Edited by Matteo Stocchetti and Karin Kukkonen
[Discourse Approaches to Politics, Society and Culture 44] 2011
► pp. 199–224
This chapter turns towards the aesthetics of contemporary celebrity humanitarian action and examines critically the imaginaries Bob Geldof’s and Bono’s representations open towards Africa. I argue that despite their intention to bring about economic changes for Africa, the spatio-temporality of their imaginaries repeat the colonial violence by elaborating on colonial imaginary. The chapter concludes that celebrity humanitarianism, as a form of cultural governance, is also of crucial importance to the study of international relations. Consequently, the intention of the chapter is to act as an invitation for future research on the relationship between imaginary violence and celebrity humanitarianism – and the global politics of this activity.