From humanitarianism to humanitarianization: Intimacy, estrangement, and international aid in postwar Bosnia and Herzegovina

Abstract

ABSTRACT In 2002, Bosnia and Herzegovina was the site of massive housing‐reconstruction projects run by international aid organizations as part of a plan to move refugees back to their prewar homes. Alongside the usual technical tasks of such projects, aid workers spent considerable time and effort establishing and stabilizing the categorical distinction between things humanitarian and things political. Analysis of these efforts by one aid organization reveals the often‐overlooked social and cultural work necessary to maintain a humanitarian field of operation, demonstrating that the humanitarian status of aid projects is never more than provisionally settled. This unstable, provisional nature of humanitarian action constitutes an underexplored dynamic shaping and limiting international responses to suffering and need. [ humanitarianism , politics , ethics , international aid , refugee return , Bosnia and Herzegovina ] Tokom 2002. godine, međunarodne organizacije u Bosni i Hercegovini organizovale su masovne obnove kuća kako bi ostvarile plan povratka izbjeglica u njihove predratne domove. Pored uobičajnih tehničkih zadataka vezanih za ovakve projekate, zaposleni u ovim organizacijama proveli su mnogo vremena i truda na uspostavljanju i utvrđivanju kategoričkih razlika između humanitarnog i političkog. Analiza ovih napora, koju je sprovela jedna od tih organizacija, daje uvid u često previđen društveni i kulturni rad koji je neophodan da se humanitarno djelovanje održi, ukazujući na to da je humanitarni status projekata pomoći uvijek samo privremen. Ova nestabilna, privremena priroda humanitarnog djelovanja sastavni je dio nedovoljno istražene dinamike koja oblikuje i ograničava odgovore međunarodnih organizacija na patnju i potrebu. [ humanitarizam , politika , etika , međunarodna humanitarna pomoć , povratak izbjeglica , Bosna i Hercegovina ]