The Humanitarian Fable (Routledge Research in Cultural and Media Studies)

The Humanitarian Fable examines how popular humanitarian communication constructs global poverty as a moral narrative that reinforces unequal power dynamics between the Global North and Global South.

Taking a cultural studies approach, the book argues that humanitarian discourse places too much emphasis on the involvement of Global North initiatives, while avoiding meaningful engagement with the structural causes of inequality. By critiquing humanitarianism as the dominant framework for understanding global poverty, the author challenges readers to consider alternative approaches grounded in justice, decolonization, and addressing ongoing exploitation.

This interdisciplinary text will interest academic researchers, instructors, and students across disciplines, including Cultural Studies, International Development Studies, Education, Human Rights, and Communication Studies.

David Jefferess is a settler-situated scholar who teaches in the Department of English and Cultural Studies at UBC Okanagan. He is the author of Postcolonial Resistance: Culture, Liberation, and Transformation (2008), co-editor of Globalizing Afghanistan: Terrorism, War, and the Rhetoric of Nation (2011), and numerous articles on humanitarian discourse.