Tainted motion pictures, types of transnational harm: on the ethics of engaging with colonial images

Focusing on films related to the former British colony of Kenya, this article argues that colonial images are tainted by various transnational harms. This ontological claim is based on the images’ deep history, which is that of the colonial context. An attempt is made to evoke the diversity of transnational harms associated with colonial images by pinpointing some specific types of transnational harm. Six such types are identified, each of these being illustrated through discussion of a specific example. As a result of their connection to harm, colonial images pose ethical challenges. These can be overcome if an appropriate stance is adopted when engaging with such images: the stance of presumed harm. Images focusing on the Mau Mau rebellion in Kenya are given special attention, the aim being to show that these images have a role to play in the struggle for (restorative) justice today. Critically important in this regard is the place of colonial images in an emerging counter-archival process aimed at challenging the ‘truths’ of the colonial archive. Deeply tainted by ethical de-merits arising from the context of their production, colonial images can achieve a measure of value through this process.