Handbook on Humanitarianism and Inequality

This prescient Handbook examines inequalities in humanitarianism at multiple levels, highlighting the long-lasting impact of colonialism on contemporary power relations.

Silke Roth, Bandana Purkayastha and Tobias Denskus bring together esteemed experts from the global north and south who introduce crucial research ethics frameworks and methodologies in order to study humanitarianism and inequality. Adopting an intersectional approach, this Handbook demonstrates the ways in which race, gender, class and other sources of inequality intersect in relation to a range of contemporary issues including the role of the media and technology, the COVID-19 pandemic, linguistic inequality, trafficking, and refugee protection and assistance. Looking ahead, the contributors stress the need for academics and practitioners to reflect on the inequalities that both underpin and are perpetuated by humanitarian contexts.

Providing a detailed overview of the ways in which inequality has affected the development and transformation of humanitarianism, this Handbook will be essential reading for academics, students and researchers of humanitarian and development studies, international relations, and sociology and social policy. It will also be of interest to public policymakers focussing on humanitarianism and striving for global equality.

Edited by Silke Roth, Professor of Sociology, Department of Sociology, Social Policy and Criminology, University of Southampton, UK, Bandana Purkayastha, Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor of Sociology, Department of Sociology, University of Connecticut, US and Tobias Denskus, Associate Professor in Development Studies, Faculty of Culture and Society, School of Arts and Communication, Malmö University, Sweden