Abstract:
This study is concerned with understanding the barriers to empathy in the
context of humanitarian imagery (shock effect, positive images, and digital
storytelling). The research questions ask: how can digital storytelling campaigns for
refugees be designed to elicit empathy from a distant audience, while ethically
representing the refugees and their stories? What platforms and mediums are most
conducive to this? This study draws from literature in psychology and humanitarian
communication, news publications, and 7 primary source interviews to analyze 5
individual humanitarian photos, and 7 case studies of digital storytelling campaigns
under 3 format categories (short film, photo series, and web documentary). The
implementation of narrative devices in digital storytelling generates evocative
campaigns intended to raise awareness. Although awareness and emotional response do
not actually solve the root of the problem, the objective of this study is to consider the
ethics behind refugee imagery and storytelling and better understand what about the
way a refugee's narrative is shared evokes empathy from a distant audience and
ultimately increases the viewer's motivation to act.
Description:
72 pages. A thesis presented to the Department of International Studies and the Clark Honors College of the University of Oregon in partial fulfillment of the requirements for degree of Bachelor of Arts, Spring 2018.