This handbook builds a shared understanding of the troubling politics of philanthropy and the disturbing history and practices of humanitarianism.
While historical work on philanthropy has long suggested a link between imperial rule and humanitarian aid, these insights have only recently been brought to bear on contemporary forms of giving. In this book, contributors link the long history of colonial philanthropy to current foundations and their programs in education, health, migrant care, and other social initiatives. They argue that both philanthropy and humanitarianism often function to consolidate market rule, consolidating and expanding liberal market rationalities of neoliberal entrepreneurialism to a widening population and set of institutions.
Philanthropy and humanitarianism share a history, growing together out of modernist socio-economic relations and modes of imperial rule. However, the histories and contemporary politics of the two have not been brought together with such breadth or under such a critical lens before. Discussing philanthropy and humanitarianism together, combining both historical scope and contemporary iterations, highlights continuities and convergences―making the volume a unique introduction and critical overview of critical work in these sister-fields.
Author(s): Katharyne Mitchell, Polly Pallister-Wilkins
Publisher: Routledge
Year: 2023
Language: English
Pages: 331
City: London
Cover
Half Title
Title Page
Copyright Page
Table of Contents
List of Illustrations
Figures
Tables
Editor Biographies
List of Contributors
Chapter 1: Monopoly Philanthropy and the Humanitarian New World Order
References
Part I: Philanthropy, Humanitarianism, and Political Economy
Chapter 2: Neoliberalism, Philanthropy, and Humanitarianism: Pragmatic or Faustian Bargains?
Charity, Philanthropy, and Humanitarianism
Neoliberalism and Philanthrocapitalism
Neoliberalism, Philanthropy, and Humanitarianism
Soft-Hearted Capitalists?
Going Corporate?
Faustian Bargains?
Conclusion: What Can Be Done?
References
Chapter 3: Social Impact Investing
Forms
Origins
Philanthropic Backing of Social Impact Investments
Governing the Social Impact Market-in-the-Making
Politics
Alternatives: A Case Study of the Boston Ujima Project
Conclusion
Notes
References
Chapter 4: Universal Basic Income
Introduction
Historical Geographies of UBI
UBI and “The Start-up of You”
UBI and “The Commons”
Conclusion
Acknowledgements
Note
References
Chapter 5: Labor
Introduction
Aid Is Already “Local”: Humanitarian Workers
No Such Thing as Beneficiaries
Making Labor Invisible: Data, Technology, Logistics
Conclusions: Race, Social Reproduction, and (Post)humanitarian Presents
References
Chapter 6: Political Economy of Educational Philanthropy: From Venture Philanthropy to Digital Privatization
Educational Philanthropy and Profit
Venture Philanthropy
Philanthrocapitalism
Philanthropy Privatizations through the “Innovative Finance” of Impact Investing
Educational Philanthropy and the Resilience Technology Nexus
Situating Educational Philanthropy in the Broader Economic and Cultural Context
Conclusion
References
Chapter 7: Immunizing against Access? Philanthrocapitalist COVID Vaccines and the Preservation of Patent Monopolies
Section 1: The Limits of the COVAX Charity Model and the New Washington Consensus
Section 2: From Vaccine Access Inequality to Demands for Vaccine IP Liberty
Section 3: From New Washington Consensus to New Geneva Convention
Conclusions about Immunizations?
Acknowledgements
References
Chapter 8: Philanthrocapitalism Seen from South Africa: Bill Gates’ Charity Turns to Tyranny, Misfired Silver Bullets, and Climate Vandalism
Precursors of South African Philanthrocapitalist Social Engineering (Patrick Bond)
Charitable Deeds or Monopoly Tyranny? (Liepollo Lebohang Pheko)
Gates’ Silver-Bullet Misfiring at the Mandela Memorial Lecture (Patrick Bond)
Waiting for Miracles: Debunking Gates’ Climate and Energy Policy (Alex Lenferna)
Subsequent South African Mishaps
Gates’ Deadly Commitment to Intellectual Property
Conclusion
Notes
References
Part 2: Humanitarianism, Development, and Humanitarian Developments
Chapter 9: Humanitarianism and the Non-European World
Revisiting Decentering Approaches to Migration and Refugee Governance
Jewish Immigration to the Ottoman Empire
Conclusion
Notes
References
Chapter 10: Design: The Colonial Imaginary of Humanitarian Good(s)
The Design Imaginary of Problem-Solving
The humanitarian imaginary of design
The Colonial Imaginary of Humanitarian Good(s)
Note
References
Chapter 11: Nigeria and the Humanitarian International: From Biafra to Boko Haram
Nigeria’s Postcolonial Crisis
The Biafran Moment
Biafra Extended
Insurgency, Islamism and the New Humanitarianism
New Humanitarianism: NGO Trusteeship or Disaster Capitalism?
Notes
References
Chapter 12: Neither “Philanthropy” nor “Development”: A Tale of Two Buzzwords
Introduction
“Development”: The Failed Past and Dubious Future of an Empty Signifier
“Sustainable Development”: Another Brick in the Wall of Hegemonic “Development”
Development Finance in the 2030 Agenda: The Perfect Neoliberal Framework for a GDA Based on a Market Episteme
The Same Old Song: Philanthrocapitalism as a Union of Opposites
Final Considerations
References
Chapter 13: Careful Killing: Humanitarian Warfare and the Politics of Precision Violence
Humane War with Inhuman Warriors?
Legal Imprecision: Between Necessary and Unnecessary Suffering
Humanitarian Legal Creep and Law of War Doctrine
Two Types of Precision
Conclusion: Unsettling the Politics of Precision in Humanitarian War
References
Chapter 14: Humanitarianism Through Ubuntu Philosophy
Introduction
Humanitarianism and the Legitimation of Care
Humanitarianism and the Normative Displacement of Politics
Ubuntu: A Humanitarian Philosophy
References
Chapter 15: Celebrity: A Key Concept for Understanding the Power of “Helping”
Introduction
The Concept of Celebrity
Defining Celebrity Humanitarianism
The Organizational Forms of Celebrity Humanitarianism
Celebrity Humanitarians and Representations of Helping
Politics Engendered by Celebrity Humanitarianism
Problems with Celebrity Humanitarianism
What Can the Concept of Celebrity Be Useful for Understanding about Philanthropy and Humanitarianism?
Notes
References
Part 3: Philanthro-Humanitarianism: Projects, Problems, and Practices
Chapter 16: Metrics, Legibility, and the Logics of Governance in Philanthropy and Humanitarian Aid: A Politics of Knowledge Approach
Metrics as Logics of Governance
Poverty Metrics
Global Health Metrics
Metrics as Modes of Legibility
Human Rights Metrics
Randomized Controlled Trials in Economic Development
Biometrics and Bodily Evidence to Adjudicate Eligibility for Humanitarian Relief
Metrics as Tools for Social Change
Contributions of Social Studies of Measurement to Critical Philanthropy and Humanitarian Studies
References
Chapter 17: Modernism and Technology in Humanitarian Action
Victorian Modernism
High Modernism
Low Modernism
Persistent Modernism
References
Chapter 18: The Spirit of Climate Philanthropy
Introduction
A Concentrated and Aligned Sector
A Common Theory of Change
Legitimizing Successful-Entrepreneurs-Turned-Philanthropists
Climate Philanthropy, California, and the New Green Spirit of Capitalism
Energy Foundation
Exporting and Expanding the Energy Foundation Model
Conclusion
Notes
References
Chapter 19: Obstruction
Introduction
What Is Obstruction?
Forms and Functions of Obstruction
Obstruction in Practice
The So-Called European Migration Crisis (2014–2021)
Conflict and Crisis in Yemen (2011–2021)
Concluding Thoughts
Notes
References
Chapter 20: Nation-Building and Its Exclusions: Elite Philanthropy and the Limits of Social Reform
The Canadian Pacific Railway, Strathcona’s Philanthropy, and White Settler Colonialism
Birlas’ Philanthropy and Hindu Nation-Building
Conclusion: Philanthropy and Exclusionary Nation-Building
Notes
References
Chapter 21: Philanthropy in France and Colonial Haiti: Bienfaisance, Paternalism, and Race
Philanthropic Organizations
Public Instruction
Conclusion
Note
References
Chapter 22: Humanitarian Futures
Humanitarian Futures: Concerns
Humanitarian Futures: Abolitionist Moves…
Humanitarian Futures: Dehumanism
Decolonization beyond the Metaphor
Humanitarian Futures: Decolonization and Demilitarization
Humanitarian Futures: Decolonization and Despatializing
Toward Many Humanitarian Futures
Notes
References
Index
