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

在埃默里大学的彼得·利特尔的指导下，奥布里·格雷厄姆将探讨在冲突地区工作的国际援助机构制作的摄影文献如何与当地人对冲突和人道主义努力的理解联系起来。国际援助机构在全世界有25000多个；它们所产生的图像深刻地影响了国际公共政策。通过摄影、参与式观察和访谈等新颖的方法，该项目分析了刚果民主共和国东部（DRC）的人道主义与当地视觉文化和实践之间的联系和对比——这里既是二战以来最致命的冲突的发生地，也是世界上最大的人道主义努力之一。通过比较当地视觉文化和人道主义视觉文化（为援助机构创作的照片），平衡当地和援助机构的观点，该项目将产生数据，显示人道主义摄影实践和过程如何影响当地和国际关系。该项目独特的混合方法将使其能够为视觉人类学和发展与人道主义人类学领域做出变革性的贡献。除了培养一名人类学研究生外，该项目还将影响解决冲突、人道主义和发展实践领域的公共政策努力。

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.