Who is the "human" in "humanitarian"? [Research Assistant]

Professor Randi Kristensen
Department: University Writing
The Project
After thirty years of structural adjustment and public sector dismantling, artists and writers in the Caribbean are describing the impact of these policies in economic, cultural, and interpersonal terms. This project looks at three sites where neo-liberal economic policies have created a vacuum in public services: Haiti and the 2010 earthquake, New Orleans and Katrina, and Jamaica and the Tivoli Gardens Massacre. In all three locations, the event revealed large gaps in the ability of states to care for their citizens before, during, and after crisis. In all three, material responses to those gaps have involved humanitarian interventions, whether by NGOs on the ground or from overseas.

This project questions the impact of humanitarian interventions on the problems requiring such interventions. Specifically, I’m reading fiction and watching films to better understand how writers and artists in Haiti, Jamaica, and New Orleans are telling the story of such interventions and their effects economically, culturally, and interpersonally from the point of view of being on the receiving end. How do they understand the conditions requiring such interventions, and how have such interventions, usually directed by external actors, affected local conditions, opportunities for local agency, and ways of being? What are the multiple understandings of “human” that are in play in “humanitarianism”? 
Research Assistant Tasks
This project is in its early stages. I’ve identified a number of primary texts to work with. For Jamaica, Diana McCaulay’s novel “Dog-Heart,” Geoffrey Philp’s “Benjamin, My Son,” and perhaps Esther Figeuroa’s “Limbo.” For Haiti, Raoul Peck’s documentary, “Fatal Assistance,” and the post-earthquake stories in “Haiti Noir.” For New Orleans, Jesmyn Ward’s “Salvage the Bones,” and the film “Trouble the Water.”
I’m looking for assistance in identifying more primary texts that narrate the relationship of the humanitarian project to its origins and effects, and narratives by those on the ground.
I’m also looking for assistance with building an effective theoretical frame. There is an emergent literature in critical perspectives on humanitarian action; there was a world conference in Colombia this summer that I learned of too late. Beginning with works such as Rachel Riedner’s on “Rhetorics of Benevolence,” and Michelle Jarman’s “‘Good’ Imperialism,” I’m looking for someone to help put together a reading list/bibliography, and annotate it, if possible. I have a list of themes: biopolitics, histories of structural adjustment/neoliberal policies in the region, histories of humanitarianism, notions of globalization, the idea of the “human,” the role of race/gender/sexuality/disability/language etc. in shaping macro and micro impacts of structural adjustment and humanitarianism.
I definitely would not expect a research assistant to do all of those! But if there is something in that list, or if someone wants to propose something related that could be useful to a project like this, I’d be happy to have that conversation, and see where we could go from there to find something manageable to work on over the course of a semester.
Time Commitment: 4-6 hours per week
Contact Email: rkris@gwu.edu
Additional Instructions for Applying: I’m interested in your interests, so a brief note about why a project like this one would be exciting/useful to you would be helpful.

If you’ve taken classes or done any independent research projects on related topics, please list those and briefly describe how you think they might inform your approach to this work.

Finally, if you’ve done an annotated bibliography or a research-heavy project, you could attach that to the email, so that I can see an example of your work. Thanks!