This came to my attention the other day. It's a flyer for an exhibition at the Imperial War Museum North (Manchester). The exhibition is entitled 'Shaped by War' and concerns the life and photojournalism of Don McCullin.

The blurb relating the main image reads 'Pictured front: a family of the Omo tribe with their prized possession, an AK-47 assault rifle in Ethiopia, 2002'.

There are problems with this caption and photo. Firstly, there is no such entity as the Omo tribe. It seems all of the tribal groups in the Lower Omo are being homogenised. The picture is actually of Kara people. Indeed I've been informed that this picture is taken from McCullen's book McCullen in Africa (where he labels the group Karo). Secondly, many could take issue with the idea that rifles are the 'prized possession' of the family. They are clearly important but their meaningfulness should not be overstated. Thirdly, in being used as the shot to encapsulate the exhibition the message is sent out that these people's lives are shaped by war. This does somewhat essentialise the situation. Conflict has been a modeller of society but no more so than the environment, transhumant lifestyles, zebu cattle, external agencies and so on. Oversimplification can be dangerous.