Do the Photos Tell it All? Representing Torture in the Images from Abu Ghraib

Authors

  • Katrin Dauenhauer

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5283/copas.116

Abstract

In 2004, pictures of U.S. military personnel abusing detainees of the Abu Ghraib prison came to public attention, triggering a new debate on torture. This essay examines the shock potential of the photographs from Abu Ghraib as well as the representability of pain. It argues that the role of photography in the Abu Ghraib torture scandal is a complex and complicated one, oscillating between becoming complicit in the torture and exposing it.

Author Biography

Katrin Dauenhauer

Katrin Dauenhauer, M.A., received her degree from Bonn University in 2005. She did graduate work in North American Studies, Political Science and Sociology in Bonn and at Georgetown University, Washington, DC. She is currently working on her doctoral thesis with a project on representations of torture.

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Published

2012-03-27

How to Cite

Dauenhauer, Katrin. “Do the Photos Tell It All? Representing Torture in the Images from Abu Ghraib”. Current Objectives of Postgraduate American Studies, vol. 10, Mar. 2012, doi:10.5283/copas.116.

Issue

Vol. 10 (2009)

Section

Articles

License

Creative Commons License

Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) 4.0 License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgment of the work’s authorship and initial publication in this journal.