ANTHROPOLOGY OF HUMANITARIAN INTERVENTIONS
Academic Year 2022/2023 - Teacher: Mara BENADUSIExpected Learning Outcomes
- Understand from an actor-oriented perspective the historical transformations of the “humanitarian reason” under the pressures of war, forced displacement, disasters & climate change, economic and health crises;
- Familiarize with the deep lens of ethnography to examine case studies, intervention projects and policy documents from the viewpoints of those displaced and distressed, as well of those who intervene and intermediate in the disbursement of humanitarian aid;
- Critically discern the ways in which different actors in the humanitarian sector (e.g. INGOs, NGOs, Human Rights’ Activism organizations, etc.) identify global problems and local imperatives, discussing their “cultural” and “moral” presumptions.
- Examine, understand and interpret humanitarian policies and practices that address human rights-violation, post-disaster reconstruction and the refugees’ crisis from a cultural and gender-sensitive perspective
- Identify the unbalance of power - both linked to global and local dynamics - which structures, and eventually hinders, the encounter between target populations, humanitarian institutions and local authorities.
- Envision new possible spaces for political and social scientists in humanitarian interventions, inside and outside the current regulatory frames, not only as consultants, administrators, or as direct providers of humanitarian assistance, but also as international witnesses and alternative public voices.
Course Structure
Required Prerequisites
Attendance of Lessons
Detailed Course Content
In recent years, humanitarian interventions have gained a high attention in global politics and Euro-Mediterranean relations. Humanitarian personnel - lawyers, doctors, social workers, activists, etc. - striving for human rights, public health, and the security of civilians in endangered environments are more and more involved in a massive institutional apparatus, with an array of funding mechanisms and transnational intervention logics. Humanitarianism, however, has existed for centuries before formally arising in the first half of the 20th century, and has crossed into various ethical, political, and cultural frontiers and problematics.
This course contributes to the understanding of humanitarian governance, offering an introduction to anthropological theories that analyze the socio-cultural stakes of humanitarian aid. It will focus on the concept of “humanitarianism” to analyze the transformations of the intervention logics and “need-to-help” reasons in the field of international cooperation in response to humanitarian crises at global level, and in the Mediterranean area more specifically.
Students will be asked to read and discuss ethnographic case studies in different regional contexts (from disaster relief to post-war interventions) which focus on diverse fields of humanitarian intervention: migrations and forced displacement, environmental crises and natural disasters, human-rights violation, and the care and housing of internally displaced persons (IDPs). Particular attention will be given to the ways in which different notions of vulnerability, emergency, relief, recovery, justice are mobilized in these fields, both in practices and discourses, in order to consider the fundamental anthropological and power-related implications of humanitarian work.
Textbook Information
| Author | Title | Publisher | Year | ISBN |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Peter Redfield & Erica Bornstein | Forces of Compassion. An Introduction to the Anthropology ofHumanitarianism | University of New Mexico Press | 2011 | pp. 3-30 |
| Didier Fassin | Humanitarianism as a Politics of Life. | in "Public Culture" by Duke University Press | 2007 | pp. 499-520 |
| Peter Redfield | Humanitarianism | in "a Companion on Moral Anthropology" by D. Fassin (ed) | 2012 | pp. 451-467 |
| Mariella Pandolfi | Humanitarianism and Its Discontents | in "Forces of Compassion" by P. Redfield & E. Bornstein (eds) | 2011 | pp. 371-412 |
Course Planning
| Subjects | Text References | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Introduction: Humanitarianism unpacked | |
| 2 | Global Governance or local imperatives? Humanitarian entanglements | |
| 3 | Theorizing the Humanitarian Encounter | |
| 4 | Humanitarian reasons: Norms, ethics, and politics | |
| 5 | Moral dilemma 1: Human Rights and Gender-Based Violence | |
| 6 | Moral dilemma 2: Trauma and the Psychologization of the victims | |
| 7 | Moral dilemma 3: Political Reconstruction and the Makings of ''Civil Society'' | |
| 8 | Moral dilemma 4: Still Vulnerable, yet already Resilient | |
| 9 | Who are the Humanitarians? Humanitarian cultures, self-care practices, and the need to protect | |
| 10 | Looking Up: On the Pitfalls of Post-humanitarian Encounters |
Learning Assessment
Learning Assessment Procedures
Course evaluation will be based on students’ overall participation, seminars facilitation, and a final written paper. Assessment will be based on the following parameters:
Overall participation (25%)
The classes run seminar-style and students are expected to actively participate and demonstrate understanding of the readings. All students must complete the readings on time, and be prepared to discuss and/or present them in class, highlight passages for analysis, and raise questions for debate. Apart from the readings, in class we will discuss newspaper articles, blogs, films and videos. I will upload such material on Teams and students are expected to read/view it and be prepared to participate in a debate/discussion in class.
Facilitation (25%)
At the beginning of the course, students will sign up to function as facilitators for the discussion in 1-2 seminars. They will be called on in the respective class to give a 15΄ comment on the specific readings assigned for that seminar. Try to end your comment with a couple of open-ended questions for the class.
Final Paper (50%)
Each student is expected to present a final discussion paper during the semester. Assessment will be based on the students’ ability to demonstrate critical thinking and elaborate on the course's materials. The paper is comprised of 7-10 pages (double spaced), that will follow a structure provided by the teacher at the end of the course.