Work in crisis
Managing Fantasies About Distant Strangers, Managing Aid Workers
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 3188786 |
|---|---|
| Authors | E M Drążkiewicz-Grodzicka (National University of Ireland, Maynooth, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2018 |
| Volume | 19 |
| Issue | 6 |
| Pages | 812-830 |
| Publication date | 2018-08-18 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Social & Cultural Geography (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1464-9365 • E-ISSN: 1470-1197 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/14649365.2017.1312697 |
| OpenAlex | W2606905334 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 36 |
This article provides an insight into the world of Polish development workers operating in South Sudan. It shows that the conceptualisations of aid work in terms of a ‘mission’, a unique job with a special, ethical goal, a difficult, risky operation requiring specific skills are not incidental. Instead, the point is made, that such ways of thinking about foreign aid and distant locations are strongly institutionalised sets of values and behavioural patterns, here defined as ‘work in crisis’. This specific notion is shaped by aid organisations who actively promote this rhetoric firstly through producing ‘truth’ about the aid work and project locations, and secondly through governing lived realities of the aid workers. The ‘work in crisis’ rhetoric helps to draw people into a development movement as devoted and allegiant followers. It also enables the management of these employees who are the most crucial for the industry – project coordinators – but who are separated from the organisational headquarters and NGO management by thousands of miles. Finally, it assists in the promotion of foreign aid among wider audiences in donor societies
Point (geometry · Political science · Politics · Promotion (chess · Public relations · Rhetoric · Sociology · Work (physics · Christian Theology and Mission · Engineering · International Development and Aid · Law · Tourism, Volunteerism, and Development
Curing their ills
Gender, Identity, and Imperialism
Globalization and the Postcolonial World
Life in Crisis
Rationalizing Culture
Black Skin, White Masks
History of Development
Inside the Everyday Lives of Development Workers
Spaces of Aid
The Paradoxes of Aid Work
The Need to Help
Adventures in Aidland. The anthropology of professionals in international development
Selected policy issues in international agricultural research
Living Well’ while ‘Doing Good’? (Missing) debates on altruism and professionalism in aid work
Domestic public support for foreign aid
The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of the World Order
Dilemmas of humanitarian aid in the twentieth century
Out of Our MindsReason and Madness in the Exploration of Central Africa
Can 28 Days Make A Difference? A Case Study of Community Aid Abroad’s Community Leadership Program
Is Good Policy Unimplementable? Reflections on the Ethnography of Aid Policy and Practice
European public opinion and aid to Africa
Caring at a distance
The Continuing Metamorphosis of the Humanitarian Practitioner
Rationalizing Culture
Figures of the Subject in Times of Crisis
Embodiment, academics, and the audit culture
Aid work as moral labour
Mercenaries, Missionaries and Misfits
| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,13 |
| Citation span | 2018 - 2018 (1) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |