Everyday visuality and risk management: Representing (in)security in UN peacekeeping

Abstract

Visuality is a central aspect of everyday security governance. In the recent visual turn in International Relations, however, the more mundane and routine visualities of security have been widely neglected. To address this gap, this article proposes a framework for analyzing the messages of security and risk conveyed by different modes of visual representations, ranging from press photos and educational images to outwardly appearances. Taking the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) as an example, it shows that everyday visual representations reflect and contribute to security risk management in four ways: (1) They assist in the construction of self and other identities with regard to security, (2) they help to identify potential vulnerabilities, (3) they are used to educate people how to detect, assess, and behave in risky situations, and (4) they are employed to deter violent attacks. KEYWORDS Visual; everyday; risk; UN; peacekeeping Visuality is a central aspect of everyday practices of security governance, ranging from color-coded terrorism-risk scales to the outwardly appearance of peacekeeping operations. In the recent "visual turn" in International Relations, however, such mundane and routine visualities have been largely neglected in favor of a focus on visual spectacles and shocking images (Heck & Schlag, 2012, pp. 892-894). This article helps to address this gap by proposing a framework for analyzing the messages of security and risk conveyed by different modes of everyday visual representation in contemporary security risk management. It suggests that visual images and appearances are implicated in security management in four main ways: (1) They assist in the construction of self and other identities with regard to security, (2) they help to identify potential vulnerabilities, (3) they are

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