The Concerned Women of Buduburam

Refugee Activists and Humanitarian Dilemmas

Nonfiction, History, Africa, Social & Cultural Studies, Social Science, Sociology
Cover of the book The Concerned Women of Buduburam by Elizabeth Holzer, Cornell University Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Elizabeth Holzer ISBN: 9781501701207
Publisher: Cornell University Press Publication: October 15, 2015
Imprint: Cornell University Press Language: English
Author: Elizabeth Holzer
ISBN: 9781501701207
Publisher: Cornell University Press
Publication: October 15, 2015
Imprint: Cornell University Press
Language: English

In The Concerned Women of Buduburam, Elizabeth Holzer offers an unprecedented firsthand account of the rise and fall of social protests in a long-standing refugee camp. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the host government of Ghana established the Buduburam Refugee Camp in 1990 to provide sanctuary for refugees from the Liberian civil war (1989–2003). Long hailed as a model of effectiveness, Buduburam offered a best-case scenario for how to handle a refugee crisis. But what happens when refugees and humanitarian actors disagree over humanitarian aid? In Buduburam, refugee protesters were met with Ghanaian riot police. Holzer uses the clash to delve into the complex and often hidden world of humanitarian politics and refugee activism.

Drawing on fifteen months of ethnographic fieldwork in Ghana and subsequent interviews with participants now returned to Liberia, Holzer exposes a distinctive form of rule that accompanies humanitarian intervention: compassionate authoritarianism. Humanitarians strive to relieve the suffering of refugees, but refugees have little or no access to grievance procedures, and humanitarian authorities face little or no accountability for political failures. By casting humanitarians and refugees as co-creators of a shared sociopolitical world, Holzer throws into sharp relief the contradictory elements of humanitarian crisis and of transnational interventions in poor countries more broadly.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

In The Concerned Women of Buduburam, Elizabeth Holzer offers an unprecedented firsthand account of the rise and fall of social protests in a long-standing refugee camp. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the host government of Ghana established the Buduburam Refugee Camp in 1990 to provide sanctuary for refugees from the Liberian civil war (1989–2003). Long hailed as a model of effectiveness, Buduburam offered a best-case scenario for how to handle a refugee crisis. But what happens when refugees and humanitarian actors disagree over humanitarian aid? In Buduburam, refugee protesters were met with Ghanaian riot police. Holzer uses the clash to delve into the complex and often hidden world of humanitarian politics and refugee activism.

Drawing on fifteen months of ethnographic fieldwork in Ghana and subsequent interviews with participants now returned to Liberia, Holzer exposes a distinctive form of rule that accompanies humanitarian intervention: compassionate authoritarianism. Humanitarians strive to relieve the suffering of refugees, but refugees have little or no access to grievance procedures, and humanitarian authorities face little or no accountability for political failures. By casting humanitarians and refugees as co-creators of a shared sociopolitical world, Holzer throws into sharp relief the contradictory elements of humanitarian crisis and of transnational interventions in poor countries more broadly.

More books from Cornell University Press

Cover of the book The Brown Recluse Spider by Elizabeth Holzer
Cover of the book New York City, 1664–1710 by Elizabeth Holzer
Cover of the book Euripides' Revolution under Cover by Elizabeth Holzer
Cover of the book Transforming the Clunky Organization by Elizabeth Holzer
Cover of the book Signature Pieces by Elizabeth Holzer
Cover of the book Suffrage Reconstructed by Elizabeth Holzer
Cover of the book Defining Boundaries in al-Andalus by Elizabeth Holzer
Cover of the book Working for Justice by Elizabeth Holzer
Cover of the book Qatar by Elizabeth Holzer
Cover of the book The Wisdom to Doubt by Elizabeth Holzer
Cover of the book Lyric Orientations by Elizabeth Holzer
Cover of the book The Great Wall of Money by Elizabeth Holzer
Cover of the book The Other Side of the Story by Elizabeth Holzer
Cover of the book Shakespeare's Foreign Worlds by Elizabeth Holzer
Cover of the book Household Accounts by Elizabeth Holzer
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy