Paper details
| Paper authors | Hilhorst, Dorothea |
| In panel on | Humanitarian studies in turbulent times: taking stock of the Agenda for Humanity |
| Paper presenter(s) will be presenting |
In-Person / |
Abstract
The field of humanitarian studies was originally thought of as ‘the study of (international) humanitarian action’. This definition is increasingly inapt. This contribution starts from a definition of humanitarian studies as “The study of societies and vulnerable communities experiencing humanitarian crisis originating from disaster, conflict, refugee situations, and/ or political collapse. It studies the causes and impact of crisis; how people, communities and authorities respond to them, including efforts for prevention and preparedness; how humanitarian action and other external interventions are organized and affect the recovery from crises; and the institutional changes that crises and crisis response engender.”
The paper will elaborate what this definition means for the rethinking of humanitarian governance. It will present humanitarian governance as a multi-faceted, semi-autonomous field. This alternative approach to governance does not take out the critical edge from humanitarian studies, that should retain a keen eye on the politicisation of crisis situations at all different levels of society.
This view of humanitarianism leads to the inevitable conclusion that there are multiple humanitarianisms. The paper will ask how to assess what happened with the Agenda for Change in this pluriverse of humanitarian action.
