Student Theses and Dissertations
Date of Award
Spring 5-15-2026
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
B.A. with honors
Honors Designation
yes
Program of Study
Journalism
Language
English
First Advisor
Emily Johnson
Second Advisor
Angelo R. Dicuonzo
Third Advisor
Corey Mead
Abstract
The proliferation of photography, particularly war and poverty photography, has had massive implications for the level of vividness with which Americans are able to picture suffering beyond their doors. The mass atrocities that have occurred since the advent of photography – that is to say, the last 200 years – are so relentlessly circulated that they feel, sometimes, as an inevitable byproduct of human nature. It’s not surprising, then, that a lot of media theory and analysis reduce the dilemma of atrocity photographs to a psychological level. Do they numb us, or do they incite empathy? Are they a call to action? It is unsurprising that empathy in the face of violence and injustice is primarily associated with virtue. While this kind of thinking is indisputably important, I propose we should resist the idea that emotion itself is a self-evident moral response. The field of vision can predetermine whose suffering is recognized and empathized with, and whose isn’t. This is especially a pressing topic in the face of the current perils of photojournalism – significant layoffs and funding cuts threaten the stability of the field. It is hard to overstate the importance of photojournalism, and the current layoffs will surely have scary repercussions for the field. I find it important to mention that I am not making the case for abolishing war photography or atrocity photography in general, which has indisputably led to important indictments and reforms. I am also not making an evaluative statement on the photograph itself; the meaning of an image, after all, is not fixed within the visual elements themselves, but is constructed by the viewer in a synergy between the visual elements and cultural meanings. In my paper, I hope to use a double process of interpretation wherein photography and criticism illuminate each other and refine each other’s meanings.
Recommended Citation
Shi, Andrea, "War Photography & The Limits of Empathy" (2026). CUNY Academic Works.
https://academicworks.cuny.edu/bb_etds/229
Included in
Aesthetics Commons, Applied Ethics Commons, Communication Technology and New Media Commons, Critical and Cultural Studies Commons, Demography, Population, and Ecology Commons, Ethics and Political Philosophy Commons, Journalism Studies Commons, Mass Communication Commons, Photography Commons, Social Influence and Political Communication Commons, Social Media Commons
