Vernacular Humanitarianisms

Abstract

There has been an increase of anthropological interest in small-scale humanitarianisms that make situated claims to universality. The articles in this collection demonstrate that some genealogies of such situated universalisms have been explored more than others. Focusing on vernacular humanitarianisms, the goal is not to celebrate the standpoint of ‘radical alterity’ but rather to acknowledge that imagining and recognising similarities of people's experiences is not reserved for the Western European epistemology. Anthropological research of small-scale humanitarianisms points to situated, alternative and sometimes even decolonising visions and practices of ‘the humanity’ understood as a framework for imagining and recognising broadly shared experiences. This collection asks how vernacular humanitarianisms are performed in everyday life, enabling particular forms of ethics, power and inequality. Thus, it keeps possibilities of social critique in sight and moves a conversation towards an ethnographically attuned perspective that explores the role of vernacular humanitarianisms in various projects of governance. Depuis cinq ans, les anthropologues s'intéressent de plus en plus aux formes de l'humanitarisme à petite échelle qui, compte tenu du contexte socio-historique, visent un caractère d'universalité. Les articles publiés dans ce numéro de la revue montrent que quelques généalogies ont été explorées plus que d'autres. Les nouvelles expressions de la vie humanitaire émergent aujourd'hui remettent en question les divisions entre les pays du Nord, les pays du Sud, et les pays de l'Est. En mettant l'accent sur les idées et pratiques de l'humanitarisme vernaculaire, notre objectif n'est pas de célébrer le point de vue d'une ‘altérité radicale’. Il s'agit plutôt d'admettre que la capacité d'imaginer et de reconnaître les similitudes dans l'expérience humaine n'est pas limitée à l’épistémologie de l'Europe occidentale. La recherche anthropologique sur les humanitarismes à petite échelle révèle des visions et des pratiques de ‘l'humanité’ alternatives et sans connotations coloniales, qui sont conçues comme un cadre moral permettant d'envisager et d'identifier des expériences communes. Cet ensemble d'articles offre une approche critique pour étudier comment les humanitarismes vernaculaires sont manifestes dans la vie de tous les jours, et donnent lieu à des différents types d’éthique, pouvoir et inégalité. Nous proposons de concentrer sur les possibilités de critique sociale et d'avancer vers un point de vue ethnologique pour étudier le rôle d'humanitarismes vernaculaires en rapport avec des projets de gouvernance.

The Second Displacement of Refugees: Urban Regeneration Against Commoning Practices in Belgrade's Waterfront

“…It is estimated that during the summer and autumn of 2016 “more than 1,200 volunteers from 60 different countries” (Jovanovic 2020:131) were involved in “pro‐refugee engagement” in the area (Milan 2019:49). Several scholars refer to these forms of engagement with the refugee crisis as “vernacular humanitarianisms” (Brkovic 2017; Cantat 2020), “solidarity socialities” (Cantat 2020; Rozakou 2016), “everyday humanitarianism” (Jovanovic 2020), “politics of solidarity and altruism” (Milan and Pirro 2018:126), to emphasise the grassroots forms of sharing and helping, but also processes of subjectification and mobilisation concerning people who were “emotionally affected by the plight of refugees” (Milan and Pirro 2018:144). We approach these solidarity practices also as a form of an “expanding commoning” which is based, as Stavrides (2016:44) notes, on “a constant opening of the circles of commoning”.…”

Temporality of Humanitarian Care

“…Prakse radikalizacije humanitarizma (Mezzandra 2020), poput neovisnih akcija spašavanja na moru koje su u većini slučajeva kriminalizirane, kao i humanitarne aktivnosti usmjerene na pružanje pomoći nedokumentiranim i ilegaliziranim osobama mimo zakonskih ograničenja, nisu dio službenog sektora i u literaturi su dominantno prikazane kao prakse koje svojim radom i pristupom predstavljaju alternativu međunarodnom humanitarnom režimu (Brković 2017;Fechter i Schwittay 2019;Vandevoordt 2019). Fenomen koji je ovisno o kontekstu prepoznat kao vernakularni humanitarizam (Brković 2020(Brković , 2023, subverzivni humanitarizam (Vandevoordt 2019), volonterski humanitarizam (Sandri 2018), pa čak i amaterski humanitarizam (Freedman 2018) nema za cilj samo skrenuti pažnju na pojavu "lokalnih", "građanskih" ili "neovisnih" praksi pomoći poput onih koje su bile aktualne tijekom masovnoga izbjegličkog tranzita 2015./2016. (v. Hameršak i Pleše 2017a), nego apostrofirati činjenicu da postoje različiti oblici "moralne ekonomije humanitarizma" (Fassin 2023: 105).…”

Kin, friends, philanthronationalists: “Relations” as a modality of colonial and post-colonial charity in Sri Lanka

“…Attending to the term’s colonial history in a context like Sri Lanka has implications for its wider anthropological uses – including humanitarianism studies . In recent years, anthropologists have begun referring to diverse humanitarian tradition as “vernacular,” implying they are representative of charitable traditions that are different from those that gave rise to “liberal” (Euro-American) humanitarianism (Brković, 2017). Common to how such alternative traditions are described is a stress on the relationality of the humanitarian subject that vernacular forms centre, which stands in contrast to the autonomous subject centred by “liberal” humanitarian discourses (Bornstein, 2012; Brković, 2016; 2017; Fechter and Schwittay, 2019; Rozakou, 2017; Weiss, 2015).…”

“…In recent years, anthropologists have begun referring to diverse humanitarian tradition as “vernacular,” implying they are representative of charitable traditions that are different from those that gave rise to “liberal” (Euro-American) humanitarianism (Brković, 2017). Common to how such alternative traditions are described is a stress on the relationality of the humanitarian subject that vernacular forms centre, which stands in contrast to the autonomous subject centred by “liberal” humanitarian discourses (Bornstein, 2012; Brković, 2016; 2017; Fechter and Schwittay, 2019; Rozakou, 2017; Weiss, 2015). Anthropological work on vernacular humanitarianisms is valuable for how it unsettles assumptions about who and what a humanitarian might be – but it also needs to be critically aware of the origins of its own conceptual vocabulary, including what the concept of “relations” brings to analysis, and what it excludes.…”