Aidnography

Every two weeks I am going to feature one of the chapters of our Handbook on Humanitarianism and Inequality which was published in spring 2024. This week we are taking a closer look at Chapter 26 - Trafficking in persons, long-term vulnerabilities, and humanitarianism  - contributed by Farhan Navid Yousaf and Muhammad Makki Kakarby. From the introduction  This chapter begins with an overview of a history of humanitarian efforts related to  trafficking, including its inception in organised efforts to rescue white women who were trafficked to colonial outposts – established through military conquests – to sexually serve white men (see Chapter 17 by Adur on Sexuality and humanitarianism in this volume).  We outline the circumstances, including deep inequalities, dislocations due to wars and structural adjustments, and racist/gendered structures, that foster trafficking.  In Section 2, we focus on a variety of humanitarian efforts to rehabilitate and protect vict...

Every two weeks I am going to feature one of the chapters of our Handbook on Humanitarianism and Inequality which was published in spring 2024. This week we are taking a closer look at Chapter 25 - Refugee protection and assistance - contributed by Naoko Hashimoto. From the introduction   The chapter begins with a brief overview of the current international institution of providing and promoting legal protection and humanitarian assistance for refugees. It is followed by an outline of a variety of inequalities embedded and emerging in the institution. It includes: the centrality of the notion of inequality and discrimination in the definition of refugees, which in turn results in an unequal access to asylum; unequal ‘burden-sharing’ in hosting refugees particularly between the Global South and Global North countries and their major reasons; the recent neoliberal trend in choosing and admitting only the best and the brightest refugees; glaring and institutional...

Every two weeks I am going to feature one of the chapters of our Handbook on Humanitarianism and Inequality which was published in spring 2024. This week we are taking a closer look at Chapter 24 - Climate change, disaster and humanitarian action - contributed by Ilan Kelman and Eija Meriläinen.  From the introduction  Integrating climate change mitigation and adaptation credibly would require a shift toward development (of which climate change mitigation and adaptation are subsets) – while facing and aiming to resolve the social inequalities embedded in climate change, disasters, and humanitarian action.  This chapter surveys how climate change affects humanitarian action. The next section (1) turns to social inequalities, humanitarianism, and climate change. Then, through illustrations of disasters, conflicts, and forced migration, Section 2 applies this framing to climate change and humanitarianism. Section 3 considers future directions and unanswered questions, foll...

Every two weeks I am going to feature one of the chapters of our Handbook on Humanitarianism and Inequality which was published in spring 2024. This week we are taking a closer look at Chapter 23 - Linguistic inequality in the humanitarian sector: unravelling English-centric multilingualism - contributed by Maria Rosa Garrido. From the introduction  The humanitarian workers that Footitt et al. (2020) interviewed felt that language was institutionally accorded a low status and that ‘language needs and challenges were not systematically discussed in the context of programme planning, delivery and evaluation’ (p. 97). Limited resources and the imperative to deliver specific project objectives to the donors makes it difficult for Northern humanitarian agencies like Oxfam to adopt multilingual policies.  Thus, many adopt English as a lingua franca internally ( Tesseur, 2021: 262 ) and ad hoc solutions for unplanned linguistic needs in the field (see Section 4.2). Language train...

Every two weeks I am going to feature one of the chapters of our Handbook on Humanitarianism and Inequality which was published in spring 2024. This week we are taking a closer look at Chapter 22 – Humanitarian technologies - contributed by Reem Talhouk. From the introduction  This chapter highlights the inequalities that arise as humanitarian technologies premised on notions of coloniality/modernity act upon indigenous and refugee communities’ ways of being. I refer to ways of being as the practices, values, beliefs, and knowledge that constitute peoples’ ways of existing on and with this Earth. The inequalities that this chapter will focus on are how humanitarian technologies designed for humanitarian utility and efficiency contribute to: (1) the erosion of indigenous ways of being and (2) dis-afford refugees agency to re-appropriate technologies. In Section 1, I present the construct of coloniality/modernity in relation to humanitarianism on which arguments in this chapter a...

We are back from an extended summer break!  Every two weeks I am going to feature one of the chapters of our Handbook on Humanitarianism and Inequality which was published in spring 2024. This week we are taking a closer look at Chapter 21 - Humanitarianism and pandemics - contributed by Tulani Francis L. Matenga and Lwendo Moonzwe Davis. From the introduction  In this chapter, we start by briefly highlighting some of the world’s most devastating pandemics and discuss the consequences of humanitarian actions in these pandemics, which at times have been negative. We then examine humanitarianism in relation to HIV/AIDS, the disproportionally negative impact that the HIV/AIDS pandemic has had in Sub-Saharan Africa, the challenges the region faces regarding this pandemic, and the long-term negative impacts the pandemic has had, specifically in relation to treatment and other diseases. Next, we review the current COVID-19 pandemic and the ways in which it has also exposed globa...