Humanitarian spectacles from below: A study of social connections in unsettled contexts

Abstract

Humanitarian actors struggle to protect refugees from the violence of war, but critics argue that they often succeed in nothing more than segregating the displaced and turning their hardships into global public spectacles. This article narrows and refines these criticisms of contemporary humanitarian action by examining humanitarian spectacles at a local level in an ethnography of the Buduburam Refugee Camp, a predominantly Liberian refugee camp in Ghana, West Africa. It is clear from this vantage point that disenfranchisement and bureaucratic intransigence deeply constrained camp life. But the public spectacles we examine also highlight the unexpected persistence of civic life and the depth of social connections between camp residents themselves; between refugees and humanitarians; and between refugees and their hosts. By making the homogeneous, distant concept of humanitarian spectacle into a heterogeneous concept with local dimensions, we are able to capture more of the experiences of people who live in unsettled contexts. This argument contributes to research on refugees and humanitarianism by drawing attention to the interconnected social world of the refugee camp. It also contributes to research on public spectacles by casting these spectacles as neither a pure expression of distance nor empowerment, but rather an easily sullied form of civic life.