title: Icons of Zimbabwe’s Crisis and their Interpretation by European Union Officials
Creators: name: Moyo, Charles
Publisher: name: University of Bayreuth
Year: 2021
Subjects: subject: Iconic Pictures
subject: Zimbabwe Crisis
subject: EU
subject: National Image
subject: 070
subject: 320

description: This study focused on how EU officials interpret iconic pictures depicting Zimbabwe’s Crisis, especially in light of the country’s national image and economic dynamics. Generally, the study centred on the respondents’ feelings, memories, descriptions and remarks about the above-mentioned pictures. Specifically, the study explored the respondents’ remarks about the pictures in question vis-à-vis Zimbabwe’s national image and economic trajectory. This study was motivated by the fact that, despite the existence of numerous pictures depicting Zimbabwe’s political and economic predicament, studies focusing on such pictorial material remain extremely scant. Instead, there is a widespread tendency by scholars to focus on the verbal, rhetorical and statistical narrative of Zimbabwe’s Crisis at the expense of its pictorial dimension. Such a tendency has relegated the pictures in question to the periphery, yet they could augment the Zimbabwe Crisis debate. Therefore, this study sought to bridge such a scholarship lacuna by delving on Zimbabwe’s Crisis from a visual-cultural perspective in general, and from a pictorial point of view, in particular. Studying the afore-mentioned pictures dovetails with the theoretical discourse of image science/Bildwissenschaft and iconology which underpin this study. The data collection exercise for this study was twofold: (1) collection of pictures, and; (2) data collection through interviews. Accordingly, eight iconic (still) pictures and two moving pictures (videos) were collected from Aljazeera English, BBC, CNN and France 24’s online archives. Thereafter, 25 key informant interviews based on the same pictures were conducted with Members of the European Parliament (Brussels), officials from the European Commission (Brussels) and EU’s diplomatic post in Zimbabwe. Before the interviews, the researcher studied the pictures in question using Marotzki and Stoetzer’s (2006) model of pictorial analysis. This was done to understand the pictures from a “scientific” perspective and to subtly compare the results with those from the EU officials. The studying of the pictures using the above-mentioned model revealed their capacity to stir emotions, especially anger, fear, horror, sympathy and helplessness. It was also concluded that that the pictures in question projected symbols related to Marxism, police state, war, Zimbabwean culture and extreme suffering. Also, in the two videos studied; the ironic, artistic and aesthetic use of metapictures to portray violence and suffering stands out. After the analysis of the data collected through key informant interviews, the study established several findings and conclusions. In sync with the school of thought which advances the nexus between pictures and emotions, the study concluded that the pictures under study, evoked deep emotions and public outcry. The study also observed the dominance of the pictures in question over verbal and statistical narratives, particularly from an emotional and memorial point of view. Ironically, the study concluded that due to their viral nature and repeated broadcasting, the pictures under study lost their impact over time as their consumers became “insulated” from their emotive capabilities. Concerning the respondents’ remarks on the pictures under study, the analysis of the collected data revealed that, the pictures in question provoked state sponsored iconoclasm in Zimbabwe. Another conclusion emanating from what the respondents said about the pictures in question, indicated that the pictures under study led to the emergence of two antagonistic camps which can be described as; (1) the iconophobes and iconoclasts (represented by the state) and; (2) journalists who leaned towards the iconophilic and iconodules camp. The former group represent those who destroyed and suppressed images whereas the latter represent those who pictorially documented Zimbabwe’s Crisis and exposed its pictures to the outside world. Also, it was concluded that the state, through colossal propaganda, created a counter image, in an effort to counteract physical and metaphorical images about Zimbabwe in the international media. In addition, racial and gender bias in terms of pictorial representation of the victims by the international media houses in question, was also underlined. In addition, the study also established that the pictorial images that were studied represented the reality on the ground which somehow influenced the EU’s decision to impose “smart” sanctions, travel restrictions and investment warnings on Zimbabwe. Importantly, the study concluded that, apart from painting a gloom and grim image about Zimbabwe, the pictures under study also acted as a mirror which projected multiple and negative images ranging from racism, violence and hostility, lawlessness, failed state, to inflation and economic meltdown. Such a scenario was argued to be an antithesis to tourism and foreign direct investment. The study also observed that since the respondents interpreted the pictures from an institutional and authoritative position, they therefore “read” the pictures from a “straitjacket” or “blinkered” point of view, which most likely blurred their interpretation. Despite different ideological and political affiliations, there were no significant variations in the way Members of the European Parliament (Brussels), officials from the European Commission (Brussels) and EU Delegation to Zimbabwe (Harare) interpreted the pictures under study. In line with the respondents’ remarks vis-à-vis the pictures selected for this study, pitfalls associated with pictures were highlighted. In the same wavelength, it was pointed out that technological advancement has exposed pictures to manipulation or “photoshopping,” which ultimately affects their interpretation and perception by their consumers. Also, it was pointed out that pictures do not always portray the “full picture” of any given scenario since they are prone to the vices of subjectivity and selectivity. Selectivity, which leads to subjective perceptions, is a process whereby journalists select certain pictures for broadcasting at the expense of others, according to personal and institutional expediency. In terms of academic contribution, this study is one of the foremost to study pictures depicting Zimbabwe’s Crisis. It therefore represents an academic paradigm shift from the traditional study of the country’s crisis which is largely verbal, narrative and statistical in nature. Therefore, this study is directly the opposite of the traditional approach which tends to reduce the pictures in question to footnotes of the country’s crisis debate. Moreover, the study used image science as its theoretical yardstick, hence, its unique “scientific” contribution in that respect. From a political point of view, conclusions related to the nexus between and among pictures, Zimbabwe’s national image and economic trajectory could be of interest to policymakers, civic society, diplomats and political parties in Zimbabwe.