Ritual dynamics in humanitarian assistance

Dados Bibliográficos

ID3897802
AutoresP Richards (0000-0001-5813-0228, Wageningen University & Research, autor correspondente)
Ano2010
Volume34
Fascículos2
PáginasS138-46
Data de publicação2010-04-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoDisasters (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0361-3666 • E-ISSN: 1467-7717
EditoraWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/j.1467-7717.2010.01150.x
PMID20132271
OpenAlexW2137129698
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas5
Referências citadas18

Those who intervene in crises must take care to ensure that assistance does not undermine the processes through which social cohesion is generated or restored. From a neo-Durkheimian analytical perspective, feeding creates social loyalties as well as saves lives. Humanitarian agencies provide practical assistance to livelihoods, but they need also to create space for the ritual agency on which social cohesion depends. Attention to the rituals of food distribution helps humanitarian actors to address a potentially damaging dissociation between social and material facts. A post-war food security project in Sierra Leone is used to illustrate the point. The lessons of this intervention have implications for the organisation of humanitarian assistance at all levels, both international and local. The paper argues that establishing space for ritualisation within humanitarian programmes is an obligation for those who wish to do no harm

Agency (philosophy · Harm · Human rights · Humanitarian aid · Humanitarian intervention · Livelihood · Obligation · Political science · Public relations · Sierra leone · Social science · Socioeconomics · Sociology · Anthropological Studies and Insights · Law · Peacebuilding and International Security · Political Conflict and Governance