Talking Humanitarianism

What are the different roles and perspectives of humanitarian researchers and practitioners when it comes to disasters and how are these converging? Ekatherina Zhukova, Researcher at Lund University in Sweden, and Zuzana Hrdlickova, Senior Researcher at Sierra Leone Urban Research Centre and humanitarian practitioner, explore humanitarian disasters through the lens of both humanitarian researchers and practitioners.

Zhukova and Hrdlickova also discuss the similarities and differences between disasters and conflicts, as well as the concept of disaster vulnerability and how this relates to both precarity and informality.

What role does anthropology play in our understanding of humanitarian disasters? Ekatherina Zhukova, Researcher at Lund University in Sweden, and Alicia Sliwinski, Associate Professor of Global Studies at Wilfrid Laurier University in Canada, discuss the tools anthropology offers in addressing issues around development, humanitarianism, and disasters. Zhukova and Sliwinski explore concepts such as moral economy, disaster vulnerability and the notion of the ‘gift’.