R.M. (Rachel) McElroy White, PhD

NWO Open Competition XS grant (2024-2025) for the project:

Photographing torture: Cultures of violence and soldiers as witnesses during the Algerian War

During the Algerian War (1954-1962), torture was an institutionalized weapon of war and the subject of drafted soldiers’ personal photography. To date, studies that address such photographs have focused on their original usage as evidence of war crimes. Yet we must consider these photographs as non-neutral sources that reflect both military cultures of violence and soldier-photographers’ personal views, aims, and social-cultural milieus. As photography gains contemporary importance as “verifiable” proof of war crimes, it is vital to investigate how the intentions of soldier-photographers as participants in, or opponents of, violence shape the content and potential uses of war atrocity photographs.