Researching displacement and humanitarian crises

In this book talk we will discuss research in the context of humanitarian crises. Estella Carpi and Heidi Mogstad will present their respective books The politics of crisis making and Humanitarian shame and redemption.

The presentations will be followed by a discussion on their research experiences, moderated by Antonio De Lauri. A light lunch will be served.

Book descriptions

The politics of crisis making – Estella Carpi
In The Politics of Crisis-Making. Forced Displacement and Cultures of Assistance in Lebanon Estella Carpi exposes how the crisis discourse as well as crisis management are able to shape the social and political membership of the displaced. By documenting different modalities and traditions of assistance, her ethnographic research in Lebanon brings to light interactions among aid workers, government officials, internally displaced citizens, migrants and refugees after the 2006 war in Beirut’s southern suburbs and during the 2011-2013 arrival of refugees from Syria to the Akkar District (northern Lebanon).

Humanitarian shame and redemption – Heidi Mogstad
Following the 2015 ‘refugee crisis,’ many different actors emerged to contest or mitigate the EU’s border policies. This book explores the birth and trajectory of a Norwegian volunteer organisation “A Drop in the Ocean”, established by a mother of five with no prior experience in humanitarian work. Drawing on eighteen months of ethnographic fieldwork, Heidi Mogstad examines the organisation’s shifting and contested efforts to ‘fill humanitarian gaps’ in Greece while witnessing and shaming the Norwegian public and politicians into action. Moving beyond existing critiques of humanitarian sentiments like pity and compassion, the book focuses specifically on the work of shame and other ‘negative’ emotions.