Insert image here]: a reflection on the ethics of imagery in a critical pedagogy for the humanities

Abstract

Using the controversial image of Syrian toddler Alan Kurdi as its provocation, this paper reflects upon the ethics of images used in teaching in a time of high-volume image circulation via social media, as well as a time when debates about content and trigger warnings are starting to gain more traction in the Australian tertiary sector. It integrates personal reflection upon a variety of choices made by the author in teaching with a consideration of the related pedagogical and ethical issues, drawing particularly on theories of the pedagogy of discomfort and visual ethics. It is argued that the discursive space of trigger warnings per se remains problematic as this immediately places the students into a negative and possibly traumatic relationship with the material rather than empowering them to use their affective responses and experiences productively. Educators are instead encouraged to develop reflexive critical pedagogies that acknowledge the ethical relationship between student and teacher, while also still fulfilling the prosocial impetus of the humanistic education.