Carceral Humanitarianism: Logics of Refugee Detention

by Kelly Oliver

Overview

Coopted by military operations, humanitarianism has never been neutral. Rather than welcoming refugees, host countries assess the relative risks of taking them in versus turning them away, using a risk-benefit analysis that often reduces refugees to collateral damage in proxy wars fought in the war on terrorism. Carceral Humanitarianism testifies that humanitarian aid and human rights discourse are always political and partisan.

Forerunners is a thought-in-process series of breakthrough digital works. Written between fresh ideas and finished books, Forerunners draws on scholarly work initiated in notable blogs, social media, conference plenaries, journal articles, and the synergy of academic exchange. This is gray literature publishing: where intense thinking, change, and speculation take place in scholarship.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781452955469
Publisher:	University of Minnesota Press
Publication date:	02/27/2017
Series:	Forerunners: Ideas First
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	102
Sales rank:	577,254
File size:	326 KB

About the Author

Kelly Oliver is W. Alton Jones Professor of Philosophy at Vanderbilt University.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments ix

Introduction: From Political Right to Humanitarian Charity 1

"Rescue Politics" 17

Impossible Testimony 28

Humanitarian Warfare and Humanitarian Aid: Two Sides of the Same Sovereign 35

The Christian Roots of State Sovereignty 42

A Brief History of Humanitarianism 47

Contemporary Humanitarian Space 50

Human Rights Discourse as Alibi for Humanitarian War 55

Collateral Damage and the Lesser of Evils 63

Rethinking the "Worst" 68

A New Form of Genocide 72

Humanitarian Aid as Poison and Cure 75

Conclusion: Toward Hospitality as Earth Ethics 77

References 85

Editorial Reviews

"Kelly Oliver’s concise book brings a necessary and provocative philosophical appraisal of humanitarianism, focused on the treatment of refugees and the realities of migrant detention centers in the context of the ‘war on terror’. I highly recommend this concise text for critical geographers of borders and migration as well as for all kinds of activist endeavors advocating for freedom of movement and anti-war positions." —Antipode

From the Publisher