Law Commons^™

Is There A Role For Conflict Photography In Conflict Resolution? It's Complicated, Joseph Clift

Pepperdine Dispute Resolution Law Journal

In this essay, I argue that conflict photography has an important and useful role in conflict understanding and resolution. While conflict images’ usefulness has been debated, I argue that its importance has not. I start with a description of conflict photography and then provide a short historical account of the camera and its use in documenting conflicts. Next, I discuss conflict resolution and present examples of conflict resolution strategies. I then present evidence of how conflict photography can be a useful tool to support some of those strategies. Afterwards, I discuss the complicated nature of conflict photography’s usefulness. I conclude …