Paper: The Donkey Rule: The politics of whiteness in humanitarian negotiations

Paper details

Paper authors Myfanwy James
In panel on The Politics of Difference in Humanitarian Practice
Paper presenter(s) will be presenting In-Person / Online

Abstract

There remains a striking silence on the topic of race in studies of aid. As Adia Benton (2016:268) points out, whilst anthropological critiques focus on power and national inequalities, they have not adequately explored how humanitarianism is organised “along racial lines.” This paper explores the politics of whiteness during everyday negotiations for humanitarian access between aid workers and armed groups in North Kivu, eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. It does so by focusing on ‘The Donkey Rule’, a micro-practice among some aid workers in the region which refers to the presence of a ‘white expatriate’ in the front of a convoy, placed there to ‘protect’ the rest of the team. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork and in-depth interviews, I describe how whiteness was seen by many Congolese aid workers as a protective and facilitative mechanism for humanitarian field operations: as a signifier of visible foreign-ness; and as a marker of “precious life,” arousing local combatants’ concerns for international repercussions/reputation; and thereby encouraging restraint. By examining the debates and politics of this practice, I illustrate how race intersects in complex ways with nationality and mobility to influence who holds power, who faces risks, and how humanitarians are perceived and received. A focus on the power and functions of whiteness reveals how everyday humanitarian practices are shaped by, and reproduce, the very racialised hierarchies that the sector's egalitarian values aim to transcend.

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Presenters

Myfanwy James
University of Oxford