The Humanitarian Fable

Saviorism, Race, and Aid
1. Auflage 2026
ISBN: 978-1-041-15468-6
Verlag: Taylor & Francis Ltd

Buch, Englisch, 256 Seiten, Format (B × H): 156 mm x 234 mm

Reihe: Routledge Research in Cultural and Media Studies

The Humanitarian Fable examines how popular humanitarian communication constructs global poverty as a moral narrative that reinforces unequal power dynamics between the Global North and Global South.

Taking a cultural studies approach, the book argues that humanitarian discourse places too much emphasis on the involvement of Global North initiatives, avoiding meaningful engagement with the structural causes of inequality. By critiquing humanitarianism as the dominant framework for understanding global poverty, the author challenges readers to consider alternative approaches grounded in justice, decolonization, and addressing ongoing exploitation.

This interdisciplinary text will interest academic researchers, instructors, and students across disciplines including Cultural Studies, International Development Studies, Education, Human Rights, and Communication Studies.

Zielgruppe

Academic, Postgraduate, and Undergraduate Advanced

Autoren/Hrsg.

Jefferess, David

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtliche Themen Mentalitäts- und Sozialgeschichte
• Sozialwissenschaften Ethnologie | Volkskunde Volkskunde
• Sozialwissenschaften Medien- und Kommunikationswissenschaften Kommunikationswissenschaften
• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Soziale Arbeit/Sozialpädagogik Community Care, Bildung, Freizeit, Freiwilligenarbeit

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Introduction: The Humanitarian Fable

1. The Idea of Global Poverty

2. The Image of the Global Poor

3. The Humanitarian Informant

4. The Burden of Benevolence

5. Saviourism, Post-Racialism, Modernity

Conclusion: On the Sanctity of Humanitarianism, Towards Reorientation

Index

Über Autor(innen)

David Jefferess is a settler-situated scholar who teaches in the Department of English and Cultural Studies at UBC Okanagan. He is the author of Postcolonial Resistance: Culture, Liberation, and Transformation (2008), co-editor of Globalizing Afghanistan: Terrorism, War, and the Rhetoric of Nation (2011) and numerous articles on humanitarian discourse.