‘We try to Humanise their Stories’: Interrogating the Representation of Migrants and Refugees Through the Shift from ‘Poverty Porn’ to Humanisation and Resilience

Abstract

How do non-governmental organisations (NGOs) represent migrants and refugees? Based on 24 interviews with staff members of US-based NGOs I show that organisations aim to emphasise migrants’ and refugees’ resilience and to highlight our ‘shared humanity’. While these strategies seemingly mark a break from previous criticisms that NGOs mobilise racialised and gendered narratives of victimhood or model minority achievements which demarcate between those who deserve support and those who do not, they still operate under the same meta-narrative: An understanding of worthiness predicated on individual deservingness. Based on critical and post-colonial migration studies, I argue that this not only ignores the racist structures that shape people’s lives. It also silences the racial underpinnings of who has historically been considered fully human. I further embed these narratives in the industry and the white saviour culture of humanitarianism, which are centred around individual action and individual donations and thus favour individualised stories.

« Nous essayons d’humaniser leurs récits » : Interroger la représentation des migrants et des réfugiés à travers le basculement d’une « pornographie de la pauvreté » vers l’humanisation et la résilience