The Individual, Auto/biography and History in South Africa

Moreover, in spite of her claims to operate in a “transcendental” manner, and to be
“beyond” politics, the Mother Teresa ‘style’ and timing showed “every sign of
instinctive genius”. She possessed, Hitchens argued, “an intuition about the need for her
message” and about the way it should be delivered. 41 Hitchens also drew attention to
public displays of piety and modesty, which “uncritical devotees” would have
understood as evidence of “utter holiness and devotion”, but which were rather
“obviously theatrical and calculated”. Mother Teresa’s purposeful humility required
“quite a high level of planning and calculation”, the genius of which was “to make it
look simple”. 42
In this biographical dispute over the narrative of Mother Teresa’s life, in a philosophical
sense, different phases in the history of documentary were at war with each other. The
earlier phase, represented in the official depictions of Mother Teresa’s work, was geared
towards exposing social problems, with an eye on reforming them, by arousing the
sympathy of middle class and metropolitan audiences. The later approach was more
thematic and politicised, aimed at conscious social exposés of shocking truths, and was
represented in the visual documentation work of photojournalism. This is what
Christopher Hitchens’ critique of Mother Teresa sought to achieve. Both approaches
sought to rely on modes of truth‐telling. 43 And the contested documentary claims on the
truth about Mother Teresa’s life and work in India was also a dispute over
representations of Indian society and its relations with the west.
The creation of Mother Teresa’s image has also been reflected upon in post‐Hitchens
reconsiderations. Writing from a more cautious (“unbiased and balanced”) position,
Anne Sebba noted the almost obligatory rite on the part of world leaders of visiting
Award for International Understanding (1972), the Angel of Charity Award (1972), the Templeton
Prize (1973), and the first Albert Schweitzer International Prize (1975). Interestingly, Mother Teresa
made use of the Nobel platform in 1979 to deliver a tirade against abortion.
41 Christopher Hitchens, The Missionary Position, p 86.
42 Matt Cherry, ‘An interview with Christopher Hitchens on Mother Teresa’.
43 See Abigail Solomon‐Godeau, Photography at the Dock: Essays on Photographic History, Institutions,
and Practices (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1997), Chapter 8.
63