Gendering Global Humanitarianism in the Twentieth Century, 1st ed. 2020
Practice, Politics and the Power of Representation
Palgrave Macmillan Transnational History Series

Coordinators: Möller Esther, Paulmann Johannes, Stornig Katharina

Language: English

137.14 €

In Print (Delivery period: 15 days).

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Gendering Global Humanitarianism in the Twentieth Century
Publication date:
331 p. · 14.8x21 cm · Paperback

137.14 €

In Print (Delivery period: 15 days).

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Gendering Global Humanitarianism in the Twentieth Century
Publication date:
331 p. · 14.8x21 cm · Hardback
?This volume is interesting both because of its global focus, and its chronology up to the present, it covers a good century of changes. It will help define the field of gender studies of humanitarianism, and its relevance for understanding the history of nation-building, and a political history that goes beyond nations.? 
- Glenda Sluga, Professor of International History and ARC Kathleen Laureate Fellow at the University of Sydney, Australia


This volume discusses the relationship between gender and humanitarian discourses and practices in the twentieth century. It analyses the ways in which constructions, norms and ideologies of gender both shaped and were shaped in global humanitarian contexts. The individual chapters present issues such as post-genocide relief and rehabilitation, humanitarian careers and subjectivities, medical assistance, community aid, child welfare and child soldiering. They give prominence to the beneficiaries of aid and their use of humanitarian resources, organizations and structures by investigating the effects of humanitarian activities on gender relations in the respective societies. Approaching humanitarianism as a global phenomenon, the volume considers actors and theoretical positions from the global North and South (from Europe to the Middle East, Sub-Saharan Africa, South and South East Asia as well as North America). It combines state and non-state humanitarian initiatives and scrutinizes their gendered dimension on local, regional, national and global scales. Focusing on the time between the late nineteenth century and the post-Cold War era, the volume concentrates on a period that not only witnessed a major expansion of humanitarian action worldwide but also saw fundamental changes in gender relations and the gradual emergence of gender-sensitive policies in humanitarian organizations in many Western and non-Western settings. 

1. Gendering Twentieth-Century Humanitarianism: An Introduction- Esther Möller, Johannes Paulmann and Katharina Stornig 


Part I: Masculinities and Femininities in Humanitarian Practice and Discourse


2. Humanitarian Masculinity: Desire, Character and Heroics, 1876–2018- Bertrand Taithe


3. Protestant Missionaries, Armenian Refugees and Local Relief: Gendered Humanitarianism in Aleppo, 1920–1939- Inger Marie Okkenhaug


4. Maternalism and Feminism in Medical Aid: The American Women’s Hospitals in the United States and in Greece, 1917–1941- Francesca Piana


Part II: Gender and the Politics of Humanitarianism


5. The Orphan Nation: Gendered Humanitarianism for Armenian Survivor Children in Istanbul, 1919–1922- Nazan Maksudyan


6. The Politics of Gender and Community: Non-Governmental Relief in Late Colonial and Early Postcolonial India- Maria Framke


7. Humanitarian Service in the Name of Social Development: The Historic Origins of Women’s Welfare Associations in Saudi Arabia- Nora Derbal


Part III: The Power of Gendered Representations 


8. Perilous Beginnings: Infant Mortality, Public Health and the State in Egypt- Beth Baron


9. Parenthood as Aid: “Fathers”, “Mothers” and International Child Welfare from the late 1940s to the 1970s- Katharina Stornig and Katharina Wolf


10. In/Visible Girls: “Girl Soldiers”, Gender and Humanitarianism in African Conflicts, c. 1955–2005- Stacey Hynd


11. Gender Histories of Humanitarianism: Concepts and Perspectives- Esther Möller, Johannes Paulmann and Katharina Stornig


Esther Moeller is Research Associate at the Liebniz Institute of European History in Mainz, Germany.

Johannes Paulmann is Director of the Leibniz Institute of European History at Mainz, Germany.

Katharina Stornig is Junior Professor of Cultural History at the University of Giessen, Germany.

Discusses the relationship between gender and humanitarian discourses and practices in the twentieth century

Analyses the ways in which constructions, norms and ideologies of gender both shaped and were shaped in global humanitarian contexts

Combines state and non-state humanitarian initiatives and scrutinizes their gendered dimension on local, regional, national and global scales