Dr Bhakti Shringarpure: "Stories and Saviors: On Literary Humanitarianism"

An IASH Work-in-Progress seminar, delivered by Dr Bhakti Shringarpure (IASH-SSPS Research Fellow 2022; University of Connecticut)

 

Stories and Saviors: On Literary Humanitarianism engages with discourses of humanitarianism today through a focus on saviorist proclivities in literary, cultural and storytelling initiatives. Today, we see a proliferation of stories of single individuals perceived as victims in need of humanitarian support. These broadly tend to include women in the Global South, children, migrants and refugees, and survivors of persecution based on gender, sexuality, race and religion, among others. Such stories disseminate in various ways: on websites, newsletters and funding drives of humanitarian and rights advocacy organizations, as memoirs and novels, and as full-fledged initiatives that promote stories as a force for change. I use the term “literary humanitarianism” since these stories rely specifically on literary elements of craft such as narrative, setting the scene, plot and exposition in order to generate empathy and activate discourses of social change. Literary humanitarianism becomes one node among many others that attempts to imbue human subjects with dignity, alleviate suffering and respond to emergency and non-emergency crises. I argue that such practices today extend colonial, civilizing mission ideologies and simultaneously gives rise to an extractive ecology that relies upon victim stories for funding and sustenance of humanitarian initiatives.

 

Please note that this event will be online-only. Click the link below to join the webinar:
https://ed-ac-uk.zoom.us/j/86535202023
Passcode: Vr8f3ew2