Humanitarianism and the Quantification of Human Needs by Joan... - 9780367464165

Taylor & Francis > Universität Bayreuth

Humanitarianism and the Quantification of Human NeedsMinimal Humanity\nAuthor(s): Joanna Paliszkiewicz, Kuanchin Chen, Markus Launer\nFormat: Paperback\nPublisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd, United Kingdom\nImprint: Routledge\nISBN-13: 9780367464165, 978-0367464165\nSynopsis\nThis book provides the first historical inquiry into the quantification of needs in humanitarian assistance. Ultimately the book argues that we cannot understand the global humanitarian aid movement, if we do not understand how humanitarian agencies made human suffering commensurable across borders in the first place.\n\nThe book identifies four basic elements of needs: as a concept, as a system of classification and triage, as a form of material apparatus, and as a codified standard. Drawing on a range of archival sources ranging from the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), Mdecins sans Frontires (MSF), and the Sphere Project, the book traces the concept of needs from their emergence in the 1960s right throug.