This project is designed to understand the nature of politics in contexts of extended humanitarian assistance. It explores the importance of relief practices in the development of political identity in exile. As such, it departs from a recent emphasis in the literature on the de-politicizing effects of humanitarianism, which reduces refugees to merely focused on immediate survival. The researcher will collect data to answer three questions: (1) How does politics emerge in the context of a struggle for physical survival?; (2) What are the noninstitutionalized means through which people express political ideas and make political claims?; and, (3) How is "community" produced across a diffuse humanitarian terrain? The project will involve archival research, oral histories, and ethnographic fieldwork with refugees and the agencies and organizations that provide assistance to them. This research is both multi-sited and long-term, making it possible to track change over time and to identify the distinctions of particular geographic locations.
The research will shed light on the long-term effects of humanitarian interventions. A better understanding of the impact of long-term humanitarian assistance on refugee communities is vital for both academic and policy communities.
This research on Palestinian experiences living with humanitarian assistance in the year since 1948 involved extensive ethnographic and archival research. Fieldwork was conducted in four refugee camps in Jordan, Lebanon, and the West Bank and included participant-observation in eight humanitarian projects and more than 200 interviews with refugees and humanitarian practitioners. The research was motivated by two sets of questions: about humanitarianism broadly and the Palestinian experience specifically. The first questions include: How does humanitarian practice shift as circumstances change from acute crisis to chronic conditions of need? What are the ethical and political consequences of crisis interventions and longer-term practices for both providers and recipients? How does humanitarian practice shape political possibility for recipient communities? The second questions are: How has Palestinian community been shaped by the humanitarian condition? What are the generational differences in how Palestinians respond to the assistance regime? How do refugees who are living within a humanitarian framework make use of its tools (material, discursive, legal) to make claims for themselves to multiple audiences? Through these questions I examine effects on Palestinian society and political community of a life lived in relief over an extended period of time. Intellectual Merit: This research builds scholarship that has explored the complicated political effects of humanitarian assistance and explores humanitarianism as a terrain in which, and through which, aid workers, refugees, and state actors are active in the world. Through close ethnographic work, I examine what sorts of relations and what kind of actions happen in "humanitarian spaces." Understanding the politics of living with humanitarianism is crucial for elucidating what it has meant to be Palestinian in the years since 1948. It also provides new insights into the possibilities of political life in precarious conditions. The international humanitarian order – comprised of legal regimes, institutional structures, and compassionate impulses (as channeled by media and aid agencies) – is a significant component of the landscape of transnational governance. Humanitarian practice further governs relations among recipients and aid givers and helps shape how people act and conceive of themselves and their communities. The long Palestinian experience with this order makes it an excellent site to trace its historical formation and current configurations. The longevity of the Palestinian refugee problem also makes it an exemplary case through which to consider what happens to humanitarian purpose and practice as acute crisis shifts to chronic need. By investigating the length and breadth of this experience this research not only contributes detailed knowledge of how this regime developed, it elucidates the long-term effects on people and communities of humanitarian interventions. Broader Impact: This research has direct implications for understanding the impact of long-term aid on refugee communities. It has clear relevance to both policy and academic communities and to people working on humanitarianism and refugees in regions across the world as well as those engaged specifically with the Palestinian refugee problem. In addition to presenting my work in academic venues (through talks, conferences, and publications) I am also sharing the results of this research with the practitioner and recipient community. My teaching on subjects related to this research (humanitarianism, development, human rights, Middle East) has been further improved by what I have learned through this project.
