Care and Suspicion: Corruption as Definition in Humanitarian Relations

Despite the ubiquity of humanitarian language, action, and sentiment in our current world, there has been no consensus on the precise definition of humanitarianism. Humanitarian obligations, jurisdiction, limits, and even actors remain unsettled and often hotly contested. Suspicions about motives an...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Current anthropology 2018-04, Vol.59 (S18), p.S160-S170
Main Author: Feldman, Ilana
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Corruption
Governance
Humanitarian aid
Humanitarianism
Jurisdiction
Obligations
Occupational roles
Palestinian people
Personhood
Refugees
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Summary:Despite the ubiquity of humanitarian language, action, and sentiment in our current world, there has been no consensus on the precise definition of humanitarianism. Humanitarian obligations, jurisdiction, limits, and even actors remain unsettled and often hotly contested. Suspicions about motives and probity, often articulated through the language of corruption, play a key role in these contests. Through a consideration of humanitarian assistance to Palestinian refugees, this essay advances several related arguments about how corruption operates in humanitarianism. Most broadly, suspicions and accusations of corruption play an important role in the on-the-ground work of defining what humanitarianism is for providers and recipients. They do so, in part, through (1) establishing and elaborating the refugee as a category of humanitarian governance and personhood and (2) articulating and consolidating an array of obligations and responsibilities across the humanitarian field. Viewed through the lens of concerns about corruption, refugees appear as ethically comprised subjects not because of their inherent qualities but due to their circumstances. Humanitarian governance responds in various ways to this perceived incapacity. Refugees not only are the targets of corruption management but also make their own accusations.
ISSN:0011-3204
1537-5382
DOI:10.1086/695695