Picturing Blood Diamonds

Abstract

Abstract Diamonds traded on black markets for weapons used in civil war are known as ‘blood diamonds’. This article examines how blood diamonds have been constructed by images deployed in the ongoing contest over the meaning of these gems. On the one hand, corporations and governments transfigure rocks into gems through marketing and by defining the boundaries of a ‘licit’ trade. Meanwhile, NGOs and retailer discourse appeals to ethical consumerism, helping people feel good about ‘clean’ stones, but ironically encourages the existence of black markets by reproducing exclusionary ‘licit’ channels. Tracking the visual conversation between these parties reveals an interplay – and an unlikely ideological convergence – between state and non-state players who, only apparently at odds, advance parallel neoliberal agendas. Keywords: black marketdiamondsdiscourseneoliberalismSierra Leone