The Optics of War: Seeing Civilians, Enacting Distinctions, and Visual Crises in International Law
Sensing Law, ed. by Sheryl Hamilton ed al. (Routledge, 2017)
Posted: 28 Mar 2017
Date Written: January 21, 2017
Abstract
How do NATO officers see civilians in Afghanistan? The paper focuses on the contested counts of casualties, especially civilian victims, after the 2009 Kunduz air strike. Drawing on studies of visualities in war, photography, and the social construction of the civilian, the chapter argues that civilians are not simply 'seen' but produced through 'siting prisms' that include military visual technologies.
Keywords: war, visual technology, Afghanistan, civilian, combatant, war on terror, International Humanitarian Law, violence
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation
Wilke, Christiane, The Optics of War: Seeing Civilians, Enacting Distinctions, and Visual Crises in International Law (January 21, 2017). Sensing Law, ed. by Sheryl Hamilton ed al. (Routledge, 2017), Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2938630
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