Introduction Getting it Done: Ethnographic Perspectives on NGOs

Mertz, Elizabeth; Timmer, Andria D.

doi:10.1111/j.1555-2934.2010.01109.x

Cited by 19 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…Double bind theory has enjoyed an extended life well beyond mental illness. In anthropology it has enjoyed a recent renaissance, particularly for thinking through new permutations of political forms and disputes (see Cattelino 2010; Fortun 2001; Mertz and Timmer 2010). Here I engage it to consider MSF's travails over how to recruit and deploy people around the world.…”

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confidence: 99%

THE UNBEARABLE LIGHTNESS OF EX-PATS: Double Binds of Humanitarian Mobility

Redfield

2012

Cultural Anthropology

154

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This article addresses legacies of national origin within global forms. Focusing on tensions related to human resources, I consider the case of the humanitarian organization Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF, or Doctors Without Borders). Since 1971, MSF has grown into a large, transnational NGO sponsoring a variety of medical projects worldwide. Amid recent efforts to “decolonize” its human profile, MSF has debated the appropriate role, motivation and remuneration of both international volunteers and local support staff it hires at mission sites. Given the different degrees of ease with which situated persons can travel, the organization's conflicting impulses place it in a classic double bind: to remain mobile it must limit local attachments, while to achieve equality it must embrace them. The figure of the ex‐patriate thus suggests a mundane but precise measure for the threshold of inequality.

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confidence: 99%

THE UNBEARABLE LIGHTNESS OF EX-PATS: Double Binds of Humanitarian Mobility

Redfield

2012

Cultural Anthropology

154

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“…There were several and constant negotiations regarding my role at the nonprofit organization with the users who resourced its aid when caught in several political, domestic, and health entanglements, and the interns who made that territory their daily workplace. Added to these were the demands placed upon myself by virtue of my willingness to volunteer which demanded an almost total availability on my part to support the organization constantly struggling with financial and technical problems, a dual and ambiguous role where anthropologists researching NGOs constantly find themselves [27,47].…”

Section: Materials and Methods: Becoming Vulnerable In The Fieldmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…their political and social subjectivity in order to feel empowered by their new living conditions [26]. For those unable to fulfil this goal, the nonprofit organizations, funded by private and public funders, acted like the neoliberal arms of the state [27] and took the responsibility for uplifting the population they served via projects and psychosocial programs.…”

Section: "What Is That Word They Like Us To Use? Oh Yes Empowerment!"mentioning

confidence: 99%

“I Don’t Have the Nerve to Tell These People That I Cannot Help Them!”: Vulnerability, Ethnography, and Good Intentions

Catela

2019

Societies

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The nonprofit organization where this ethnography took place, driven by the maxim ”lending a hand”, was forced to reduce its efforts to what it considered essential, at a time when austerity was beginning to take shape in Portugal. The analysis of the logics employed to distribute food to the neediest proved to be critical to the understanding of the consequences of apparent beneficial actions in this context. The concept of ”vulnerable” is, therefore, discussed considering how it was produced by a legal instrument and how it was reproduced by a local institution, what were the consequences for the subjects involved in this research and also for the vulnerable ethnographer. This investigation was based on several months of intense fieldwork where different ethnographic methodologies were employed in order to grasp the complexities of vulnerability and good intentions, such as participants’ observations and semi-directive interviews. Although this paper focuses on the analysis of the distribution of food support during a later visit to the fieldwork site, it is not the purpose of this paper to discuss issues of food shortage, but to contribute to the debate of care in the context of deprivation and precariousness, anchored in an ethnography where these concepts intertwine with real situations.

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“…'NGO-ization' or the appropriation of social movements by NGOs (Alvarez 1999;Choudry and Kapoor 2013;Hodžić 2014;Lang 2004), the political economy and neoliberalisation of NGOs (Bernal and Grewal 2014), and the ways in which these organizations can perpetuate and further entrench the state and its violence have been subjects of critique (Reinke 2016). Recent anthropological scholarship on NGOs recognizes the multifaceted and dynamic challenges of defining these organizations, their complex relationships to the state, and our own analytical and methodological power and reflexivity as we work collaboratively in these spaces (Bernal and Grewal 2014;Fisher 1997;Lewis and Schuller 2017;Mertz and Timmer 2010). Other work examines NGO workers and volunteers as part of an often precarious and contingent workforce (Vannier and Lashaw 2017).…”

Section: Ngographymentioning

confidence: 99%

NGO-Research Collaborations and Conflicts

Reinke¹

2019

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Ethnographers collaborating with NGOs and non-profits while simultaneously researching their organizational structure, practices, and beliefs about service, advocacy, and activism face myriad challenges. However, collaboration – as it exists in a dialectical relationship between stakeholders working towards common goals – may also generate ethnographic insights that add to anthropological knowledge of NGOs. According to Lassiter (2005a, 2005b), researchers undertaking collaborative ethnography have four commitments: (1) ethical responsibilities to stakeholders; (2) honesty/transparency about research; (3) accessible writing; and (4) collaborative reading, writing, and interpretation. Collaborations may be interrupted at various points, but especially where bureaucratic structures and operations intervene. For example, agreements and documentation (e.g., memoranda of understanding, or MOUs) often challenge the interests and affect of collaborative work. In this article I draw on five years of collaborative NGOgraphy, Lassiter’s conceptualization of collaborative ethnography, and respond to Hymes’ (1972) call for a personal ethnography, in order to discuss the challenges and opportunities of NGO-researcher collaboration.

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Introduction Getting it Done: Ethnographic Perspectives on NGOs

Cited by 19 publications

References 11 publications

THE UNBEARABLE LIGHTNESS OF EX-PATS: Double Binds of Humanitarian Mobility

THE UNBEARABLE LIGHTNESS OF EX-PATS: Double Binds of Humanitarian Mobility

“I Don’t Have the Nerve to Tell These People That I Cannot Help Them!”: Vulnerability, Ethnography, and Good Intentions

NGO-Research Collaborations and Conflicts

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Introduction Getting it Done: Ethnographic Perspectives on NGOs

Cited by 19 publications

References 11 publications

THE UNBEARABLE LIGHTNESS OF EX-PATS: Double Binds of Humanitarian Mobility

THE UNBEARABLE LIGHTNESS OF EX-PATS: Double Binds of Humanitarian Mobility

“I Don’t Have the Nerve to Tell These People That I Cannot Help Them!”: Vulnerability, Ethnography, and Good Intentions

NGO-Research Collaborations and Conflicts

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Introduction Getting it Done: Ethnographic Perspectives on NGOs