Description
Book SynopsisMedical Humanitarianism provides comparative ethnographies of the moral, practical, and policy implications of modern medical humanitarian practice. It offers twelve vivid case studies that challenge readers to reach a more critical and compassionate understanding of humanitarian assistance.
Trade Review"This volume brings the intersections between humanitarian and global health interventions into relief. It offers detail, nuance, and complexity to debates that are out there, probing difficult situations and asking tough questions." * Miriam Ticktin, Professor of Anthropology, The New School for Social Research *
"In light of the recent Ebola crisis, this book becomes even more prescient of the lessons that can be learnt by examining well-grounded ethnographies in comparative perspective for a more critical and compassionate understanding of humanitarian assistance." * Peter Piot, from the Foreword. *
"What happens when humanitarian intentions collide with the realities of humanitarian action? The editors present twelve engaging and provocative ethnographies of humanitarian practice, that invite immersion, deep reflection, and call for constructive dialogue between scholarship and humanitarian practice" * Unni Karunakara, International President (2010-2013), Médecins Sans Frontières *
Table of ContentsForeword
—Peter Piot
Bringing Life into Relief: Comparative Ethnographies of Humanitarian Practice
—Sharon Abramowitz and Catherine Panter-Brick
PART I. INTIMATE INTERVENTIONS: HEALTH WORKER EXPERIENCES IN HUMANITARIAN CONTEXTS
Chapter 1. Dignity Under Extreme Duress: The Moral and Emotional Landscape of Local Humanitarian Workers in the Afghan-Pakistan Border Areas
—Patricia Omidian and Catherine Panter-Brick
Chapter 2. Compassion and Care at the Limits of Privilege: Haitian Doctors amid the Influx of Foreign Humanitarian Volunteers
—Laura Wagner
Chapter 3. Trust and Caregiving During a UNICEF-Funded Relief Operation in the Somali Region of Ethiopia
—Lauren Carruth
PART II. THE ARCHITECTURE OF HUMANITARIAN KNOWLEDGE, ETHICS, AND IMPERATIVES
Chapter 4. Evidence and Narratives: Recounting Ongoing Violence in Darfur, Sudan
—Alex de Waal
Chapter 5. Life Beyond the Bubbles: Cognitive Dissonance and Humanitarian Impunity in Northern Uganda
—Tim Allen
Chapter 6. Staging a "Medical Coup"? Médecins Sans Frontières and the 2005 Food Crisis in Niger
—Jean-Hervé Jézéquel
PART III. STRONG STATES, WEAK STATES, AND CONTESTED HEALTH SOVEREIGNITIES
Chapter 7. What Happens When MSF Leaves? Humanitarian Departure and Medical Sovereignty in Postconflict Liberia
—Sharon Abramowitz
Chapter 8. Humanitarianism and "Mobile Sovereignty" in Strong State Settings: Reflections on Medical Humanitarianism in Aceh, Indonesia
—Byron J. Good, Jesse Hession Grayman, and Mary-Jo DelVecchio Good
Chapter 9. The British Military Medical Services and Contested Humanitarianism
—Stuart Gordon
PART IV. THE AFTERLIVES OF INTERVENTION
Chapter 10. Anthropology and Medical Humanitarianism in the Age of Global Health Education
—Peter Locke
Chapter 11. The Creation of Emergency and Afterlife of Intervention: Reflections on Guinea Worm Eradication in Ghana
—Amy Moran-Thomas
Chapter 12. Medical NGOs in Strong States: Working the Margins of the Israeli Medical Bureaucracy
—Ilil Benjamin
Conclusion. A Measured Good
—Peter Redfield
List of Contributors
Index
