Managing Displacement: Refugees and the Politics of Humanitarianism
Type
Book
Authors
ISBN 10
0816633533
ISBN 13
9780816633531
Category
340-369 Law, Administration & Associations
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Publication Year
2000
Publisher
Pages
272
Subject
Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Refugees -- International cooperation. Humanitarian assistance -- Political aspects.
Tags
Abstract
Annotation
Media images of people whose lives are destroyed by international and civil conflicts have long engaged our imaginations and emotions. But what happens to these refugees after displacement, and who takes on the responsibility of reconstructing shattered lives? Since the end of the Cold War, patterns of refugee management have changed dramatically, as states look to avoid the legal obligations and costs of asylum. Working for humanitarian agencies in Kenya and Somalia, Jennifer Hyndman determined that in spite of their best efforts, too often the camps in which these agencies operate can offer only a short-term palliative. In Managing Displacement, Hyndman uses unique insider knowledge both to challenge the political and cultural assumptions of current humanitarian practices and to expose the distancing strategies that characterize present operations. Managing Displacement looks specifically at the powerful organizations that serve refugees -- particularly the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR). Hyndman provides a close reading of humanitarianism on the ground as she examines the policies and practices of the organization at various levels. She offers constructive criticism of organizations like UNHCR, discerning patterns of "ordering disorder" and "disciplining displacement" in their responses to emergencies.
Media images of people whose lives are destroyed by international and civil conflicts have long engaged our imaginations and emotions. But what happens to these refugees after displacement, and who takes on the responsibility of reconstructing shattered lives? Since the end of the Cold War, patterns of refugee management have changed dramatically, as states look to avoid the legal obligations and costs of asylum. Working for humanitarian agencies in Kenya and Somalia, Jennifer Hyndman determined that in spite of their best efforts, too often the camps in which these agencies operate can offer only a short-term palliative. In Managing Displacement, Hyndman uses unique insider knowledge both to challenge the political and cultural assumptions of current humanitarian practices and to expose the distancing strategies that characterize present operations. Managing Displacement looks specifically at the powerful organizations that serve refugees -- particularly the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR). Hyndman provides a close reading of humanitarianism on the ground as she examines the policies and practices of the organization at various levels. She offers constructive criticism of organizations like UNHCR, discerning patterns of "ordering disorder" and "disciplining displacement" in their responses to emergencies.
Description
Material Type: Government publication, State or province government publication, Internet resource
Document Type: Book, Computer File, Internet Resource
All Authors / Contributors: Jennifer Hyndman
ISBN: 0816633533 9780816633531 0816633541 9780816633548
OCLC Number: 42780574
Description: xxix, 253 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm
Contents: Scripting humanitarianism: a geography of "refugee" and the respatialization of response --
Border crossings: the politics of mobility --
Managing difference: gender and culture in humanitarian emergencies --
In the field: camps, compounds, and other spaces --
Ordering disorder: sitreps, headcounts, and other instruments --
Crossing borders in theory and practice --
Beyond the status quo.
Series Title: Borderlines (Minneapolis, Minn.), v. 16.
Responsibility: Jennifer Hyndman.
Number of Copies
1
