1 - Reframing Non-alignment

Summary

Drawing on primary sources and moving beyond traditional diplomatic history, this chapter approaches the Belgrade Conference of non-aligned states in an original way, informed by methods of cultural history of diplomacy. A black and white photograph showing presidents Sukarno of Indonesia and Tito of Yugoslavia, hosts of the 1955 Bandung and 1961 Belgrade Conference (events that defined the non-alignment), respectively, serves as a departure point for analysis. Essentially, the chapter asks, What can the image, created by a Yugoslav news agency photographer on the eve of the conference, tell us beyond ‘obvious’? The photograph shows the two statesmen in an open-roofed car in front of the Yugoslav parliament building, the conference venue; the motorcade is secured by uniformed guards on motorcycles, and is observed by citizens, standing still in the background. It allows us to imagine the conference as a piece of diplomatic theatre, with actors, stage, audience, and security. And it urges us to zoom out further to explore the context in which the event captured by the photographic lens took place.