Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2012
Publication Title
Critical Studies in Media Communication
First Page
331
Last Page
347
DOI
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15295036.2011.645843
Abstract
This essay examines the reformulation of colonial ideologies in National Geographic Channel's Locked Up Abroad, a documentary program that chronicles the narratives of Westerner travelers incarcerated in foreign nations. An analysis of Locked Up Abroad evinces neocolonialism in contemporary media culture, including: the historic association between dark-skin and savagery, the backwardness of the non-Western world, and the Western imperative to civilize it. The program's documentary techniques and framing devises sustain an Otherizing gaze toward non-Western societies, and its portrayals elide a critical analysis of colonialism in its present forms. I advocate for neocolonial criticism to trace how NatGeo remains haunted by its own history in support of America's civilizing mission.
Rights
This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Critical Studies in Media Communication on 4-18-2012, available online: http://wwww.tandfonline.com/10.1080/15295036.2011.645843.
Recommended Citation
Kelly, Casey R., "Neocolonialism and the Global Prison in National Geographic's Locked Up Abroad" (2012). Scholarship and Professional Work - Communication. 95.
https://digitalcommons.butler.edu/ccom_papers/95
Included in
Critical and Cultural Studies Commons, Gender, Race, Sexuality, and Ethnicity in Communication Commons, Mass Communication Commons, Speech and Rhetorical Studies Commons
