Human rights advocates and political communicators have long used a “shame and blame” strategy to shape public opinion, affect policy or legal issues and steer public life. The tremendous impact of imagery in this media-saturated world is not in dispute, but how modern photography, film, Internet, YouTube and 24-hour news channels have changed human rights documentation and advocacy is ripe for discussion. In this participatory dialogue three presenters will trace the impact of imagery and media on public events and pose questions for small group discussions among those in attendance. A reception will follow the dialogue.

Featured Speakers

Thomas Keenan

Thomas Keenan is the Director of the Human Rights Project and Associate Professor of Comparative Literature at Bard College in New York. Keenan has written for the New York Times, Wired and other publications and is the author of Fables of Responsibility: Aberrations and Predicaments in the Ethics and Politics. He is on the advisory board of Journal of Human Rights and Scholars at Risk Network.

Trevor Paglen

Trevor Paglen is an artist, writer, and experimental geographer. He deliberately blurs the lines between social science, contemporary art, and a host of even more obscure disciplines to construct unfamiliar, yet meticulously researched ways to interpret the world around us. Paglen is the author of Torture Taxi: On the Trail of the CIA’s Rendition Flights and Blank Spots on the Map: The Dark Geography of the Pentagon's Secret World.

Edwin Okong’o

Edwin Okong'o is a journalist and commentator at New American Media. Okong'o, a UCB Journalism School graduate and Human Rights Center Fellow, is originally from Kenya. He produced “Obama Mania” for PBS FRONTLINE/World, writes about Africa and also performs as a stand-up comic.

This event is co-sponsored by the Townsend Center for the Humanities, Berkeley Center for New Media, Goldman School of Public Policy, RockRose Institute, and Fotovision.

**Please note that the Seaborg Room is not wheelchair accessible. Should you need access assistance, please click on 'Contact the Host'.