Distributed humanitarianism

Volunteerism and aid to refugees during the Russian invasion of Ukraine

Bibliographic Data

ID2261600
AuthorsE C Dunn (0000-0002-8190-6247, Department of Geography Indiana University, corresponding author), I Kaliszewska (0000-0002-9588-6806, Institute of Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology University of Warsaw)
Year2023
Volume50
Issue1
Pages19-29
Publication date2023-02-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueAmerican Ethnologist (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0094-0496 • E-ISSN: 1548-1425
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/amet.13138
OpenAlexW4319844375
LanguageEN
Citations received24
References cited35

When Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, the world's largest humanitarian aid agencies were largely nowhere to be seen. In their absence, tens of thousands of volunteers from Ukraine, Poland, and further abroad helped the more than 16 million displaced and war-affected Ukrainians. This massive volunteer response represents a case of "distributed humanitarianism," a post-Fordist form of humanitarian aid that disrupts the Fordist international aid industry that has existed since the end of World War II. Because it uses donated money, labor, and goods; avoids bureaucratic accountability measures; and relies on person-to-person aid chains, distributed humanitarianism is faster, more cost-efficient, and more resilient than large-scale institutionalized aid

Accountability · Bureaucracy · Economics · Economy · Fordism · Geography · Humanitarian aid · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Scale (ratio · Sociology · World War II · International Development and Aid · Law · Migration, Refugees, and Integration · Religion, Society, and Development

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