Drawing on the Southern Responses to Displacement project, Prof Elena Fiddian-Qasmiyeh delivered the NCHS Annual Lecture at the Norwegian Centre for Humanitarian Studies on the 4th of November 2022.
You can listen to the lecture here:
Abstract: ‘In this lecture I propose moving beyond, or even against, what I conceptualise as “the humanitarian grain”, including by exploring what can be gained both analytically and in practical terms by setting aside the ‘humanitarian frame’, and instead focusing on multi-scalar responses to displacement. Going beyond my earlier project to ‘write the Other into humanitarianism’ (Fiddian-Qasmiyeh and Pacitto, 2015, emphasis added), I propose that displacing the humanitarian (thereby setting aside questions of labelling, geopolitical hegemony and even the quest for a genealogical recognition of the plurality of humanitarianisms) provides a critical opportunity to critically ‘rethink refugee response’. To do so I draw on insights from in-depth research conducted with refugee and non-refugee residents of local communities responding to displacement in Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey (through the Refugee Hosts project) and with regards to ‘Southern-led Responses to Displacement’ (the title of a second research project also revolving around displacement from Syria).’
Bringing together humanitarian practitioners, researchers, policy makers and interested members of the public, the NCHS Annual Conference will provide opportunities to discuss and exchange research, experiences and knowledge about key issues and challenges within the humanitarian sector.
The NHCS Conference will be held in person in Litteraturhuset, Bergen, Norway and is free and open to all. Prof. Fiddian-Qasmiyeh’s Annual Lecture will be delivered via Zoom.
You can download the conference program here.
Featured image: (c) Norwegian Centre for Humanitarian Studies
Southern Responses to Displacement 
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