Handbook Humanitarianism and Inequality

Welcome to the resource page of our Handbook on Humanitarianism and Inequality published in February 2024!

Over the coming weeks and months I will add individual posts for each chapter, highlighting the abstract, main conclusions and further information about the author(s) and their work.


Table of content Handbook on Humanitarianism and Inequality
Introduction: humanitarianism and inequality - a re-orientation - Silke Roth, Bandana Purkayastha, and Tobias Denskus
 
Part I Historical and (Geo)political dimensions of humanitarianism
Humanitarianism and colonialism - Aoife O’Leary McNeice
 
Humanitarianism and the global Cold War, 1945–1991 - Margot Tudor
 
Humanitarianism and the new wars: humanitarianism, security, and
Securitization - Michael Magcamit and Anastassiya Mahon
 
Humanitarianism, development and peace: a southern perspective - Priya Singh and Paula Banerjee
 
Localization and the humanitarian sector - Claudia E. Youakim and Rita Stephan
 
Human rights and humanitarianism - Bandana Purkayastha
 
Part II Varieties of humanitarian organizations and actors
Humanitarian organizations: behemoths and butterflies - Sarah Stroup
 
Faith actors in humanitarianism: dynamics and inequalities - Jennifer Philippa Eggert and Olivia Wilkinson

Diaspora assistance - Anjana Narayan and Lise-Hélène Smith
 
Political solidarity movements and humanitarianism: lessons from Catalonia, Spain (1975–2020) - Salvador Martí Puig and Alberto Martín Álvarez
 
Subversive humanitarianism - Robin Vandevoordt
 
Citizen’s groups and grassroots humanitarianism - Shoma Choudhury Lahiri
 
Humanitarianism and the military - Silke Roth
 
PART III Intersectuonal perspectives on humanitarians and communities
Race, racialisation, and coloniality in the humanitarian aid sector - Lata Narayanaswamy
 
Humanitarian organizations as gendered organizations - Rianka Roy
 
Sexuality and humanitarianism: colonial ‘hauntings’ - Shweta M. Adur
 
Class matters in humanitarianism - Patricia Ward and Junru Bian
 
Humanitarianism and disability - Dale Buscher and Emma Pearce
 
Part IV Persisting and newly emerging issues
Media representations of humanitarianism - Valérie Gorin
 
Humanitarianism and pandemics - Tulani Francis L. Matenga and Lwendo Moonzwe Davis

Humanitarian technologies - Reem Talhouk
 
Linguistic inequality in the humanitarian sector: unravelling English-centric multilingualism - Maria Rosa Garrido
 
Climate change, disasters and humanitarian action - Ilan Kelman and Eija Meriläinen
 
Refugee protection and assistance - Naoko Hashimoto
 
Trafficking in persons, long-term vulnerabilities, and humanitarianism - Farhan Navid Yousaf and Muhammad Makki Kakar
 
Part V Regions
Humanitarianism and Native America - Barbara Gurr
 
Australia, New Zealand, and Pacific Regions - Agnieszka Sobocinska
 
International humanitarianism in East Asia - Alistair D.B. Cook, Lina Gong, Oscar A. Gómez
 
West Asia and North Africa - Josepha Wessels
 
Africa’s long fight for humanitarian self-sufficiency - Oheneba A. Boateng
 
The Latin American experience: inequality’s role in shaping humanitarianism - Oscar A. Gómez, Simone Lucatello, and Rodrigo Mena
 
Varieties of European humanitarianism - Silke Roth and Tobias Denskus
 
Part VI Methods and knowledge production
Humanitarian research ethics and the ethics of research in humanitarian Settings - Shashika Bandara, Elyse Rafaela A. Conde, Abeer Dakik, and Matthew Hunt
 
Archives and historical perspectives in researching humanitarianism - Katarzyna Nowak
 
Quantitative methods - Liesbet Heyse, Nina Hansen, and Rafael Wittek
 
Power dynamics in the use of qualitative methods in humanitarianism - Margaux Pinaud, Kristina Tschunkert, and Augusta Nannerini
 
Discussing inequalities in evaluation of humanitarian action - Bonaventure Gbétoho Sokpoh with Tobias Denskus

Pracademvism – forever unequal or the new nexus in global development and humanitarianism - Themrise Khan

Popular posts from this blog

Should I consider a PhD in International Development Studies?

After the Economist’s piece on the (non-)value of doing a PhD and some comments later (e.g. Prometheus doesn't read the Economist (I like the slightly cynical dichotomy between ‘civilians’ and the ‘academic insiders) or the ' 100 Reasons NOT to Go to Graduate School ' (they are only halfway through so check it out regularly in the future...) I had an interesting conversation with a prospective PhD student a few days ago. This was not the first time that I had been approached about doing a PhD and I always try to be as frank as possible, even playing the ‘devil’s advocate’ when it comes to the complicated ‘should I or shouldn’t I?’ decision-making process. At the end of our conversation I sat down and tried to summarize a few important and generic points from the point of view of doing a PhD in Development Studies and in the UK . I understand that every case is different and involves a range of motives, options and rationales, but there a few important questions and t...
Read more

Artificial Intelligence (AI) & ChatGPT in development and humanitarian work-a curated collection

Image
As AI, ChatGPT & broader discussions on the tools & technology behind it enter the digital #globaldev discussion sphere, I started a curated collection of articles & podcasts that have caught my attention so far. Much of the content is about early experiments with ChatGPT with a few writers sharing broader reflections on potential opportunities & problems-often along the lines of what has previously been discussed in the ICT4D field around 'digital divides', 'technology not solving deeper-rooted political issues' & 'we don't know yet'... Not surprisingly, almost all of the authors are based (in organizations) in the Global North, but not as gender-imbalanced as I would have thought, given that (technical) #globaldev writing on the Internet is still dominated by male writers. I will update the collection on a rolling basis-so don't hesitate to point me to stuff I have overlooked so far! P.S.: I asked Nightcafe for an AI-generated image...
Read more

Who Owns England? (Book review)

Image
It has been quite a while since I shared a review of a book that is not directly related to international development. But Guy Shrubsole’s Who Owns England? How We Lost Our Green & Pleasant Land & How To Take It Back makes for a great exception-especially as some readers may still be compiling their summer reading lists. One of the reasons I enjoyed his book so much is that content and form align really well. The topic of English landownership is timely and important and Shrubsole manages really well to take the more technical task of measuring land ownership across different ownership groups to the next level by presenting an engaging narrative full of small details and big numbers, woven into a text that combines research, journalism and activism very well. Little has changed since the days of the Domesday Book Right from the start we are reminded that the history of landownership is not simply about abstract, technical or physical transactions, but opens up deep-rooted ...
Read more

Global Development Substacks I Like

Image
The other day a friend asked me about recommendations for development-themed Substacks and rather than responding to him directly, I decided to share my favorite "blogs-send-out-as-newsletters" resources on the blog... For many years a group of German media entrepreneurs has been awarding the Goldenen Blogger and one category they had for many year was "bloggers without a blog"-this is a bit how I feel about Substack and the concept of (mostly) long newsletters instead of traditional blogs. So which are some of my favorite writers and concepts then? UPDATE 30 MARCH 2025  Tomorrow Is Possible Frederik Matthys is a prolific development thinker working on the "future of development" (and we recently invited him to one of our MA Communication for Development classes which led to great discussions with the students...) Blue Helmets, Red Tape Eugene Chen's writing on the UN system, particularly its peacekeeping operations, is a go-to place for connoisseur...
Read more

Adventures in Voluntourism-they have become part of tourism mainstream

Image
A friend of mine recently spent a few nights in a hotel owned by an international chain and sent me an article on 'Adventures in voluntourism' afterwards that he had found in their official in-room travel magazine. I saw the picture of a smiling woman in hot-pants balancing wood on her head and thought that this may be the beginning of a whole new genre of erotic photography, a new type of locker-room pictures for aidworkers or something similarly inappropriate:   Photo: A happy voluntourist ( viatora fortunata nivea ), unknown location with permanent summer However, the actual article was slightly more balanced, yet for obvious reasons focussed on the marketability of the experience. It started with examples from the US and introduced a project that the Global Citizens Network runs in connection with the Quileute Nation peoples in Washington state. It sounds like a decent project, the historic Quileute Shaker Church gets refurbished in the process and in the end 'the v...
Read more