Paper details

Paper authors	Gabriela Villacis Izquierdo & Kaira Alburo Cañete
In panel on	Mapping Feminist Approaches to Humanitarian Action
Paper presenter(s) will be presenting	In-Person / Online

Abstract

Humanitarian studies have traditionally been extractive, externally driven, and mostly led by global north institutions and often participatory approaches in humanitarian research are considered a luxury in contexts of crises and conflict. As a result, the perspectives and interests of the peoples affected by crises are represented and imagined by others. Despite the challenges posed by humanitarian contexts, feminist methodologies have the potential to centre the situated and lived experiences of crisis-affected people and their knowledges to contribute towards creating humanitarian studies that are more inclusive and respectful with diverse knowledges and experiences. In this presentation, we draw from a varied range of feminist perspectives to knowledge-building to demonstrate how feminist methodologies can be a useful way to address epistemological inequalities and advance majority-world perspectives in humanitarian studies. Drawing from the authors’ experiences and lessons from conducting feminist research on disaster recovery in the Philippines, and converging crises with elusive peace processes in Colombia, the chapter draws attention to the potentials of feminist methodologies in facilitating localised and co-constructive research in humanitarian settings.

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