Traditionally, humanitarianism is considered a nonpolitical urgent response to human suffering. However, this characterization ignores the politics that create and are created by the crises and the increasingly long-term dimension of relief.

In The Politics of Crisis-Making, by shedding light on how humanitarian practice becomes enmeshed with diverse forms of welfare and development, Estella Carpi exposes how the politics of defining crises affect the social identity and membership of the displaced. 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). By documenting different cultures, modalities, and traditions of assistance, Carpi offers a full account of how the politics of crisis-making play out in Lebanon.

An important read, The Politics of Crisis-Making reveals that crisis, as an official discourse and framework of action, has the power to shape the social membership of forced migrants and internally displaced people, engendering unequal political, ethnic, and moral economies.

About the Author

Estella Carpi is Assistant Professor in Humanitarian Studies at University College London. She is author of Uncomfortable Mirrors: Ethnography of Forced Migration in Contemporary Lebanon (in Italian).

Reviews

"A novel account of the politics of humanitarianism in Lebanon, especially in its choice to examine the lived experiences of both displaced citizens as well as migrants and refugees."-Kelsey Norman, author of Reluctant Reception

"This sensitive account of humanitarian responses to aging emergencies and repeated crises in Lebanon offers vital insights into the global and local politics of aid. Estella Carpi's careful ethnographic attention to the dynamics of aid provision reveals the complex ways people live with and against each other in humanitarian settings."-Ilana Feldman, George Washington University

"Carpi's book reminds us that displacement is not merely a humanitarian issue-as the crisis rubric wants us to think-but it entails class, race, and labor politics, all aspects that the humanitarian system does not aim to address yet acts on"-Sari Hanafi, American University of Beirut

"Estella Carpi provides a much needed and timely ethnography of humanitarianism in Lebanon. Her book is an excellent resource for scholars and practitioners who wish to understand how humanitarian crises are produced, enacted, managed and perpetuated in conflict-ridden environments through everyday discourses and practices"-Tamirace Fakhoury, Aalborg University and Sciences Po

Book Information
ISBN 9780253066398
Author Estella Carpi
Format Paperback
Page Count 208
Imprint Indiana University Press
Publisher Indiana University Press