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 35 - Archives and historical perspectives in researching humanitarianism - contributed by Katarzyna Nowak. From the introduction  This chapter deals with sources and methodology of researching and writing history of humanitarianism. Historical perspectives, to repeat after Eleanor Davey and Kim Scriven (2015) , do not simply offer lessons from the past but pose challenges to habitual ways of thinking, contributing to the critical reflection on humanitarian action. The chapter begins with discussing the state of field and challenges around researching and writing history of human-itarianism and inequality. Focusing in particular on the issue of sources, it treats archives as spaces of power and asks how the process of generating records reflects the existing systems of power and inequ...