The Invisible Violence of Celebrity Humanitarianism: Soft Images and Hard Words in the Making and Unmaking of Africa
The Invisible Violence of Celebrity Humanitarianism: Soft Images and Hard Words in the Making and Unmaking of Africa
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名人人道主义的无形暴力：非洲的形成和毁灭中的软形象和硬言论
DOI：
10.2202/1935-6226.1072
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发表时间：
2009
影响因子：
--
通讯作者：
Riina Yrjölä
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Riina Yrjölä
通过他们在非洲消除极端贫困和可预防疾病的行动，爱尔兰音乐家罗伯特（鲍勃）盖尔多夫和波诺（保罗大卫休森）今天在人道主义世界中形成了一个可见的和着名的中心，作为政治活动家，“名人外交官”，“全球撒玛利亚人”，引用前世界银行行长保罗沃尔福威茨的话，“摇滚建立”（2006年11月13日）。他们当代呼吁“让非洲的贫困成为历史”的呼声被如此广泛地重复和普遍，以至于很少有人质疑这一人道主义行动本身的特殊性。事实上，尽管名人的人道主义越来越引人注目，但政治科学家们还没有对他们的表述和真相声明进行过研究。通过扩大政治的概念，包括名人的低政治，特别是他们的话语，实践，理想和世界结构，本文的目的是批判性地审视鲍勃·格尔多夫和波诺这两位最著名的代表非洲的西方发言人如何在他们的代表中不仅将非洲作为一个地方，而且作为世界体系中的服务目的。文章认为，虽然吉尔多夫和波诺确实推动了非洲的经济变革，但他们对非洲的想象和解释的时空性，通过（重新）将非洲作为一个特定的西方项目和召唤，精心制作了一个殖民想象。通过重复和传播人道主义的词汇，将其作为一种道德责任，与参与强权政治相结合，这些话语不仅有助于维持西方在非洲的霸权活动，而且有助于为现有的世界秩序构建共识，在这个秩序中，全球南方现在和现在仍然处于西方的从属地位。
Through their actions to eliminate extreme poverty and preventable diseases in Africa, Irish musicians Robert (Bob) Geldof and Bono (Paul David Hewson) today form a visible and celebrated centre in the world of humanitarianism as political activists,' celebrity diplomats,' global Samaritans,' men who, to quote former World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz, rock the establishment' (TIME 13.11.2006). Their contemporary calls to make poverty history' in Africa are so widely repeated and commonsensical that questions about the exceptionality of this humanitarian action itself rarely arise. In fact, despite the increasing visibility of celebrity humanitarianism, no research on their representations and truth-claims has been done among political scientists.By broadening the concept of the political to include the low' politics of celebrities, specifically their discourses, practices, ideals and world constructions, the aim of this article is to critically examine how Bob Geldof and Bono the two most visible and celebrated Western spokespersons acting on behalf of Africa constitute Africa' in their representations not only as a place, but also as serving purpose in the world system.The article argues that, while Geldof and Bono do push for economic changes for Africa, the spatio-temporality of their imaginaries and interpretations on Africa elaborate a colonial imaginary by (re)producing Africa as a specifically Western project and calling. By repeating and circulating the vocabulary of humanitarianism as a moral duty in combination with the engagement in power politics, these discourses not only serve a purpose in the maintenance of hegemonic Western activity in Africa, but are also instrumental in constructing consensus for the existing world order, where the global South is, and remains, in a subordinate position to the West.