Sovereignty and Death: Post-mortem Visual Representations in Turkey and Russia’s Media

• Published in: Millennium Vol. 49; no. 2; pp. 224 - 247
• Main Authors: Akin, Cihan Erdost, Dufalla, Jacqueline
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London, England SAGE Publications 01.01.2021; Sage Publications Ltd
• Subjects: Case studies; Death & dying; Mass media images; Private sphere; Representation; Sovereignty; Visibility; Visual representation; études visuelles; soberanía; visual studies; sovereignty; post mortem; representations; post-mortem; souveraineté; estudios visuales
• DOI: 10.1177/03058298211031995
• ISSN: 0305-8298

This article assesses the politics of post-mortem visual representation in media. Studying different representation of death in Turkey and Russia, it explores the intersection of visual images, death, and sovereignty. The existing studies have established that dead bodies are pushed to the private sphere and rendered invisible in media representation. The case studies suggest we should not only focus on the corporeal visibility of the dead body but also on the representation of identity markers, such as the person’s face and associated symbols. On the other hand, some of the bodies are treated as objects; they are rendered invisible as nameless and faceless figures. Building on Agamben, this article suggests that post-mortem representation produces biologically dead subjects whose political lives are worthy of saving, those worth sacrificing, and the bare dead. Therefore, sovereignty resides not only in deciding the value of life but also of the dead.