1st Edition

Médecins Sans Frontières and Humanitarian Situations An Anthropological Exploration

    280 Pages 4 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    280 Pages 4 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    This book explores the interaction between anthropology and humanitarianism, focussed on the organisation Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF).

    The emphasis of the collection is on practising anthropology within humanitarian situations, reflecting on how anthropology contributes to the development of operational response. Each chapter presents an experience of working within a particular MSF project and highlights the real issues that anthropologists of humanitarian practice confront.

    The volume will be of interest to scholars of anthropology, development studies and global health, as well as to NGO staff and health professionals.

    Introduction – Anthropology in humanitarian situations  Jean-François Véran, Doris Burtscher and Beverley Stringer

    1. Changing contexts in humanitarianism: a challenge for anthropology  Tammam Aloudat and James Smith

    2. A medical operational perspective on anthropology in the setting of MSF  William Hennequin and Kiran Jobanputra

    3. Ethical considerations and anthropology: the MSF experience  Beverley Stringer, Renée Teernstra, Darryl Stellmach and Emilie Venables

    4. Emergency in practice: doing an ethnography of malnutrition in South Sudan  Darryl Stellmach

    5. The paradox of safe birth: The interaction between anthropology and medical humanitarianism – the dilemma of an MSF medical strategy versus health-seeking behaviour of Pashtun women in Khost province, Afghanistan  Doris Burtscher

    6. Whose culture needs to be questioned? Access to HIV/AIDS treatment in Homa Bay, Kenya  Vanja Kovačič

    7. Back to Life. Ebola survivors in Liberia: from imaginary heroes to political agents  Emilie Venables and Umberto Pellecchia

    8. Invisible Dengue: Epidemics and Politics in Léogâne, Haiti  Jean-François Véran

    9. Revealing causes beyond culture: An MSF surgical project through the lens of anthropology and health promotion  Ursula Wagner and Paul Grohma

    10. ‘Yaya hankuri da mutani?’ (How is your patience with the people?) A medical anthropological inquiry into treatment challenges in the Anka Local Government Area, Zamfara Heavy Metal Treatment Project, Nigeria  Annemieke Bont, Marit van Lenthe and Karla Bil

    11. Dealing with the body social: an ethnography of dialogue in a health clinic, south Tehran, Iran  Mitra Asfari

    12. The New Missionaries. An Anthropological Reflection on Humanitarian Action in Critical Situations  Jean-François Véran and Frederic Vandenberghe

    Biography

    Jean-François Véran is Associate Professor at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Between 2013 and 2019, he served as Anthropology Advisor in the Brazilian Medical Unit (BRAMU) of MSF Brazil.

    Doris Burtscher has worked as a medical anthropologist with MSF since 2001. She is a medical anthropology referent in the MSF Vienna Evaluation Unit and lectures at the Medical University of Vienna, Austria.

    Beverley Stringer is a social anthropologist and trained nurse based in London. With extensive field experience, she set up and leads the Social Science team for the Dutch operational section of MSF. She is a Visiting Fellow at the University of Sussex, UK.