Ritual dynamics in humanitarian assistance

Datos Bibliográficos

ID3897802
AutoresP Richards (0000-0001-5813-0228, Wageningen University & Research, autor de correspondencia)
Año2010
Volumen34
Números2
PáginasS138-46
Fecha de publicación2010-04-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaDisasters (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0361-3666 • E-ISSN: 1467-7717
EditorialWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/j.1467-7717.2010.01150.x
PMID20132271
OpenAlexW2137129698
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas5
Referencias 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