Fragmentation of the International Humanitarian Order? Understanding “Cultures of Humanitarianism” in East Asia

O’Hagan, Jacinta; Hirono, Miwa

doi:10.1017/s0892679414000586

Cited by 7 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 7 publications

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“…Th e contemporary growth of grassroots search and rescue volunteerism pushes us to rethink the state-centric model of humanitarianism in China. As Jacinta O'Hagan and Miwa Hirono (2014) point out, the state-centric representation of East Asian humanitarianism in academic literature has oft en overlooked the grassroots form of humanitarianism that complicates this model. Indeed, China has a long history of mutual aid societies and local charitable giving to those in need, both in times of disasters and emergencies and in normal times, with participation by both elites and ordinary people in diff erent period of history (e.g.…”

Section: The Desire To Help As a Fruitful Lensmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Desire to Help

Fengjiang¹

2023

Social Anthropology/Anthropologie Sociale

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The tremendous growth in search and rescue volunteerism in China of the past decade marks a shift from state monopoly to growing social participation in emergency governance related to disasters and various other forms of emergency. In some respects, the Chinese case can be contextualised in the global rise of ‘vernacular humanitarianism’. This article joins recent anthropologists’ and historians’ attempts to de-centre and pluralise humanitarianism, which has so far been dominated by the paradigms of Northern-led and highly institutionalised international regimes. Drawing on ethnographic research in southeast China, it suggests that the lens of vernacular imaginaries and desire is particularly fruitful for articulating how people act across various social and cultural spheres that go beyond the dichotomous scholarly paradigms of state-centric interpellation and individual compassions/resistance in the Chinese context. It also allows us to rescue the plural political potentials of humanitarianism from cynicisms regarding the major paradigms of humanitarianism. Depuis dix ans, le bénévolat des secouristes en Chine a beaucoup augmenté et cette activité constitue un changement du monopole d’état vers une participation sociale croissante dans la gouvernance en rapport avec des sinistres et autres formes d'urgences, y compris les efforts de trouver des personnes disparues. En quelque sorte, le cas chinois correspond à l'expansion globale de ‘l'humanitarisme volontaire’. En utilisant le terme analytique de ‘l'humanitarisme volontaire’, cet article poursuit les efforts d'historiens et d'anthropologues pour décentraliser et diversifier les notions de l'aide humanitaire. Ces notions ont été influencées trop longtemps par des paradigmes du Nord et par des régimes internationaux hyper-institutionalisés. L'article est fondé sur la recherche ethnographique dans le sud-est de la Chine. Elle propose que la volonté des bénévoles d'aider est en lien avec leur conceptualisation d'urgences, et la vision d'un personnage militaire qui produit la sociabilité et la matérialité soutenant l'expansion d'assistance et de ses opérations régulières. Les concepts de l'imaginaire vernaculaire et du désir sont fructueux pour décrire les actions de gens dans de nombreux domaines sociales et culturels qui dépassent la dichotomie universitaire de l'interpellation étatique et les compassions/résistances des individus dans le contexte chinois. Nous pourrions ainsi sauver la pluralité des possibilités politiques dans l'humanitarisme et échapper aux cynismes concernant ses paradigmes majeurs.

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Section: The Desire To Help As a Fruitful Lensmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Desire to Help

Fengjiang¹

2023

Social Anthropology/Anthropologie Sociale

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“…The respective role of the state and the military in humanitarian action is debated. Influenced by the four humanitarian principles, western societies view non-state actors such as the ICRC and MSF as legitimate humanitarian actors, while in the Asia-Pacific the state and the military are accepted as key responders to humanitarian situations (O'Hagan and Hirono, 2014;Simm, 2019).…”

Section: Humanitarian Diplomacymentioning

confidence: 99%

Humanitarian diplomacy as an instrument for China’s image-building

Gong

2021

Asian Journal of Comparative Politics

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Image-building has been an important goal of China’s foreign policy. Humanitarian diplomacy provides a useful instrument to build a benign international image, given the altruistic nature of humanitarian action. China’s humanitarian diplomacy has undergone changes in recent years, such as substantial increases in humanitarian spending, institutional reforms and the emergence of Chinese non-state actors. The existing literature on China’s humanitarian activities is scant due to the country’s limited engagement in global humanitarian action previously. This article aims to contribute to the scholarship by examining China’s humanitarian activities in Southeast Asia during the COVID-19 pandemic through the lens of image-building. Specifically, it answers the questions of how China uses humanitarian action to improve its international image and how effective such efforts have been. This article finds that the outcome of China’s image-building through humanitarian activities is influenced by the severity of the crisis, the national response of the country affected and the perceived legitimacy of China’s action. It concludes that China’s humanitarian diplomacy has achieved mixed outcomes in Southeast Asia. While China has been recognized as a major provider of help during the pandemic, its assistance has not substantially improved its image in the region.

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“…Fuller documents the historical depth of indigenous relief efforts, whichthen as now-foreign observers tend to overlook in favour of more easily recognisable and culturally familiar international campaigns. Recent changes in Beijing's stance on humanitarian action, including increased contributions to responses elsewhere as well as greater openness to international assistance after disasters within China, have encouraged interest in Chinese humanitarian history (Krebs, 2014;O'Hagan and Hirono, 2014). However, gaps, misconceptions, and oversights remain frequent in this area, as in many of the histories of southern humanitarianism and their perceived relationship with Western humanitarian experiences (Pacitto and Fiddian-Qasmiyeh, 2013).…”

Section: Humanitarian Aid In the Archivesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Humanitarian aid in the archives: introduction

Davey

Scriven²

2015

Disasters

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How might historical perspectives assist the goal of improving humanitarian responses? This introduction to a special issue of Disasters on the history of humanitarian action explores this question and outlines how the other submissions to the edition, each with its own approach and focus area from the nineteenth-century to the present today, make different contributions to understanding of humanitarian action. The paper argues that the value of history lies not so much in the information it might offer, but in the challenges it can pose to habitual ways of thinking and in the skills of investigation and interpretation it fosters. These attributes make historical perspectives a potentially valuable addition to the critical questioning of humanitarian practitioners and policymakers. The paper advocates integrating history into a more reflective attitude to change and a more adventurous and holistic approach to innovation, as opposed to simply using it to 'learn lessons'.

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Fragmentation of the International Humanitarian Order? Understanding “Cultures of Humanitarianism” in East Asia

Cited by 7 publications

References 7 publications

The Desire to Help

The Desire to Help

Humanitarian diplomacy as an instrument for China’s image-building

Humanitarian aid in the archives: introduction

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