Doctoral Dissertation Research: Analyzing Aid Documentation and its Impact on Public Policy in a Conflict Zone

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Under the supervision of Peter Little of Emory University, Aubrey Graham will explore how the photographic documentation produced by international aid agencies working in conflict zones relates to local understandings of conflict and humanitarian effort. International aid agencies number more than 25,000 worldwide; and the images they produce has profoundly influenced international public policy. Through novel methods that use photography, participant observation, and interviews, this project analyzes the connections and contrasts between humanitarian and local visual culture and practice in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) -- the site of both the deadliest conflict since WWII and one of the world's largest humanitarian efforts. In balancing local and aid agency perspectives through the comparison of local visual culture and humanitarian visual culture (photographs created for aid agencies) this project will produce data that shows how humanitarian photographic practices and processes impact local and international relationships. The unique mixed method approach of this project will enable it to make transformative contributions to the fields of visual anthropology and the anthropology of development and humanitarianism. In addition to educating a graduate student in anthropology, this project will also influence public policy efforts in the areas of conflict resolution, humanitarianism, and development practice.