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

本研究探讨了塞拉利昂（1992 - 2001年）和利比里亚（1989 - 2003年）内战中的青年战斗人员如何与当地和视觉文化进行接触，以产生图像，表明他们在直接和更大的环境中的理解。目前关于西非视觉文化和战争的学术研究倾向于关注全球的特定元素，例如嘻哈音乐和电影偶像，或者优先考虑当地的各个方面，包括魔法。目前还没有系统地分析青年战斗人员使用哪些视觉文化，并考虑到地方和全球如何互动。借由目前尚未被探索的摄影表现概念，本文不仅探讨全球与地方的碰撞与纠缠，也探讨青年景、战争景与媒介景的协商。通过利用英国摄影师Tim Hetherington的档案和其他摄影师的作品，并将其与实地采访相结合，它进一步加深了目前对反馈回路的理解，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.