in-‐‑the-‐‑arms-‐‑of-‐‑angels/ http://www.boredpanda.com/the-‐‑tired-‐‑angel/ http://www.boredpanda.com/a-‐‑wake-‐‑up-‐‑sleep-‐‑2/all accessed 05/05/2016


140228645 27/05/2016

9

An...example of everyday childhood objects are Aylan’s shoes, which seemed like they could be a pair belonging to any young child known to us... Aylan’s body, its

position and clothing become symbolic of childhood in general.30

An emotive ‘parental’ response can be seen in Yasmin Alibhai-‐‑Brown’s

article from the Independent on September 2nd. The article has been shared

36,000 times. She writes:

He looks asleep, far away in dreamland, as if he dropped off after a long day of play and fun, of tricks and naughtiness. His trainers are still on his feet. Did he pester mum and dad until they bought them? His red T-‐‑shirt and trousers have rolled up to reveal his tummy. I want to touch his soft, plump tummy, to hold

him, wake him gently and dry him off.31

Brown’s writing here manages to capture the essence of the emotional

response of many western people but she goes on to juxtapose this motherly

style of writing with some harsh indictments of UK government policy. She

describes the predicament we find ourselves in when the collective emotional

reaction to the pictures and the politics of our government are so misaligned as

“social psychopathy”.32

Perhaps some of the compassion elicited in the west by the pictures of

Aylan can be attributed to the way that they unconsciously tap into deep

reservoirs of European Christian iconography, creating a visual language that we

have been programmed to understand and respond to. The following images

demonstrate this:

30 Vis et al, Iconic, p.58 31 Alibhai Brown, Yasmin (http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/so-‐‑david-‐‑cameron-‐‑is-‐‑this-‐‑dead-‐‑syrian-‐‑child-‐‑one-‐‑of-‐‑the-‐‑swarm-‐‑of-‐‑migrants-‐‑you-‐‑fear-‐‑so-‐‑much-‐‑10483298.html) accessed 04/05/2016 32 Ibid.


140228645 27/05/2016

10

33

34

33 http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/603350/Turkish-‐‑police-‐‑officer-‐‑who-‐‑found-‐‑tragic-‐‑Aylan-‐‑prayed-‐‑that-‐‑he-‐‑was-‐‑still-‐‑alive image accessed 05/05/2016 34 http://www.italianrenaissance.org/michelangelos-‐‑pieta/ image accessed 05/05/2016


140228645 27/05/2016

11

35

Farida Vis explains,

Photographs of Aylan’s body being carried by the policeman as well as lying on the shore conform to the Christian tradition of depicting sleeping angels and

aestheticized death in the iconography of Pieta.36

This concept of ‘aestheticized death’ in Christian art is important, as Ray

Drainville explains:

It is a photogenic and cleansed image of death... This is important in a Western cultural context. For the past two millennia, the most common image by far has been that of the aestheticised corpse of Christ, whose body has been depicted overwhelmingly with few of the abuses subject to it during the Passion.37

Images of Christ’s body have permeated western culture throughout

history, and as such, are a recognizable trope. The pieta has been referenced and

35 http://zegag.fr/1950-‐‑aylan-‐‑kurdi-‐‑le-‐‑petit-‐‑syrien-‐‑noye-‐‑24-‐‑artistes-‐‑lui-‐‑rendent-‐‑hommage image accessed 05/05/2016 36 Vis et al, p.46 37 Vis et al, p.47


140228645 27/05/2016

12

reconfigured in art, TV, film, literature and theatre38 and is a known formulation,

embedded in the “public imaginary”39.

Bordieu writes, “A work of art has meaning and interest only for someone

who possesses the cultural competence, that is, the code into which it is

encoded.”40 For westerners, the image of the Pieta, which typically invokes a

blameless corpse being held aloft by an authority figure41 has been encoded and

reconstituted in culture so frequently that we are able to respond collectively to

the image whether we consciously understand its cultural origins or not.

Drainville explains,

We do not need to accept the conscious ideologies of such images in order to absorb the cultural connections I have suggested above. We absorb images daily,

unconsciously, and they prime us to navigate whole classes of images in prescribed ways.42

Interestingly, Aulich notes that non-‐‑western audiences sharing the

picture on social media tended to share the picture of Aylan alone, rather than

him being held by the police officer.43

As Pallister-‐‑Wilkins shows, one of the challenges we must face when an

image becomes iconic is the way that the focus on this specific image and its call

upon our emotions can render us unable to see the equivalent suffering of many

38 For a non-‐‑exhaustive list of examples of the pieta as a trope in popular culture see http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/PietaPlagiarism accessed 05/05/2016 39 See footnote 19 40 Bordieu, Pierre, Distinction: A Social Critique on the Judgement of Taste, Routledge, London, 2013 p.XXV 41 Vis et al, p.50 42 Vis et al, p.47 43 Vis et al, p. 50


140228645 27/05/2016

13

others. She points out how Kurdi’s mother and brother, or the other people who

drowned on that boat are absent from the discourse.44

By allowing the field of vision to widen from an initial view of the body of

a little boy on a beach, a broad and troubled horizon is opened, littered with

detritus from battle-‐‑weary Middle-‐‑Eastern states, at war with one another and

with the Imperialist west who vacillate between ignorant bliss of the multiple

problems and colonization of the lands involved. Tamim Ansary describes how

absent Middle-‐‑Eastern history is from the standard US High School history

textbook. He contests that Islamic culture and the West fundamentally

misunderstand one another. While Western political powers may perceive that

they are offering much-‐‑needed freedom as democracy is imposed in Iraq through

force (an oxymoron if ever there was one), the perception in Islamic states is

different: “From the other side...the moral and military campaigns of recent times

look like the long-‐‑familiar program to enfeeble Muslims in their own

countries.”45

In his classic work, Edward Said defines “Orientalism” as,

The corporate institution for dealing with the Orient -‐‑ dealing with it by making statements about it, authorizing views of it, describing it, by teaching it, settling

it, ruling over it: in short, Orientalism as a Western style for dominating, restructuring, and having authority over the Orient.46

Tracking Orientalism through literary and art history, Said contests that

the orient is a product of European cultural and political hegemony. Caught in

44 Pallister-‐‑Wilkins, The Child 45 Ansary, Tamim Destiny Disrupted – A History of the World Through Islamic Eyes, (Public Affairs in Paper, New York, 2009) p.353 46 Said, Edward Orientalism (Penguin Classics, London 1978) p.3


140228645 27/05/2016

14

the crossfire of the resultant current complex battles are the many thousands of

people who have found themselves displaced from their homelands in this

modern-‐‑day exile narrative.

I use the word “exile” purposefully here, as it enables a consideration of

current events in the light of Biblical narratives of displaced people. It is

important to explore how the Bible has been interpreted both by those

experiencing exile and by those seeking cultural and political power over exiles.

By exploring many narratives of Scripture, and considering the plight of

Abraham, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Nehemiah, Ezra, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and

Daniel to name but a few, it immediately becomes clear that the Biblical texts are

filled with the experiences of those who have been displaced from their

homelands and face the resulting experiences of fear, pain, trauma,

powerlessness, oppression, loneliness and disconnection (to name just some of

the emotional landscape described by present-‐‑day refugees).47 Casey Strine

explains, “Migration – especially involuntary migration – dominated the

experience of the ancient communities who produced the biblical texts.”48

Through western over-‐‑familiarity with these Biblical narratives of

displaced people, stories that Christian children learn in comfortable Sunday

school rooms, congregations have become inured to the harsh realities of exile

47 For a more thorough account of the emotional experience of refugees see Stubley, Joanne, Mourning and migration (Psychodynamic Practice Vol. 15, No. 2, May 2009) pp.113–127

48 Strine, Casey What does the Bible say about Migration? (An as yet unpublished paper for the Bible Society) accessed via the author, 14/04/2016


140228645 27/05/2016

15

that they communicate. Identification with the hero leads to celebration of the

victorious moment of Moses leading the Israelites through the Red Sea, but an

abnegation of the accumulated rage and impotence that drove him to murder an

Egyptian slave-‐‑driver 40 years previously.49 Churches today are enthusiastic

about sharing Ezekiel’s visions of the valley of the dry bones and the river

flowing from the temple as metaphors for the church seeing renewal and growth,

but less keen on talking about Ezekiel’s sense of trauma and destitution at the

loss of his homeland enacted as he lies on his side for over a year and cooks on

excrement.50

The dynamics described by Said in Orientalism and his other works come

into play in an exploration of the western church’s engagement with Biblical

texts. Western cultures have historically approached the Bible with a colonial

hermeneutic, which places the western reader in a position of cultural

dominance. This inevitably means that the text is read and transmitted from the

perspective of those in power, rather than the perspective of the powerless. On

Imperialism, Said writes, “Imperialism was the theory, colonialism the practice,

of changing the uselessly unoccupied territories of the world into useful new

versions of the European metropolitan society.”51 The belief that communities of

indigenous people could be seen as “uselessly unoccupied” was a justification for

the cultural ignorance with which the colonial project was undertaken. As

49 See Exodus 2:11-‐‑15 and Exodus 12-‐‑13 50 See Ezekiel 37, 47 and 4 51 Said, Edward W. Zionism from the Standpoint of Its Victims. (Social Text, no. 1. Duke University Press, 1979) p.28


140228645 27/05/2016

16

Europe now faces the biggest movement of people since World War Two,52

perhaps the western church will begin to realise the extent that it has read the

Biblical texts through the lens of colonial power?

Daniel L. Smith-‐‑Christopher explains,

Christian theology has been a theology of power, its modern apologists referring to this as ‘accepting responsibility’...this is represented pre-‐‑eminently in the willingness of Christians to accept the death of the ‘enemies’ of the political

system for which they have accepted responsibility.53

Smith-‐‑Christopher argues that it is not only possible to read the Biblical

texts from a different standpoint, but that an alternative reading might be more

faithful to the narratives as they were recorded. He writes,

It is our thesis that there is another Biblical paradigm that presents the world with a far more radically subversive theology of action than Exodus...Exodus is the road to nationalism and power. But there is another Biblical paradigm...It is a

religion of the landless, the faith of those who dwell in Babylon.54

He calls this paradigm a “theology of exile.”55 This is a theology formed

from the understanding that the ultimate home of the Christian community is

found not in a geographical location, but in the consummation of the Kingdom

rule and reign of God. In this reading, all human attempts to seize power and

control of others are “temptations...to artificially end exile before God ends our

52 Kingsley, Patrick (http://www.theguardian.com/world/commentisfree/2015/jan/03/arab-‐‑spring-‐‑migrant-‐‑wave-‐‑instability-‐‑war 03/01/2015)-‐‑ accessed 06/05/2016

53 Smith-‐‑Christopher, Daniel, L The Religion of the Landless: The Social Context of the Babylonian Exile, Wipf and Stock, Oregon 2015 p.204

54 Smith-‐‑Christopher, Religion, p.204 55 Smith-‐‑Christopher, Religion, p.206


140228645 27/05/2016

17

exile.”56 In developing his theology of exile, Smith-‐‑Christopher is at pains to point

out that he does not consider exile to be good, merely that it is a more accurate

account of the human condition than a theology of empire. Brueggemann shares

this perspective where he explains,

I wish... to tilt the metaphor of exile (towards)...the experienced anxiety of ‘deported’ people. My concern is not institutional but pastoral. The exiled Jews of the Old Testament were of course geographically displaced. More than that however, the exiles experienced a loss of the structured reliable world which gave them meaning and coherence, and they found themselves in a context where their most treasured and trusted symbols of faith were mocked,

trivialized or dismissed. Exile is not primarily geographical, but it is social, moral and cultural.57

The idea that the experience of exile is at the heart of the human

condition (as it is certainly at the heart of many Biblical texts) raises some

important questions for those of us living in the west who don’t usually identify

as ‘exiles’. It is interesting to explore how tensions between an empire/exile

state of mind can be seen at work in Western psychology. Developing Smith-‐‑

Christopher’s theology of exile beyond its original scope, I wonder whether there

is evidence of a desire to repress the memory of exile at work in western

consciousness? Peter I. Rose develops the concept that we are all exiles. He

writes,

Banished, uprooted, or displaced, the princes (and the paupers) of exile are hardly a modern phenomenon. They are found throughout history. We know of them from biblical texts that tell of the Exodus from Egypt...The condition of

"homelessness" is limited to no time or group of exiles. It is a general condition.58

56 Smith-‐‑Christopher, Religion, p.207 57 Brueggemann, Walter Cadences of Home: Preaching Among Exiles, (Westminster, John Knox Press, 1997) p.2

58Peter I Rose Tempest-‐‑Tost: Exile, Ethnicity, and the Politics of Rescue (Sociological Forum, Vol. 8, No. 1 Mar, 1993), pp. 5-‐‑24 p.9


140228645 27/05/2016

18

The current refugee crisis has seen much rhetoric about whether Europe

can cope with the huge numbers of refugees seeking a new life within her

lands.59 But Europeans must ask themselves whether a preoccupation with the

safeguarding of Europe’s borders is a mechanism to repress the knowledge that

their own national security and sense of power is a myth? Westerners would like

to believe that they are somehow insulated from the inhuman ravages of war and

desperation that people on the other side of the world endure, that it couldn’t

possibly happen here, that ‘we’ are not like ‘them’.

In his work on ‘borders’ and how they operate culturally. Matthew Carr

writes, “Borders are not just political boundaries or lines on a map; they are also

an expression of the fears, phobias and expectations of the societies that enforce

them.”60 This underscores the way that western people have relied upon

geographical boundaries in order to prevent personal engagement with the

suffering of people who have been displaced from their homelands. But since the

beginning of 2015, when the refugee crisis has been widely reported in the

media, it has been impossible for Europe to pretend that there isn’t a problem.

Public reactions have ranged from the vitriol of Katie Hopkins61 to the

“dehumanising” comments of David Cameron62 to the responses seen after the

59 O’ Grady, Siobhan (http://foreignpolicy.com/2015/11/05/the-‐‑eu-‐‑is-‐‑overwhelmed-‐‑by-‐‑refugees-‐‑who-‐‑survive-‐‑and-‐‑those-‐‑who-‐‑dont/ ) accessed 07/05/2016 60 Carr, Matthew Fortress Europe – Inside the War Against Immigration, C. Hurst & Co. London, 2015 p.6 61Hopkins, Katie (http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/suncolumnists/katiehopkins/6414865/Katie-‐‑Hopkins-‐‑I-‐‑would-‐‑use-‐‑gunships-‐‑to-‐‑stop-‐‑migrants.html) accessed 06/05/2016 62See video file http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-‐‑politics-‐‑33714282 accessed 06/05/2016


140228645 27/05/2016

19

death of Aylan Kurdi. Displaying much of the “social psychopathy” described by

Alibhai-‐‑Brown. The people of Europe are conflicted.

Carr cites the work of American political scientist, Peter Andreas, who

talks about the concept of “rebordering”.63 In this process, the world of online

interactions, finance, entertainment and franchises become unbordered, whilst

“governments reinforce their national frontiers”64 This schizoid approach to

cultural identity must force some searching moral questions. Can western

governments legitimately invade nations, import western products and media,

impose our western cultural narrative upon oriental history and not help those

who subsequently seek asylum at our shores? As Carr states,

All this raises crucial questions about human rights and global inequality, about security, migration and the obligations of governments to refugees and non-‐‑citizens in a century that is likely to be dominated by new global mobility.65

In 1883, also a time of increasing global mobility, American poet Emma

Lazarus wrote a poem “The New Colossus” that would be inscribed on the base

of the Statue of Liberty. In this work, the statue is juxtaposed with the Colossus

of Rhodes, and is named “Mother of Exiles.” Lazarus writes,

Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-‐‑tost to me,

I lift my lamp beside the golden door!66

63 Carr, Fortress, p.12 64 Carr, Fortress, p.12 65 Carr, Fortress, p.7 66 Lazarus, Emma The New Colossus (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_New_Colossus) accessed 06/05/2016


140228645 27/05/2016

20

This poem demonstrates the early hope that the United States would

provide safe-‐‑refuge for displaced people. Nevertheless, current news coverage in

the US and around the world can be filled with “missed opportunities, hate speech

and sensationalism” 67 , Peter Rose writes that the relationships between

displaced people and their host nations has never been simple. He explains,

The historical record shows that, too often, wariness has been more prevalent than acceptance, that far more barriers have been erected to prevent entry than bridges laid down to enhance it. Fear of the stranger seems a more common

sentiment than compassion68

Jewish scholarship is keen to point out that good relationships with

foreign people groups are strongly encouraged in the Hebrew Bible. Rabbi

Jonathan Sacks writes,

The Jewish sages noted that on only one occasion does the Hebrew Bible command us to love our neighbour, but in thirty-‐‑seven places it commands us to

love the stranger.69

This is a complex position for people in the west to occupy; caught in the

crossfire between a human, emotional compassionate response to the refugee

crisis demonstrated in reactions to the images of Aylan Kurdi, the western

cultural history of Imperialism and resultant fractures in international trust. The

“double sense of impotence and responsibility” described by Aulich earlier really

comes into play here, as many people want to respond to inhuman suffering with

compassion but realise that European political hegemony is part of the problem.

67Greenslade, Roy (http://www.theguardian.com/media/greenslade/2015/dec/17/where-‐‑media-‐‑fails-‐‑on-‐‑the-‐‑reporting-‐‑of-‐‑migrants-‐‑and-‐‑refugees ) accessed 06/05/2016 68 Rose, Tempest, p.13 69 Sacks, quoted in Strine, Bible, p.6


140228645 27/05/2016

21

Said suggests that rigorous academic critique is an important mechanism to

disempower the apparatus of imperialism. He explains,

For the ideological-‐‑policy sciences are not mere academic provinces: they effectively determine interests, they produce policy for all the areas of human experience, and above all they are actively concerned with power. The critic's relationship with them must therefore be forceful, since only by exposing them, by upsetting their smiling, well-‐‑satisfied faces, by overturning and revealing the violence of their seemingly "scientific" premises, can they be defeated...Thus to be interested in Middle East studies, or "Orientalism" ...is to try to take on not merely an ivory-‐‑towered speciality but a powerful apparatus at work on behalf of the specific U.S. goals of political and economic domination (for which the academic euphemism is "understanding") of a weaker, hegemonically inferior

culture, region, people.70

Said is explaining that an imperialist narrative must be deconstructed and

critiqued in order to enable people to think and act in new ways. He explains, “In

order to break down the iron circle of inhumanity we must see how it was

forged, and there it is ideas and culture itself that play the major role.”71

The importance of understanding our cultural history is vital. For Said,

the discipline of Philology enabled him to track the development of Orientalism

through literary history. In this process, dominant discourses that have shaped

culture and ideology can be clearly identified and critiqued. James Clifford

reflects on this where he writes,

“It becomes difficult to escape the bleak though rigorous conclusion that all human expression is ultimately determined by cultural ‘archives’ and that global

truth must be the result of a battle of ‘discursive formations’ in which the strongest prevails.72

70 Said, Zionism, p.16 71 Said, Zionism, p.23 72 Clifford, James The Predicament of Culture – Twentieth Century Ethnography, Literature and Art, (Harvard University Press, 1988) p.262


140228645 27/05/2016

22

Showing how ‘discursive formations’ are part of the shaping and

dominance of cultures is critical in the process of redressing the balance of

power. By demonstrating that the discursive formations that have founded

western political and self-‐‑understanding have been dependent on a process of

ignoring, silencing or oppressing others, power imbalances can begin to be

addressed and re-‐‑workings of dominant cultural narratives can be introduced.

This approach is relevant for the field of Biblical studies too. Hispanic

Biblical scholar, Jean-‐‑Pierre Ruiz is specifically focussing on reading the Biblical

texts with “a hermeneutics of otherness and engagement.”73 He points out that

recent Biblical Scholarship has sought to develop postcolonial hermeneutics,

which enables a reader to engage with the Biblical texts by:

Scrutinizing and exposing colonial domination and power as these are embodied in Biblical texts and in interpretations, and as searching for alternative

hermeneutics while thus overturning and dismantling colonial perspectives.74

A postcolonial hermeneutic could enable contemporary Biblical scholars

to re-‐‑engage with the many Biblical narratives that describe the plight of

displaced people. For the western church to begin to read Biblical texts in this

way would have a profound impact upon the church’s contribution to western

political and cultural discourses. Brueggemann is keen to show that in the

Biblical narratives of exiled people, great insights can be found into both human

nature and the nature of faith. He writes,

Exile did not lead Jews in the Old Testament to abandon faith or to settle for abdicating despair, nor to retreat to privatistic religion. On the contrary, exile

73 Fernando F. Segovia in Ruiz, Jean Pierre, Readings From the Edges – The Bible and People on the Move, (Orbis books, Maryknoll, 2011) p.6 74 R.S. Sugirtharajah in Ruiz, The Bible, p.86


140228645 27/05/2016

23

evoked the most brilliant literature and the most daring theological articulation in the Old Testament.75

By reading Biblical texts with a postcolonial hermeneutic, the western

church could enter the current debate on the refugee crisis offering a fresh

perspective. The strategy would enable the church to take a lead in articulating

the compassion many people felt upon seeing the pictures of Aylan Kurdi. A

letter sent to David Cameron by 84 UK bishops on 10th September 2015, and

shared with the press on 18th October 2015 after the government failed to

respond, calls for a compassionate and practical response to the crisis.76 This is a

great start, but the task of undoing hundreds of years of Biblical interpretation

from an imperialist perspective is no small thing. It does not just require a

different approach to the Biblical texts; it also requires a radically reformed self-‐‑

understanding too. As Said explains, to be exiled is a double-‐‑edged sword, where

the pain of disconnection meets up with the untold possibilities of as-‐‑yet

unknown lands. Is the western church brave enough to explore this territory?

Said explains,

The exile knows that in a secular and contingent world, homes are always provisional. Borders and barriers, which enclose us within the safety of familiar

territory can also become prisons...Exiles cross borders, break barriers of thought and experience.77

75 Brueggemann, Cadences, p.3 76 See http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/oct/17/bishops-‐‑letter-‐‑to-‐‑cameron-‐‑refugee-‐‑crisis accessed 07/05/2016

77 Said, E. The Mind of Winter, Reflections on Life in Exile, Granta Books, 2013 p.49


140228645 27/05/2016

24

Perhaps the western church can respond with integrity to the refugee

crisis by combining a theology of exile with a postcolonial hermeneutic? This

would mean a radical reconfiguring of individual and corporate theological self-‐‑

understanding, alongside an engagement with the biblical texts from the

perspective of those who have been oppressed by the mechanisms of empire.

The images of Aylan Kurdi have faced many westerners with an

intractable problem – whilst it is possible to experience a gut-‐‑wrenchingly

emotional response to pictures of one child, news media shows that suffering of

this kind is occurring daily on a colossal scale to many thousands of

individuals.78 The political back-‐‑stories are complex and multi-‐‑faceted, and

whilst national identity makes those in the west complicit in the suffering of

others at a political level, it is difficult for individuals to feel able to bring any

significant or lasting relief for those who suffer. Now, for the first time in history,

the round-‐‑the-‐‑clock presence of social media means that people can see the

suffering of others in real time reported to personal hand-‐‑held devices not just

from the perspective of corporate multi-‐‑national news agencies with political

agendas, but from the perspective of the actual people who are suffering and

those who are there alongside them. Prior to the advent of social media, it was

easier to manage the pretence that the decisions of western governments did not

cause others to suffer. Now, to avoid it requires an active choice not to look.

In this context, the decision to read Biblical texts with a postcolonial

hermeneutic offers both challenge and new possibilities. Sugirtharajah, writes, 78 Murphy, Hannah “The Scale of Europe’s Refugee Crisis” (Financial Times, 07/03/2016 http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/5b87941a-‐‑e222-‐‑11e5-‐‑8d9b-‐‑e88a2a889797.html#axzz49sCqF9e1) accessed 26/05/2016


140228645 27/05/2016

25

One of the significant aspects of postcolonialism is its theoretical and intellectual Catholicism. It thrives in inclusiveness, and it is attracted to all kinds of tools and disciplinary fields, as long as they probe injustices, produce new knowledge, which problematizes well-‐‑entrenched positions and enhances the lives of the

marginalized.79

As the world begins to deal with the new normal of global migration,80 it

is simply not possible for those in the west to bury their heads in the sand and

hope that those who have experienced the injustices of imperialism will forget

their sufferings. There is a better path, of recognising that the west has long

ignored the voices of those who paid the price for its colonial endeavours, but

maybe through an emerging process of shared dialogue and common humanity,

we will see that relationships can be rebuilt. Speaking of the process of

developing a postcolonial hermeneutic, Sugirtharajah explains,

It will bring to the fore how the invaded, often caricatured as abused victims or grateful beneficiaries, transcended these images and wrested interpretation from the invaders, starting a process of self-‐‑discovery, approbation and

subversion.81

Perhaps those seeking to engage with the Biblical texts in order to shape

their response to the plight of displaced people will be helped by the reminder

that,

Neither divergent experiences nor national and communal borders supplant the call to show compassion and to love people. Borders may or may not be permeable to people, but the command to love always traverses them.82

79 Sugirtharajah, R. S. The Bible and the Third World; Precolonial, Colonial and Postcolonial encounters, Cambridge University Press, 2001 p.258 80 See Carr, Fortress, p.7 81 Sugirtharajah, The Bible, p.256 82 Strine, Bible, p.8


140228645 27/05/2016

26

London has recently elected its first Muslim mayor, despite a campaign

with racist overtones conducted by the Conservative establishment and press.83

Whilst the debate around an appropriate European response to the ever-‐‑

deepening refugee crisis will continue, Owen Jones responds to Khan’s win and

the campaign rhetoric where he says, “This time, a campaign of fear met its

nemesis: hope.”84

The interface between hope and fear is a fragile place, but it is here that

transformation begins. Perhaps the language of ‘grass-‐‑roots’ movements, can be

a helpful metaphor in order to visualize new shoots of growth, the hope that is so

necessary to break through the cracked and parched ground of centuries’

mistrust and misunderstanding. If Aylan Kurdi’s death has taught the west

anything, it has demonstrated that compassion in many westerners is alive and

well, even if it is quickly obscured by impotence or confusion when faced with

the multiple discourses that prevail in the politics of borders. Carr reflects that,

The unprecedented public empathy with refugees in the summer of 2015 is evidence of another possible Europe that is a truer and more hopeful reflection

of the original principles on which the union was founded.85

I conclude that Aylan Kurdi’s tragic death has shown that compassion

opens a floodgate through which reasoned political and cultural discourse must

follow, if true change is to be brought. The images of this little boy speak

challenge to an empire state of mind, because they reminded those in the west 83 O’ Sullivan, Feargus, “The Ugly Racial Politics of London’s Mayoral Campaign” (05/05/2016 http://www.citylab.com/politics/2016/05/the-‐‑ugly-‐‑racial-‐‑politics-‐‑of-‐‑londons-‐‑mayoral-‐‑campaign/481413/) accessed 26/05/2016 84 Jones, Owen, “Forgive and Forget Zac Goldsmith’s Racist Campaign? No Chance!”(07/05/2016http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/may/07/zac-‐‑goldsmith-‐‑racist-‐‑campaign-‐‑london )accessed 07/05/2016 85 Carr, Fortress, p.287


140228645 27/05/2016

27

that we are first and foremost human. Empires are built on the premise that

those displaced in their construction are somehow sub-‐‑human and inferior.

When we cease to believe this, we cannot continue to build empires, but must

instead recognize our responsibility as fellow exiles to create safe homes for all.

5868 words


140228645 27/05/2016

28

Bibliography

Books:

Ansary, Tamim, Destiny Disrupted: A History of the World through Islamic Eyes, Paperback ed. (New York, Public Affairs, 2010)

Bourdieu, Pierre, Distinction: a social critique of the judgement of taste (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1986) <http://www.123library.org/book_details/?id=96490> [accessed 5 May 2016]

Brueggemann, Walter, Cadences of Home: Preaching among Exiles (Louisville, Ky.: Westminster John Knox Press, 1997)

Buechner, Frederick, The Longing for Home Reflections at Midlife (HarperCollins e-‐‑Books, 2014) <http://rbdigital.oneclickdigital.com> [accessed 6 May 2016]

Carr, Matthew, Fortress Europe: Inside the War against Immigration, Updated paperback ed. (London: Hurst, 2015)

Carroll R., M. Daniel, Christians at the Border: Immigration, the Church, and the Bible (Grand Rapids, Mich: Baker Academic, 2008)

Clifford, James, The Predicament of Culture: Twentieth-‐‑Century Ethnography, Literature, and Art (Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press, 1988)

Dillenberger, Jane, and Diane Apostolos-‐‑Cappadona, Image and Spirit in Sacred and Secular Art (New York: Crossroad, 1990)

Maaka, Roger, and Chris Andersen, eds., The Indigenous Experience: Global Perspectives (Toronto: Canadian Scholars’ Press, 2006)

Míguez, Néstor Oscar, Joerg Rieger, and Jung Mo Sung, Beyond the Spirit of Empire: Theology and Politics in a New Key (London: SCM Press, 2009)

Ruiz, Jean-‐‑Pierre, Readings from the Edges: The Bible and People on the Move, Studies in Latino/a Catholicism (Maryknoll, N.Y: Orbis Books, 2011)

Said, Edward W., Culture and Imperialism (London: Vintage, 1994) -‐‑-‐‑-‐‑-‐‑, The Mind of Winter: Reflections on Life in Exile and Other Essays (Granta Books,

2013) -‐‑-‐‑-‐‑-‐‑, Orientalism, Penguin Classics, Repr. with a new preface (London: Penguin Books,

2003) Smith-‐‑Christopher, Daniel L, and Katherine Southwood, The Religion of the Landless:

The Social Context of the Babylonian Exile, 2015 Sugirtharajah, R.S., The Bible and the Third Word -‐‑ Precolonial, Colonial and

Postcolonial Encounters (Cambridge University Press, 2001) Journal Articles: El-‐‑Enany, Nadine, ‘Aylan Kurdi: The Human Refugee’, Law and Critique, 27 (2016),

13–15 Forgiarini M, Gallucci M, Maravita A., ‘Racism and the Empathy for Pain on Our Skin.’,

Frontiers in Psychology, 108 (2011)


140228645 27/05/2016

29

Rose, Peter I. ‘Tempest Tost: Exile, Ethnicity and the Politics of Rescue’, Sociological Forum, 8 (1993)

Strine, Casey ‘What does the Bible say about Migration?’ (An as yet unpublished paper for the Bible Society) accessed via the author, 14/04/2016

Said, Edward W. ‘Zionism from the Standpoint of Its Victims’, Social Text, 1 (1979) Stubley, Joanne ‘Mourning and Migration’, Psychodynamic Practice, 15 (2009), 113–2

Websites: Alibhai-‐‑Brown, Yasmin, “So David Cameron, is this Dead Syrian Child one of the

Swarm of Migrants you Fear so much?” (The I, 02/09/2015 http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/so-‐‑david-‐‑cameron-‐‑is-‐‑this-‐‑dead-‐‑syrian-‐‑child-‐‑one-‐‑of-‐‑the-‐‑swarm-‐‑of-‐‑migrants-‐‑you-‐‑fear-‐‑so-‐‑much-‐‑10483298.html) accessed 07/05/2016

Boyle, Frankie, “Britain Clings to its Bombing Addiction with the Weary Rationale of a Junkie” (The Guardian, 20/10/2015 http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/oct/20/britain-‐‑clings-‐‑bombing-‐‑addiction-‐‑weary-‐‑rationale-‐‑junkie-‐‑frankie-‐‑boyle) accessed 07/05/2016

Greenslade, Roy “Will the Image of a Lifeless Boy on the Beach Change the Refugee Debate?” (The Guardian, 03/09/2015 http://www.theguardian.com/media/greenslade/2015/sep/03/will-‐‑the-‐‑image-‐‑of-‐‑a-‐‑lifeless-‐‑boy-‐‑on-‐‑a-‐‑beach-‐‑change-‐‑the-‐‑refugee-‐‑debate) accessed 07/05/2016 -‐‑-‐‑-‐‑, “Where Media Fails on the Reporting of Migrants and Refugees, (The Guardian, 17/12/2015 http://www.theguardian.com/media/greenslade/2015/dec/17/where-‐‑media-‐‑fails-‐‑on-‐‑the-‐‑reporting-‐‑of-‐‑migrants-‐‑and-‐‑refugees) accessed 06/05/2016

Heine, Jan-‐‑Jaap et al. “Engagement of Tragedy on Social Media” (https://wiki.digitalmethods.net/Dmi/WinterSchool2016EngagementWithTragedySocialMedia) accessed 04/05/2015

Hopkins, Katie ‘Rescue Boats? I’d use Gunships to Stop Migrants!’ (The Sun, 17/04/2015 http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/suncolumnists/katiehopkins/6414865/Katie-‐‑Hopkins-‐‑I-‐‑would-‐‑use-‐‑gunships-‐‑to-‐‑stop-‐‑migrants.html) accessed 06/05/2016

Jones, Owen, “Forgive and Forget Zac Goldsmith’s Racist Campaign? No Chance!”(07/05/2016http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/may/07/zac-‐‑goldsmith-‐‑racist-‐‑campaign-‐‑london ) accessed 07/05/2016

Kingsley, Patrick ‘Arab Spring Prompts Biggest Migrant Wave Since Second World War’ (The Guardian, 03/01/2015http://www.theguardian.com/world/commentisfree/2015/jan/03/arab-‐‑spring-‐‑migrant-‐‑wave-‐‑instability-‐‑war 03/01/2015)-‐‑ accessed 06/05/2016

Lazarus, Emma ‘The New Colossus’ (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_New_Colossus) accessed 06/05/2016

Murphy, Hannah “The Scale of Europe’s Refugee Crisis” (Financial Times, 07/03/2016 http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/5b87941a-‐‑e222-‐‑11e5-‐‑8d9b-‐‑e88a2a889797.html#axzz49sCqF9e1) accessed 26/05/2016


140228645 27/05/2016

30

O’ Grady, Siobhan ‘The EU is Overwhelmed by Refugees who Survive and Those who Don’t’(Foreign Policy, 05/11/2015 http://foreignpolicy.com/2015/11/05/the-‐‑eu-‐‑is-‐‑overwhelmed-‐‑by-‐‑refugees-‐‑who-‐‑survive-‐‑and-‐‑those-‐‑who-‐‑dont/)

O’ Sullivan, Feargus, “The Ugly Racial Politics of London’s Mayoral Campaign” (05/05/2016 http://www.citylab.com/politics/2016/05/the-‐‑ugly-‐‑racial-‐‑politics-‐‑of-‐‑londons-‐‑mayoral-‐‑campaign/481413/) accessed 26/05/2016

Pallister-‐‑Wilkins, P. ‘The Child as Totemic Image in Humanitarianism’ (https://societyandspace.files.wordpress.com/2015/10/invoking-‐‑the-‐‑child-‐‑as-‐‑totemic-‐‑image-‐‑pallister-‐‑wilkins.pdf ) accessed 04/05/2015

Ruz, Camila ‘The Battle Over the Words used to Describe Migrants’ (BBC News Website, 28/08/2015 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-‐‑34061097 accessed 26/05/2016

Vis, F. & Goriunova, O. (Eds.) “The Iconic Image on Social Media: A Rapid Response to the Death of Aylan Kurdi” (Visual Social Media Lab, Sheffield University at http://visualsocialmedialab.org/projects/the-‐‑iconic-‐‑image-‐‑on-‐‑social-‐‑media) accessed 04/04/2016

Weaver, Matthew ‘Refugee Crisis What you can do to Help (The Guardian, 03/09/2015 http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/sep/03/refugee-‐‑crisis-‐‑what-‐‑can-‐‑you-‐‑do-‐‑to-‐‑help) accessed 04/05/2016

Aylan Kurdi: How a Single Image Transformed the Debate on Immigration (Author unknown, https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/news/nr/aylan-‐‑kurdi-‐‑social-‐‑media-‐‑report-‐‑1.533951) accessed 04/05/2016

For a non-‐‑exhaustive list of examples of the pieta as a trope in popular culture see http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/PietaPlagiarism accessed

For a Video file of David Cameron speaking on “Migrant swarms” http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-‐‑politics-‐‑33714282 accessed 06/05/2016

For a copy of the letter sent by 84 bishops to the Prime Minister http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/oct/17/bishops-‐‑letter-‐‑to-‐‑cameron-‐‑refugee-‐‑crisis accessed 07/05/2016 Images: Bored Panda article with 97 response images: http://www.boredpanda.com/syrian-‐‑boy-‐‑drowned-‐‑mediterranean-‐‑tragedy-‐‑artists-‐‑respond-‐‑aylan-‐‑kurdi/ accessed 04/05/2015 Aylan Kurdi in police officer’s arms: http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/603350/Turkish-‐‑police-‐‑officer-‐‑who-‐‑found-‐‑tragic-‐‑Aylan-‐‑prayed-‐‑that-‐‑he-‐‑was-‐‑still-‐‑alive image accessed 05/05/2016 Michaelangelo’s Pieta: http://www.italianrenaissance.org/michelangelos-‐‑pieta/ image accessed 05/05/2016 Image of Aylan Kurdi as pieta: http://zegag.fr/1950-‐‑aylan-‐‑kurdi-‐‑le-‐‑petit-‐‑syrien-‐‑noye-‐‑24-‐‑artistes-‐‑lui-‐‑rendent-‐‑hommage image accessed 05/05/2016


140228645 27/05/2016

31

seeingaylankurdi!throughwesterneyes:! how!this!image!of ... ·...

Documents