Humanitarianism in Nineteenth-Century Context: Religious, Gendered, National

Abstract

This article surveys the wave of new historical and political-science literature exploring humanitarianism and the ‘pre-history’ of human rights in the long nineteenth century, noting the presentist assumptions underpinning much of this literature. On the one hand, histories of humanitarianism have focused on the origins of present-day humanitarian concerns, paying particular attention to the anti-slavery movement. On the other hand, the overwhelming majority of this literature has explored Anglo-American (and usually Protestant) humanitarianism to the exclusion of the humanitarian campaigns and ideologies of other nations and faith traditions. A more properly historical approach is required, which would pay greater attention to the fusion of religious and secular traditions of activism, to the particular role of women in constituting these traditions, and to the different national contexts in which they bore fruit. Such an approach would also expand our understanding of ‘humanitarian’ activity to incorporate causes with less obvious present-day relevance, such as the temperance movement and Josephine Butler's campaign against the state regulation of prostitution. It would certainly prompt deeper reflection on the contingency of humanitarianism as a topic of historical inquiry, at least as currently constructed.

Frida Stewart in Spain: Administering humanitarian aid during the Spanish Civil War

“…Up until recently, the historiography of humanitarian aid has also displayed a marked underrepresentation of women and a failure to acknowledge the magnitude of female participation and its meaning from a gender perspective (Green 2014(Green : 1157.…”

Humanitarian aid in the archives: introduction

“…Writing on humanitarian history is a booming occupation, albeit for rather niche markets. Some recent publications alone-and only those available in English-have examined: humanitarianism and empire (Baughan and Everill, 2012;Lester and Dussart, 2014); humanitarianism, genocide, and liberalism (Tusan, 2015); and humanitarianism as a cloud (Laqua, 2014), as an eighteenth-century response to cruelty (Abruzzo, 2011), as 'religious, gendered and national' in the nineteenth century (Green, 2014), and as an object of anthropology in the twentieth century (Ticktin, 2014).…”

Rethinking the origins of transnational humanitarian organizations: the curious case of the International Shipwreck Society

“…With their multi-issue and multi-national focus, they have also helped to take the history of humanitarianism beyond 'the parameters of distinct nations or particular movements, such as anti-slavery or prison reform' (Moniz 2016: 3). There are now several studies on transnational humanitarian networking preceding the Red Cross movement (David 2007;Green 2014), but the perception endures that cross-border humanitarian action before the late nineteenth century was limited to transnational networks rather than global organizations (Moniz 2016: 170-1). While later organizations -from the Red Cross onwards -appear to have been longer lasting, the one I explore in this article was just as impressive in its global reach and high-level patronage, despite existing well before the introduction of changes thought to facilitate such an eventuality in the late nineteenth century (Boli and Thomas 1999).…”

“…However, I argue that to concentrate on these dimensions alone is insufficient given the importance of diffusion from East to West in the origins of the ISS. As Green (2014) noted, existing work on transnational humanitarian history has focused excessively on Anglo-American roots and there is a need to place more attention elsewhere. While the 'Eastern origins of Western civilization' are recognized in many other domains (Hobson 2004), they have been insufficiently explored in the evolution of transnational humanitarianism.…”