The influence of contemporary culture on young combatants in West Africa (1989-2003) explored through the archives of trans-media journalist Hethering

这项研究考察了塞拉利昂(1992-2001年)和利比里亚(1989-2003年)内战中的青年战斗人员与当地和视觉文化接触的方式，以产生表明他们对周围环境和更广泛环境的理解的图像。目前关于西非视觉文化和战争的学术倾向于要么关注全球的特定元素，例如嘻哈音乐和电影偶像，要么优先关注当地的各个方面，包括魔法实践。尚未对青年战斗人员利用哪些视觉文化进行系统分析，同时考虑到当地和全球可能如何互动。考虑到目前尚未探索的摄影表演概念，本文不仅探讨了全球与地方的碰撞和纠缠，而且还探讨了青年景观、战争景观和媒体景观的谈判。通过利用英国摄影师蒂姆·赫瑟林顿的档案和其他摄影师的作品，并将其与实地采访相结合，它加深了对反馈循环的当前理解，从而加深了我们对冲突中青年的理解。

This study examines the ways in which youth combatants in the civil wars of Sierra Leone (1992 - 2001) and Liberia (1989 - 2003) engaged with both local and visual cultures to produce the imagery which suggested their understanding in both their immediate and larger surroundings. Current scholarship on visual cultures and war in West Africa leans towards focusing on either a specific element of the global, for example hip hop music and film icons, or prioritises aspects of the local, including magical practises. There has yet to be a systematic analysis of which visual cultures are utilised by youth combatants with a consideration of how the local and the global may interact. By considering the currently unexplored notion of the photographic performance this thesis explores not only the collision and entanglement of global and local, but also the negotiation of youthscapes, warscapes and mediascapes. By utilising the archive of British photographer Tim Hetherington and the work of other photographers and combining this with fieldwork interviews, it furthers the current understanding of the feedback loop and as such our understanding of youth in conflict.