Instruments of identity: Médecins Sans Frontières and humanitarian negotiations for access in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
<p>This thesis examines how humanitarians negotiate access in conflict zones. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork, interviews and archival analysis, it explores the everyday negotiations between <em>Médecins Sans Frontières</em> and armed groups in North Kivu, in the eastern Democrat...
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| Format: | Praca dyplomowa |
| Język: | English |
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2020
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| _version_ | 1826310634941186048 |
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| author | James, M |
| author2 | Gledhill, J |
| author_facet | Gledhill, J James, M |
| author_sort | James, M |
| collection | OXFORD |
| description | <p>This thesis examines how humanitarians negotiate access in conflict zones. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork, interviews and archival analysis, it explores the everyday negotiations between <em>Médecins Sans Frontières</em> and armed groups in North Kivu, in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. I unpack what “negotiating access” looks like on the ground: a social and political process of brokerage, perception management and interest seeking in a complex web of relationships. I focus on people and their interactions, because they determine how abstract humanitarian principles (neutrality, impartiality, and independence) and predesigned interventions are translated into practice on the ground. I describe how humanitarians endeavour to <em>perform</em> humanitarianism and their principles during daily interactions.</p>
<p>The thesis examines how identities become central to maintaining humanitarian access, with ambiguity as their central characteristic. I argue that the personal and collective identities of different humanitarians become instruments for access. Humanitarians negotiate access together in symbiosis as a brokerage “club”: different people in the team play different roles, because they have different perceived identities, access to different networks, have different experiences and <em>savoir faire</em>, as well as different personal histories, and therefore face different risks. The role of identity is central to the process of acquiring and sustaining access, which makes use of factors such as personal history, race, and gender, employing each where it confers particular advantage in performances of humanitarianism. This presents a paradox. Everyday humanitarian practice is shaped by, and reproduces, the very forms of difference that their egalitarian values seek to transcend.
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| first_indexed | 2024-03-07T07:54:50Z |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oxford-uuid:a38dff9d-927d-4ff9-8f4d-b93fd791715c |
| institution | University of Oxford |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-07T07:54:50Z |
| publishDate | 2020 |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | oxford-uuid:a38dff9d-927d-4ff9-8f4d-b93fd791715c2023-08-11T08:05:13ZInstruments of identity: Médecins Sans Frontières and humanitarian negotiations for access in the Democratic Republic of the CongoThesishttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_db06uuid:a38dff9d-927d-4ff9-8f4d-b93fd791715cEnglishHyrax Deposit2020James, MGledhill, JScott-Smith, T<p>This thesis examines how humanitarians negotiate access in conflict zones. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork, interviews and archival analysis, it explores the everyday negotiations between <em>Médecins Sans Frontières</em> and armed groups in North Kivu, in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. I unpack what “negotiating access” looks like on the ground: a social and political process of brokerage, perception management and interest seeking in a complex web of relationships. I focus on people and their interactions, because they determine how abstract humanitarian principles (neutrality, impartiality, and independence) and predesigned interventions are translated into practice on the ground. I describe how humanitarians endeavour to <em>perform</em> humanitarianism and their principles during daily interactions.</p> <p>The thesis examines how identities become central to maintaining humanitarian access, with ambiguity as their central characteristic. I argue that the personal and collective identities of different humanitarians become instruments for access. Humanitarians negotiate access together in symbiosis as a brokerage “club”: different people in the team play different roles, because they have different perceived identities, access to different networks, have different experiences and <em>savoir faire</em>, as well as different personal histories, and therefore face different risks. The role of identity is central to the process of acquiring and sustaining access, which makes use of factors such as personal history, race, and gender, employing each where it confers particular advantage in performances of humanitarianism. This presents a paradox. Everyday humanitarian practice is shaped by, and reproduces, the very forms of difference that their egalitarian values seek to transcend. </p> |
| spellingShingle | James, M Instruments of identity: Médecins Sans Frontières and humanitarian negotiations for access in the Democratic Republic of the Congo |
| title | Instruments of identity: Médecins Sans Frontières and humanitarian negotiations for access in the Democratic Republic of the Congo |
| title_full | Instruments of identity: Médecins Sans Frontières and humanitarian negotiations for access in the Democratic Republic of the Congo |
| title_fullStr | Instruments of identity: Médecins Sans Frontières and humanitarian negotiations for access in the Democratic Republic of the Congo |
| title_full_unstemmed | Instruments of identity: Médecins Sans Frontières and humanitarian negotiations for access in the Democratic Republic of the Congo |
| title_short | Instruments of identity: Médecins Sans Frontières and humanitarian negotiations for access in the Democratic Republic of the Congo |
| title_sort | instruments of identity medecins sans frontieres and humanitarian negotiations for access in the democratic republic of the congo |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT jamesm instrumentsofidentitymedecinssansfrontieresandhumanitariannegotiationsforaccessinthedemocraticrepublicofthecongo |