On the 11th of November 2020, from 9 - 11am (CET), Dr Estella Carpi, Southern Responses to Displacement Research Associate, will present 'The Politics of Crisis-Making: Neither for Rights, Nor for Needs' at The University of Melbourne. The event is open access and you can join here: Event access link (Microsoft Teams) Throughout modern history,... Continue Reading →
Who is empowered?
In this piece, Tessa Ubels traces the use of the word ‘empowerment’ within the context of humanitarian responses to refugees in Lebanon. Drawing on her fieldwork in Beirut, and applying Deepa Narayan-Park’s conceptual framework, Tessa critically assesses the effectiveness of the focus on ‘empowerment’ within the humanitarian network of international and local organisations responding to... Continue Reading →
Syrian Faith Leaders in Displacement: Neglected Aid Providers?
When we ‘sweep away the professional, intimate, spiritual and even socio-economic past of refugees,’ what impact does this have on our understanding and (non)engagement with forcibly displaced people, including displaced religious leaders? In this post, Dr Estella Carpi, Southern Responses Research Associate, draws on her research with Syrian religious leaders in Lebanon who have worked... Continue Reading →
Local Faith Actors in Disaster Response and Risk Reduction – ALNAP Webinar
What happens when international agencies intervene without knowledge of the historical, geographical, or relational contexts of the area? Should engagement with and use of local faith leaders as intermediaries become standardised within international aid provision? In March 2019 our Research Associate Dr Estella Carpi participated in a seminar organised by ALNAP-Overseas Development Institute and the... Continue Reading →
Exploring refugees’ conceptualisations of Southern-led humanitarianism
How do refugees themselves experience and conceptualise Southern-led responses developed ‘on their behalf’? Building on her research in Lebanon, Cuba and Algeria vis-a-vis Palestinian and Sahrawi refugees’ participation in a Cuban scholarship programme established in the 1960s, this question has long been at the core of Prof. Elena Fiddian-Qasmiyeh’s work, and continues to be central... Continue Reading →


