When:
Monday, February 22, 2021 12:00 PM
-
1:30 PM
Moynihan Institute of Global Affairs
Sovereignty, Order and Conflict presents
It's Just How Things Are Done: Humanitarian Principles, Gender, and Informal Socialization in Aid Work
Increasing research on
humanitarian communities investigates how the nature of their work affects
humanitarian workers’ personal lives and vice versa, especially with regards to
issues such as mental health and sexual violence. The #MeToo movement and
several public scandals have brought to light undeniable patterns of sexual
violence in crisis zones perpetrated by humanitarian aid workers; allegations
reveal a trend of predominantly male-identified humanitarians perpetrating
sexual violence against both their fellow aid workers and the communities they
purport to serve. Why is sexual
violence seemingly endemic to humanitarian communities governed by strong
principles, professional codes of conduct, and oversight?
This manuscript draws on textual analysis, participant
observation, and in-depth interviews to argue that informal socialization
practices interact with gendered and raced employment structures and “pressure
cooker” environments to normalize certain forms of sexual harassment, coercion,
and exploitation while labeling them “how things are done.” Specifically, we argue
that social and geographic isolation, the construction of local spaces and
people as “threatening,” and the sexualization of leisure time and mental
health practices all contribute to the conditions of possibility for sexual
harassment and assault to be normalized and seen as “how things are done.”
Sarah Parkinson
Assistant Professor
John Hopkins University
Dr. Sarah E. Parkinson is the Aronson Assistant Professor of Political Science and International Studies at Johns Hopkins University. Her research examines organizational behavior and social change in contexts of war and disaster. Focusing on the Middle East and North Africa, Parkinson studies how actors such as military organizations, political parties, and humanitarian groups cope with crisis, disruption, and fragmentation. She has conducted extensive fieldwork among Palestinian and Syrian refugees in Lebanon as well as with humanitarian responders in Iraqi Kurdistan.
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For more information please contact, Ryan Griffiths, rgriff01@syr.edu or to request additional accommodation arrangements, please contact Morgan Bicknell, mebickne@syr.edu.