RUB: Anthropology in Humanitarian Action

In this unit we draw upon the discipline of socio-cultural anthropology to enhance our understanding of humanitarian action. Both in terms of theoretical perspectives and in terms of methodology, anthropology offers a specific way of looking at the projects of humanitarian action. This year’s focus will be on the acute and protracted global refugee crisis fuelled by ongoing and newly emerged war and conflicts. In particular, the unit seeks to enable the practical implementation of anthropological inquiries into contexts of humanitarian action and in particular refugee assistance, thereby stressing the benefits of the anthropological approach to situate humanitarian responses and refugee assistance within the contexts within which they originate. The specificity of a socio-cultural anthropological perspective may be characterised by: (a) close consideration of the local settings where humanitarian initiatives are undertaken; (b) a reflexive and critical approach to issues of power and representation; (c) concern for difference along multiple dimensions, and the impact of such difference upon the conceptualisation, implementation and impact of humanitarian action and refugee assistance.

The aims of this unit are to introduce students to key concepts and methods in the discipline of socio-cultural anthropology and to take a critical approach in exploring how these have been applied in the study and practice of humanitarian action and refugee assistance. This unit DOES NOT address protocols, procedures, and management in humanitarian action, rather this unit is aimed at provoking critical engagement with and rethinking of topics in humanitarian action and refugee assistance are often taken for granted

This module builds on three blocks: The first two blocks are created as reading and text discussion seminars. Each session starts with a group presentation summarizing the main themes of the readings and bringing central theses up for discussion (see “Assignments” for further information).

Students are expected to read the key readings before each session (plus writing and submitting a reading note of one the key readings; see “Assignments” for further information). Further readings are to be used for the group presentations on the sessions’ topics and provide additional historical and discursive contextualisation as well as alternative or critical perspectives on the thematic discussions.

Challenged-Based Learning (CBL)

The third and final block is created as an anthropological study lab following the concept of challenge-based learning. We will identify several real-life challenges together with practitioners from cooperating NGOs. Once the challenges are identified, students will get together in groups and independently work on the chosen challenge making use of the previously studied methods and approaches. The results will be presented in a final joint session with the cooperation partners and will form part of the final assignment for the module.

For this semester, we will be collaborating with the German Red Cross section DRK-Betreuungsdienste Westfalen-Lippe gGmbH who is in charge of several reception facilities and refugee accommodation centres. Together we will identify challenges s around the following possible themes: (1) mutual respect, (2) protection from violence, (3) drug addiction, (4) psychosocial illness, (5) access to health care in the German health system, (6) enhancing sustainability of refugee shelters, e.g., through garbage separation systems, and (7) personal hygiene with limited resources.

The students will gain the following competencies and capacities:
·       to get an overview of key concepts, questions, and methods as well as of research fields of cultural and social Anthropology and their relation with humanitarian action;
·       to reflect critically on often used concepts like “ethnic groups”, “locality”, “culture”, “violence, “gender”, “age”, “healing” and “reconciliation” in the context of humanitarian action;
·       to get to know analytical and methodological tools that enable humanitarian workers to develop an understanding of the social and cultural constellations in different localities;
·       to assess the possible application of the methods and concepts presented in different constellations of humanitarian action such as in conflict and post-conflict situations as well as refugee camps;
·       to reflect on the changes and shifts in social relations among the people affected by immediate and prolonged crises, the role of aid agencies and humanitarian workers with different cultural and social background and the intercultural encounters of all actors in the setting of humanitarian action, thus, taking into account the delicate subtleties and difficulties in working in multicultural contexts and multidisciplinary teams.
·       to have a good understanding of social relationships in humanitarian action intervention situations at various level and develop an understanding of possible socio-cultural consequences of humanitarian action and the necessity for the empowerment of the local population.