From Aftermath to Peace: Reflections on a Photography of Peace

International Relations (IR) literature on the visual construction of the international does not systematically engage with the visualisation of peace. In this article, I make photographic discourses available to IR scholars interested in the visual construction of the international and invite IR scholars to substantialise these discourses based on their specialist knowledge on war, violence, conflict and peace. I engage with aftermath photography by challenging its almost exclusive focus on war and the legacy of violence. Furthermore, I engage with Fred Ritchin's notion of peace photography and Cynthia Weber's attempts at visualising peace. Problematising claims to universality, generalisability and causality, I emphasise that the relation between images and peace is episodic, not causal; that visions of peace, reflecting specific cultural configurations, cannot claim universal validity; and that peace photography has to move beyond aftermath photography's focus on the legacies of the past. Finally, I briefly look at the work of Joel Meyerowitz and Rineke Dijkstra, the one displaying aftermath as a beginning sustaining power, the other photographically accompanying a person's adaptation to a new, more peaceful environment.     

Hearts of Darkness: white women write race

Abstract

In an effort to popularise the gas stove, boost sales and minimize the genuine and perceived dangers of using this volatile domestic appliance, late Victorian gas managers and stove manufacturers employed female cookery teachers to perform public demonstrations at trade exhibitions throughout the country. Eventually, these women comprised a special department of gas sales, calling directly on customers in their homes to offer personal instruction in the proper use and care of gas stoves. Part social workers, part salesgirls, the ‘lady demons’, short for lady demonstrators, moved between the traditionally gendered separate spheres of work and home, consciously constructing a professional image that reconciled the social tensions of this new occupation. They offer an early example of women's entrance into the corporate business world, the feminisation of consumption, and the combination of customer service with social welfare.     

Confrontation and co‐operation in the Indian Ocean

The end of the Cold War has created new dangers and opportunities. The formation of an Indian Ocean Rim trading bloc has the potential to benefit some of the poorest people in the world. Regional maritime co‐operation could provide the catalyst for alleviating poverty on the Indian Ocean Rim by giving a spurt to incomes and employment from the seas.     

A test of the escape from the persistence of backwardness

A model was constructed and estimated for the Japanese economy from 1872 to 1937. Although the model is limited in scope due to limited data availability, it is capable of testing the escape from the trap hypothesis of which Japan is a popular candidate. An examination of the basic difference equation in all periods indicated that Japan did escape the trap during the period 1873–74. Care should be taken in evaluating the evidence. Clearly, the trap is not verified within the range of the data. Consequently, what appears to be evidence of an escape from the trap is suspicious. An economy could tend to move away from an unstable equilibrium level of per capita income without moving toward a low level stable equilibrium level of per capita income when the rate of change in per capita income is negative. But the evidence does support a turning point in Japan's efforts to develop. After 1873–74 Japan was able to achieve a sustained rise in per capita income. The results of this study identify an escape from a persistence of backwardness in terms of per capita income regardless of whether or not that escape was one from a low level equilibrium trap.