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 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...

That’s it. That’s the post…well..almost… The blog has been a bit quite these past few months, mainly because of a general sense of grieving, frustration and sheer disbelief of how any notion of evidence-based development has been thrown under various buses. But one thought has stuck with me for a while now: Nothing gets better without international development, reduced funding and minimized engagement .  Reading about USAID's fire sale in the Atlantic was one of the main triggers for my new post: One of the more surreal knock-on effects of the gutting of USAID is that the U.S. government is now holding a massive fire sale for mosquito nets, water towers, printers, iPads, chairs, generators, defibrillators, textbooks, agricultural equipment, motorbikes, mobile health clinics, and more. Until recently, these items supported the 5,000-plus foreign-aid projects that the Trump administration has now canceled. And reading a recent post on LinkedIn how  “ the real question isn’t “...

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 20 - Media representations of humanitarianism - contributed by Valérie Gorin. From the introduction The twenty-first century has witnessed improvements with the growth of media development agencies and foundation-funded journalism helping independent journalists develop stories on underreported global issues and make them available to broader audiences. These new media outlets, as well as the expansion of citizen journalism and social media, open new lines of inquiry over their potential to disseminate information detached from mainstream media and institutional communication. Meanwhile, gradual attention was given this last decade to (1) criticism of the colonialist, imperialist and orientalist gaze dominant in humanitarian representations; (2) decentralisation of the hegemonic norms to non-W...

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 19 - Humanitarianism and disability - contributed by Dale Buscher and Emma Pearce. From the introduction Humanitarian practice has been guided and shaped by the humanitarian imperative, as outlined in the Code of Conduct for the International Red Cross and Red Crescent (ICRC) movement ( ICRC, 1994 ), which is framed on the right to receive and provide humanitarian assistance. The Code of Conduct is founded on the principles of humanity, neutrality, impartiality, and independence – emphasising that assistance is based on need alone. Recent global humanitarian and development commitments all reference the importance of ‘leaving no one behind’, reaching the most vulnerable with assistance, including persons with disabilities who have historically been marginalised and excluded ( UN General Assemb...

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 18 - Class matters in humanitarianism - contributed by Patricia Ward and Junru Bian. From the introduction Our approach to class and class inequalities in the humanitarian aid sector reflects and relates to our own social positions as academics trained in North American and European institutions in the disciplines of International Relations (Bian) and Sociology (Ward). Our perspectives, and the literature we cite in this chapter, are largely informed by works that are written in (or have been translated into) and for English language readers. Like humanitarian aid, English as the dominant lingua franca has shaped not only the scope of our discussion on this topic, but also our ability and position of power to contribute to this important conversation ( Roth, 2019 ). We also write from particula...

Every two weeks I am going to feature one of the chapters of our Handbook onHumanitarianism and Inequality which was published in spring 2024. This week we are taking a closer look at Chapter 17 - Sexuality and humanitarianism: colonial ‘hauntings’ contributed by Shweta M. Adur. From the introduction This chapter examines the discursive inter-connections between humanitarianism, sexuality, and the colonial experience to reveal enduring influences of colonial ideals of sex and sexuality on contemporary humanitarianism. In the first section, I begin by describing how ‘sexualities’ emerged as a mode of ‘modern’ governance in Europe. I trace its gendered and racialised contours to describe the ways in which it was deployed to establish the superiority of white, cis-gendered, and heterosexual masculinity. The second section, builds on the discussion to demonstrate the deeply sexualised, gendered, and racialised processes of conquest and colonialism. The colonial administration served as ...

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 16 - Humanitarian organisations as gendered organisations - contributed by Rianka Roy. From the introduction Humanitarian organisations are aid agencies and advocacy groups working internationally, nationally, and locally to support distressed populations. They bring together a range of activities and coalitions ( Möller et al., 2020 ) among United Nations agencies, international and national non-government organisations, communities, and other bilateral groups. Humanitarian organisations can be ‘multi-mandated’, combining development work, emergency relief during natural disasters and conflicts, peacebuilding, and human rights work ( Mosse, 2011 ; Harcourt, 2016 ). Although they provide aid to populations in crisis, quite paradoxically, humanitarian organisations themselves perpetuate structu...

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 15 – Race, racialisation, and coloniality in the humanitarian aid sector - contributed by Lata Narayanaswamy. From the introduction In this chapter I will elaborate on two key observations inspired by my own positionality both as a former development practitioner and a person of colour (PoC) academic/activist based in the UK/Global North, and both are inflected through the lenses of ‘impartiality and neutrality’. The first is that a manufactured distinction tends to be made in both discourse and practice between the delivery of humanitarian aid, which is about the immediacy of perceived need as a result of acute crisis, and longer-term (political) change processes that we might link to broader ‘development’ goals (see also Chapter 5 by Singh and Banerjee on Humanitarianism, development, and pe...