Read on Twitter
1/ This fall I’m teaching a new @AU_SIS MA/PhD course on humanitarian interventions. Lots of new stuff—trying to address hard Qs & push disciplinary boundaries. See thread. Things I should add? Ideas? Comment below! @LahraSmith1 @sarahwillen @SusannaCampbell etc #AcademicTwitter
2/ Starts off with the basics: Michael Barnett’s “Empire of Humanity.” It’s an engrossing must-read. Complemented with the essay series “Rethinking humanitarianism” from @TheNewHumanitarian https://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/in-depth/Rethinking-humanitarianism ... @jimlance554
3/ including “The West’s humanitarian reckoning.” https://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/opinion/2020/07/01/black-lives-matter-aid-power-rethinking-humanitarianism-takeaways?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=social
4/ Gotta know your basics, i.e. @SPHEREproject
The Sphere Handbook: Humanitarian Charter and Minimum Standards in Disaster Response
https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/Sphere-Handbook-2018-EN.pdf and @MSF's Practical guide to humanitarian law https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Practical_Guide_to_Humanitarian_Law/74VmAgAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0
The Sphere Handbook: Humanitarian Charter and Minimum Standards in Disaster Response
https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/Sphere-Handbook-2018-EN.pdf and @MSF's Practical guide to humanitarian law https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Practical_Guide_to_Humanitarian_Law/74VmAgAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0
5/ Gotta read Mark Duffield. He’s the kale of humanitarian studies – bitter, but in the end, probably the most vitamins and fiber per bite https://www.wiley.com/en-us/Development%2C+Security+and+Unending+War%3A+Governing+the+World+of+Peoples-p-9780745635804
6/ We’re using feminist, anti-imperialist, and anti-racist thought leaders to push our critiques E.g. @JonathanKatz “Puerto Rico’s Latest Man-Made Disaster”
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/01/puerto-rico-earthquakes-disaster.html @SaidaHodzic 's chapter "Feminist bastards” https://www.academia.edu/7609510/Feminist_Bastards_Toward_a_Posthumanist_Critique_of_NGOization
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/01/puerto-rico-earthquakes-disaster.html @SaidaHodzic 's chapter "Feminist bastards” https://www.academia.edu/7609510/Feminist_Bastards_Toward_a_Posthumanist_Critique_of_NGOization
7/ & @DeganAli and Marie-Rose Romain Murphy “Black Lives Matter is also a reckoning for foreign aid and international NGOs” https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/transformation/black-lives-matter-also-reckoning-foreign-aid-and-international-ngos/ & Mukoma wa Ngugi’s "The pitfalls of symbolic decolonization" https://africasacountry.com/2020/01/the-pitfalls-of-symbolic-decolonization @maliniranga
8/ throughout we’ll ask critical but practical questions, e.g. “Where is all the money going?” http://newirin.irinnews.org/the-humanitarian-economy/ and how are "outcomes" and "successes" defined and measured, by who, to what ends? @PRHHO's https://www.humanitarianoutcomes.org/
9/ We’ll try writing & designing ethical, compelling donor appeals, research, & other pubs after reading Chinua Achebe & Wainaina Binyavanga’s "How to Write about Africa" https://www.bu.edu/africa/files/2013/10/How-to-Write-about-Africa.pdf &
@EmilyBaughan’s A short history of helping far-off peoples. http://africasacountry.com/2015/11/a-short-history-of-helping-far-off-peoples/
@EmilyBaughan’s A short history of helping far-off peoples. http://africasacountry.com/2015/11/a-short-history-of-helping-far-off-peoples/
10/ Humanitarianism also requires visually representing suffering. It sells! Ugh. What are the effects of this? Can we do better? Aubrey Graham’s “...Humanitarian Crisis Photography" https://doi.org/10.1080/02533952.2014.895545 and @Ethnography911's "Risky Business" https://doi.org/10.1080/08949468.2016.1131523
11/ ...including the Kleinmans' essay “The Appeal of Experience; the Dismay of Images: Cultural Appropriations of Suffering in Our Times” ... this just doesn't get old. https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/20027351.pdf?seq=1
12/ We’re doing a whole week on #MeToo 
. #GBV and sexual violence during crises, yes, but ALSO WITHIN THE HUMANITARIAN INDUSTRY. Lots of readings here including Abby Stoddard et al “Speakable” ... https://www.humanitarianoutcomes.org/sites/default/files/publications/awsr_2019_0.pdf
. #GBV and sexual violence during crises, yes, but ALSO WITHIN THE HUMANITARIAN INDUSTRY. Lots of readings here including Abby Stoddard et al “Speakable” ... https://www.humanitarianoutcomes.org/sites/default/files/publications/awsr_2019_0.pdf
13/ The Guardian has a whole series called “Secret Aid Worker,” and shocker, aid workers have some awful secrets https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2018/mar/14/secret-aid-worker-abusive-men-aid-sector-sexism-harassment
14/ Dyan Mazurana at Tufts led a whole study on the sexual violence crisis among aid workers: https://theconversation.com/aid-workers-face-an-underreported-sexual-violence-crisis-74667
15/ Orgs like @RefugeesIntl are doing great research on sexual violence during war: e.g. https://static1.squarespace.com/static/506c8ea1e4b01d9450dd53f5/t/5da7a363aede156263052d42/1571267435576/South+Sudan+-+Devon+-+October+2019+-+1.0.pdf
There are so many more readings for this week. On violence against boys and men too.
There are so many more readings for this week. On violence against boys and men too.
16/ Who dies? Why? We’re covering the basics of the epidemiology of war, including Checchi and Robert’s important work: https://odihpn.org/wp-content/uploads/2005/09/networkpaper052.pdf and https://journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/article?id=10.1371/journal.pmed.0050146
And Michael Toole and @Ron_Waldman's collaboration on the Iraq war
And Michael Toole and @Ron_Waldman's collaboration on the Iraq war
17/ What’s new in epidemiology and medicine in war? The need to treat chronic diseases and provide palliative care
https://www.newsdeeply.com/syria/articles/2016/07/08/the-silent-suffering-of-syrias-chronically-ill and
https://blogs.bmj.com/bmj/2019/10/14/palliative-care-in-humanitarian-crises-an-idea-thats-time-has-come/
https://www.newsdeeply.com/syria/articles/2016/07/08/the-silent-suffering-of-syrias-chronically-ill and
https://blogs.bmj.com/bmj/2019/10/14/palliative-care-in-humanitarian-crises-an-idea-thats-time-has-come/
18/ The practice of medicine in war “Health workers and the weaponisation of health care in Syria” by @annie_sparrow and colleagues https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(17)30741-9 and Sherine Hamdy and Soha Bayoumi’s take on medical neutrality https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s11013-015-9468-1.pdf
19/ We're studying nutrition and food security in emergencies -- beyond a focus on diet, to include how infectious diseases -> malnutrition throughout the life cycle -> increase chronic disease risk https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(04)17447-3 and https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(19)32506-1 @eyatesd @NutrireL
20/ Epidemics of disease in conflicts: @Ethnography911's “What’s the Matter Boss, We Sick?..." https://covid-19.mitpress.mit.edu/pub/7yai8v7v/release/1 paired with de Waal’s “Militarizing global health” http://bostonreview.net/world/alex-de-waal-militarizing-global-health-ebola more on this TBD …and still needing best work on Ebola in the DRC @JeremyKonyndyk
21/ Irregular migration exists at or off the edge of the humanitarian system. Why? To what effects? We’re reading @sarahwillen’s “Fighting for dignity” alongside Achille Mbembe’s idea of a borderless world https://chimurengachronic.co.za/the-idea-of-a-borderless-world/ How to rethink of human rights & protection & R2P?
22/ Of course, special week on COVID: Sarah Daglish's “COVID-19 gives the lie to global health expertise.” https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(20)30739-X and Ammar Derwish & Adly Mirza “How coronavirus hit Aden: A Yemeni doctor’s diary https://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/special-report/2020/07/07/coronavirus-aden-yemen-doctor-diary?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=social More TBD ...
23/ and the Social Science in Humanitarian Action Platform resources for responders ( https://www.socialscienceinaction.org/ ) @SantiagoRipoll https://www.socialscienceinaction.org/emergency/covid-19-pandemic/
24/ ending the semester with a week on the toll of humanitarian work, focusing on needs of local staff and Abby Stoddard’s “Necessary Risks” https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-26411-6 Etc. Also: Aisha Sultan’s Podcast: “When Fieldwork Breaks Your Heart.” https://culanth.org/fieldsights/when-fieldwork-breaks-your-heart The end! Ideas?
