Live-tweeting and distant suffering: Nicholas kristof as global savior

Leslie Barnes*

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    Abstract

    This essay interrogates Nicholas Kristof’s reporting on sex trafficking in Cambodia, examining the New York Times columnist’s narrative self-fashioning in the context of the neoimperialist rescue fantasies his writing perpetuates. It explores the intersections between Kristof’s writing and the various media he employs, and considers the effects of both on the audience he wishes to interpellate in the name of action. In his reporting, Kristof disseminates a set of truth claims about sex, work, and mobility; he presents himself as a global savior figure and encourages the “ironic” participation of his reader, who is moved less to take part in a cosmopolitan morality centered on justice for the Other than to identify with the savior and contemplate their own narcissistic performance of solidarity.
    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)147-164
    Number of pages18
    JournalHumanity: An International Journal of Human Rights, Humanitarianism, and Development
    Volume11
    Issue number2
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 1 Jun 2020

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